Technology

I remember entering the workplace when email was being introduced. We still had fax machines, credit card payments were done on carbon copy paper and blackberries were a luxury of management. Home shopping was done by a catalogue and you would wait 2 weeks for it to arrive. Payments were made at the bank or post office and car tax was made with stamps.

GenerationX have always been advocates of technology, always looking to find ways to work smarter, not harder, and enabling them to have time to play and be with the people they love. It's hard to imagine a pre-tech world and yet we have no idea (only imagination) as to what the world will look like in a year, let alone a decade from now.

Artificial intelligence, 3D printing, resource-efficient production and robotics change the way we make, manage, and buy products and bots manage our customers. Accounts are done by software and meetings done virtually.

Technology has enabled work to be more productive, efficient and change the way we think about what work is and where it is done. The 9-5 has gone and the only barrier to flexible, agile work is a mental one. Landlords and town planners are reimagining how city spaces will be used as the inevitable decline of the office job declines.

In the early noughties, leaders shifted from cubicles to open-plan, collaborative workspaces. Now we look towards interconnected workspaces not tied to one place or one function or even one company. Co-working spaces, meeting spaces per hour have boomed. Home designers now put office space just as important as the open plan kitchen and bi-fold doors.

Leveraging big data, with real time information, means we can manage journey times, stagger school and working hours based on congestion ease. Data will inform every element of our lives. Through technology, we already see trends towards a more flexible, agile life, renting cars, furniture, and homes as a lifestyle choice. We are able to run small businesses or investment decisions around our core jobs, meaning individuals are no longer a slave to the company, but instead, choose work that fulfils, enhances and gives meaning.

Information sharing and collaboration means that operating in isolation is no longer an effective model. Partnerships in seemingly unrelated industries or even with competitors is enhanced through technology. Banks, farming, transport, hospitality, and energy are already partnering with technology companies to access the best minds, thinking and customers. OPEC might have controlled the oil and gas production in the past, but now all industries can collaborate to enable innovation, cooperation and solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Farmers are collaborating to provide energy sources to villages and small towns in the most remote areas - because of technology. This trend will continue.

Rather than resisting the change, leaders must be open-minded, flexible, and adaptable. Innovate and cooperate or become another Kodak or Blockbuster.