The offices of the future will have to be much more flexible than they are today with the rise of employees needing to work from home and/or on the move. This flexibility will require the correct technology to effectively facilitate it.
Microsoft commissioned a report on ‘The Hybrid Organisation’ which concluded that offices will need to be established where employees can work remotely and different shifts as a result of the rising demand for flexibility referring to hours worked and remote working
The report defined a hybrid organisation as a company where the two elements of people and working styles were blended to produce positive results for employer and employee.
The report stated : "The successful mixture of sets of people with different working styles, needs and attitudes to work will be an important factor in determining the success, or otherwise, of organisations in the future,"
Scott Dodds, the general manager of SME’s & partners group at Microsoft, stated that the recession had changed the way companies operated but it was not expecting things to return to a post downturn situation.
He said that a lot of the current technology currently available to SME’s would assist them greatly when adapting to this increasingly prevalent business situation. He also added that the report covered and examined a situation which was currently emerging but that it would take time for all companies to become genuine hybrid organisations.