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The way we work is undergoing huge cultural change. With cloud computing and mobile devices, many of us can work remotely and flexibly. Modern business leaders are more results, team and project oriented, and less likely to evaluate their employees’ performance on the number of hours they spend at their desk.

In most developed economies, demand for talent outstrips supply, and technology that helps people work flexibly helps you attract and retain the best talent. For the first time, employers have to meet the needs of four generations. The baby boomers are not retiring quietly; Gen X are moving into leadership positions; Millenials are a huge cohort; now we’re seeing the first Gen Zs enter the workplace.

Some are not used to working with the latest technology. Others are digital natives but can still struggle to confidently apply their tech skills in a commercial environment. All generations are demanding more flexibility – 72% will be working remotely by 2020 – and a one-size fits all approach won’t cut it.

Meeting employee expectations and business need

In addition to managing these complex demands, businesses need to be more efficient. The latest research from Gartner found that, on average, we spend 28% of our work time managing email. We spend another 20% looking for the information we need amongst our avalanche of emails and folders.

Much of our best creative and game changing work is done in dynamic teams. Yet team members are often diverse and globally distributed. That’s why today’s workplace trends are dominated by the need to support employees to work flexibly and remotely, while still sharing ideas and collaborating efficiently.

Successful teams are those empowered to make decisions in real time. When intelligently managed, technology fuels this freedom and flexibility. It also facilitates friction-free collaboration and productivity with document sharing, instant feedback, and Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) programs.

Companies are increasingly seeing the competitive advantage of making their workplace fluid and agile. Young people choose employers, in part, based on what technology they can offer. As 75% of the workforce will be under 35 by 2025, your business model needs to attract young people and support multi-generational teams through a period of major disruption.

Embedding new technology and cultural change is never easy. The choice of systems infrastructure and devices you make directly affects your employer brand, employee performance, engagement and wellbeing, as well as business outcomes. And, you need to meet these challenges at the same time as defending data against advanced threats such as malware and phishing.

Where do you start when you need to keep up-to-date with tools that enable productivity, collaboration, digital transformation and cyber security? For ideas and inspiration, join one of the events.

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