Like everything else in life, we all know the world of work is constantly changing. 2020 was undoubtedly a year that brought an unprecedented and unanticipated rate of change in how we work. The sudden transition from working in traditional offices to remote work created a wide range of challenges, from overextended IT departments to employees managing the complexities of working from home while managing their children’s remote schooling. Organizations struggled with VPN bandwidth, allowing remote access to information employees needed, deploying and managing conferencing tools like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Employees had to quickly adjust to new workstyles along with a complete redefinition of work-life balance and the accompanying dogs barking and kids yelling while on calls. (more…)
“Change is the only constant in life.”
This popular quote has been attributed to Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher born in 554 BC. Much more recently, in 2020, Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, said, “The only constant of business is change.” How true both statements are! In fact, at no other time in recent memory have they been truer than now. We experienced a lot of changes in 2020. From constant Zoom meetings in makeshift home offices to getting used to wearing masks and sheltering in place, all of us have had to learn how to adjust to a new way of life. Our country turned virtual, seemingly overnight, and companies had to scramble to adapt as their employees transitioned to remote work. (more…)
Redefining the Workplace
Make the most of your office with tools to enable smarter decision making
In September 1994, over 32,000 AT&T employees stayed home to work. This was the first large scale attempt at telecommuting – and a key turning point for exploring how far businesses could go in transforming the workplace. Prior to this, the workplace followed a 19th century model of work, focused on inputs and outputs, and a distinct lack of worker autonomy. (more…)
When you hear the words ‘brand culture’, it’s not uncommon to conjure images of wacky campuses, team-building events and pictures of smiling teams. Over the last five years, particularly as Silicon Valley firms expanded like never before, there has been this unwritten rule that if you don’t have a physical representation of your brand, it’s not strong enough. But then COVID-19 hit, and that physical element was removed. So how do you manage brand culture when everyone is working remotely? (more…)
We’ve been talking about disruption for years. With technological advances accelerating at an ever-increasing pace, digital disruption has been causing companies to rethink how they run their businesses in order to maintain profitability. (more…)
How Technology Is Affecting The Future Workforce
Five Key Drivers Of Workforce Transformation
I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly keen on being replaced by a robot at work, or being reduced to a virtual avatar. Technology is an incredible enabler across our development as humans as a whole – opening up new and exciting opportunities across personal and professional playing fields. But it can also create uncertainty, and fear, if not packaged with the right information. (more…)
It was just under 4 years ago that Konica Minolta was dreaming about the Workplace of the Future™ and today it is our reality. The goal of this dream was and continues to be built around technology. We want to simplify IT for our customers, connect disparate data points, and enable better collaboration with mobility, flexibility and creativity. (more…)
As a Konica Minolta Philosophy Ambassador I was fortunate to attend the Transform Award and Business Contribution Award (TA/BCA) ceremony in Hachioji, Japan this summer. The TA/BCA ceremony is held annually and serves to recognize teams within our 44,000+ employees who showcase transformational and innovative thinking. My role, as a Philosophy Ambassador is to witness and advocate for our six core values, which are clearly exemplified by each of these teams. Open and honest. Customer-centric. Innovative. Passionate. Inclusive and collaborative. Accountable.
This latest acquisition is exciting because it positions Konica Minolta as a full-service provider to the dealer channel with the extension of FORZA in addition to managed IT services, enterprise content management, voice over IP (VoIP), multi-function devices and industrial print. (more…)
The ‘Workplace of the Future™’ is often associated with disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and IoT, filled with promises of how it will positively revolutionize the way we work. As exciting as all of these technologies are, the journey towards the realization of the future workplace must first begin by fundamentally understanding the people that technology must serve. Put another way, to truly build the ‘Workplace of the Future™’, companies must invest and strategize also on how to build the ‘Workforce of the Future’.
If organizations consider the changes that the future workforce will likely demand of the workplace, then they will be better placed to consider what tools are most appropriate to attract and retain the best talent. (more…)