Wondering about the office of the future? It might take more imagination than you think. Who says there'll be an office at all?
Meet Steve, a software engineer. He lives far from office and so has to work from home. His manager and other colleagues are at office.
He works with a team of developers who follows agile development. He has a list of task for everyday. He uses email, chat, phone to contact colleagueswhen required.
Manager not sure about the progress of Steve. His colleagues only contact him for task in the project. He feels left behind from office activities. Satisfaction level is low.
Meet Alice, a smart sales manager, who is always on the go closing deals.
Alice is always in the field talking to customers. She has to frequently check inventory and talk to engineering. She record sales and report the manager at the end of day.
Alice’s problem. She is unable to reach resources at critical moments. She has to frequently visit office. She spend more time managing the process than the sales. Productivity is low.
Meet Ahmed, a Physician. Ahmed is an anesthesiologist; He works in a big hospital and directs anesthesia services. Ahmed’s task is very critical and of urgent nature.
Ahmed need to report to the division chief if a sick patient requires increased assistance. He also has to regularly talk to nurse and patient at the clinic for next day surgery.
Ahmed’s Problem. He is far from the main building and feels strained during emergency. He has to run around the hospital multiple times and gets exhausted by the end of the day.
Meet Virtual Workspace! A dashboard software, persistently connected to all users in the system through voice, video and text. Constant communication, re-imagined, for PCs, TVs, tablets, and mobile devices. Virtual Workspace has peer view, task view and world view to help people connect with other members and applications for day-to-day tasks.
Steve is now connected to everyone including manager during office hours using the Peer View of Virtual Workspace. He can talk to everybody on the project, ask questions and get help instantly.
Alice connects to the “Task View” of the Virtual Workspace, using a computer or a mobile device. She is able to clarify questions from marketing, talk to engineering, check inventory and update status.
Ahmed connects with the division chief in the other buildingroom using World View of the Virtual Workspace. He is now in constant touch with his patients and nurse prior to the surgery.
This story is not just about Steve, Alice and Ahmed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau nearly 6 million Americans work from home, and around 60 percent of the work force is in medium and big sized company with distributed teams. Tele-commuter have increased by 50 percent in last few years. The Workplace of future will be location independent.
