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Technology roadmapping

In the last in our series on roadmapping, we focus on technologies that are poised to make a difference to the way we work. Global WorkPlace Innovation’s (GWi) roadmapping project tracks megatrends, macrotrends, microtrends and disruptors that are likely to affect our customers’ markets.

 

Roadmapping has identified the ever-quickening pace of innovation, the continued consumerization of technology and the acceptance of open technologies, which is set against the backdrop of well-publicized legal battles between technology giants for patents and intellectual property.

 

The ability to innovate quickly is the lifeblood of any company in the technology sector. If a company does not innovate with fast product cycles, it is likely to be outpaced by its rivals. The rapid rate of technological progress means that products are brought to market more quickly, but also become outdated sooner than their predecessors. Some technology companies have found that failure to develop has left them faltering. However, the incessant drive to develop products will have a huge impact on the workplace in terms of collaboration and computing power.

 

Many technology companies have adopted an open source approach, in order to involve end-users in the development process. This is illustrated by the Android/Google smartphone, where the source code is freely available for anyone to create an application. The principle of open technologies allows third parties to develop existing applications so that the possibilities for further development and growth are unlimited.

 

Global corporates’ drive for innovation has fostered the need for collaboration, particularly within global organizations. By 2020, GWi research indicates that around 70 percent of office space will be collaborative, while the rest will support more individual methods of working – the exact opposite of today’s ratio. The ubiquity of broadband and mobile technologies has fundamentally altered the role of the office. Most office employees could perform their roles from almost anywhere, so the role of the workplace will have to change to allow increased collaboration and innovation.

 

The University of Tokyo for example is developing collaborative drawing technologies that allow people from remote locations to collaborate in real-time to create a single document on real paper, while working from anywhere in the world.

 

Roadmapping

Another trend is that new technologies, which are initially complex and expensive, quickly become both cheaper and easier to use and therefore become accessible to far more people. This has contributed to the continued consumerization of technology in the workplace. Many of us carry around tablets that give us wireless computing power that would have been undreamed of just a few years ago. We’re not simply using these devices for private purposes - many of us bring them to the workplace.

 

Bring your own device (BYOD) is a trend that is ongoing in the workplace and will be pushed by the new generation of workers called Digital Natives, who have integrated digital technologies into their lives from early childhood and are used to being connected through wireless internet technologies.

 

A GWi study into the impact of Digital Natives on the workplace revealed that 77 percent of these tech-savvy workers believed that advanced technologies in the workplace were very important. Workers from this generation are well versed in multitasking, which allows them to search, access and communicate information quickly and efficiently. They are able to deal with large volumes of information and use teamwork to create collective intelligence. This gives them the potential to boost creativity and innovation. However, to embrace the potential of the Digital Native generation, companies will have to create environments and processes that attract all generations.

 

The full impact of the Digital Native generation and its use of consumer technologies has yet to be felt, due to the fact that the majority of devices, such as tablets, are kept under the radar. However, many are very reliable tools for collaboration, so could represent an opportunity for employers to improve how people work. Existing IT infrastructure will have to be opened to wireless, while retaining security.

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