Who will follow Microsoft’s lead?

WINTER IS COOL AND ALL, BUT...

We’ve made it through the first two weeks of the spring-forward time shift (as if anyone needed another reason to feel exhausted!) and finally winter is in the rearview mirror. Despite concerns of third waves and ongoing challenges around vaccine roll-outs in some regions, the march toward some semblance of normalcy continues apace.

That, of course, includes a desire for many of us to get back to the office. New research in InnerSpace’s hometown by the Toronto Region Board of Trade shows 64 percent of downtown workers feel safe going back to their workplace in the core. This is a significant shift from September, when only about 15 per cent said the same.

It’s clear we’ve hit a wall of fatigue from non-stop virtual work, and like most major centres around the globe – we are eager to welcome people back.

In Seattle, Microsoft – one of the first employers to send people home last spring – is now one of the first to welcome them back. This week, Microsoft invited its employees to return to the office. This comes on the heels of surveying more than 30,000 workers around the globe, with 65 percent craving in-person face time with their teams.

When we go back, it will look different, not only in the amount of time we spend at the office, but in how we use the space. The office will serve a specific purpose, and businesses will have to decode how to adapt and what data they’ll need to do so.

‘THE MOST CREATIVE IDEAS AREN'T GOING TO COME WHILE SITTING IN FRONT OF YOUR MONITOR’

The element of work life that the pandemic has most misplaced is collaboration. Co-creating new ideas or solving complex problems requires interaction that is difficult to sustain over a screen.

This is the primary driver for most companies’ return-to-office strategy. The defining post-COVID challenge will be how to transform workplaces from what they typically have been (focus: independent work) to what they must be: hubs to work together. See if you agree with how we lay out this critical issue in our new article: “Collaboration: Your Competitive Advantage.”

HOW WIFI NETWORKS CAN GUIDE AN OFFICE TRANSFORMATION

But how does one start to build those hubs that foster collaboration?

It’s clear that workplaces must boost productivity, ensure safety, and serve employee needs – while balancing business objectives, company culture, and the physical space there is to work with. In many cases it may be quite the shift in strategy – for which executive buy-in will be needed.

In one recent post, we explore how workplace and facilities leaders can measure and track many different variables. WiFi-based analytics reveal not only how a space is being used, but deliver new insights that can inform resourcing, productivity, business continuity.

NEW IN SMART TECH

As always there’s lots of intriguing news afoot. Over in Smart retail, British Columbia’s WeCommerce recently acquired Stamped.io, a subscription software platform for Shopify merchants. WeCommerce is bullish on Shopify’s long-term potential, not a bad bet considering that apps providing add-on services beyond the scope of Shopify pulled in nearly $7 billion in 2019.

Fintech is hot right now, with One Wealth one of the newest startups on the block and Toronto’s women-led Brim Financial announcing a $25 million Series B as it expands its “platform-as-a-service” tech, a potential disruption to the legacy bank world.

In the wearables world, a few companies are toying with Smart fabric. A research team in China is the furthest along – with a Smart textile that can be added to clothes and function as a display, keyboard or Bluetooth communication device. Meanwhile, Facebook made public some new mind-reading tech it hopes to pair with its upcoming Smart glasses innovation.

IN OUR SPACE ...

We welcomed two new members to our InnerSpace family! Marcus Muchara, our new business development representative, and Talia Poleski, our new director of client success.
For International Women’s Day, our COO Cerys offered tips for women to be successful in the workforce even in a pandemic in CEO World
Find out how much you can save across your portfolio using the InnerSpace ROI Calculator.

There are many ways to navigate the return to work, just as one would navigate a floor filled with cups. Are you cat 1, 2 or…. 3? (Hint: InnerSpace can help you be cat 1).