Resource management

In Condeco’s recent publication ‘The modern workplace 2019 report: people, places & technology’, it was clear that most business leaders see the value of agile working practices. Flexible working is now offered by 41 per cent of employers, according to the report, and 60 per cent now allow employees to choose their own hours.

This illustrates how technology is changing the way we work, and the process of digitising the workplace is well underway. Progress depends on those in leadership positions establishing a vision and communicating that to the business, while ensuring that the resources are available for success.

IT and HR teams will need to work together, alongside FM and property managers, to divide and conquer the task of keeping up to date with the technology and software that they could benefit from. Providing the right digital tools to help people get their jobs done is crucial to the success of the new way of working. Software that can help book a workspace or a meeting room, through an app, anywhere in the world is crucial to productivity in many businesses.

It can be useful to allocate space based on activity, so teams that work closely together or in the same department can get priority booking. Making sure that the whole team has high-quality tech that works every time also helps to attract and retain talent. This is particularly the case with millennials and generation Z, who haven’t known a world without phones, apps, social media, or the internet.

There are many ways of making the transition to shared desks easier for employees, such as giving them the technology to book individual workspaces, banks or rows of desks, or book access for different days. Even being able to search for and find a place to work ahead of a day in the office gives people added peace of mind. Technology that is based in the cloud can also be easily updated. At the end of the day, a dedicated software resource encourages better behaviour, so employees stop hogging rooms and bending rules.

Agile working makes startup businesses powerful, which means larger, established companies have to adapt. Communications such as internet calling across time zones is as important to their work as face-to-face meetings, and software that makes this happen efficiently is something they expect from serviced offices. Automating tasks like regular room bookings frees up staff for more important ‘thinking’ tasks, and technology will also play an increasing role in monitoring how and when buildings are used.

By using sensors to monitor usage accurately, it will be possible to right-size offices. Companies need only pay for the space they need – and have the flexibility to make changes as their business grows. Sodexo used Condeco technology to analyse its workspace usage, achieving £2.5 million in savings by reducing the amount of office space and workspace required for the same number of people, but in a more flexible environment.

For large corporates this can signify a major shift in culture. A third (34 per cent) of those surveyed in the Condeco report said that digital transformation was their biggest worry. Technology can help to take that headache away and make sure that more time is spent getting on with the job and building a business, rather than fretting about office accommodation.