It’s hardly a secret that COVID-19 has created serious motivation for accelerated DX initiatives.
As we previously reported, a new KPMG survey indicated that 59% of technology executives surveyed say that COVID-19 has created an impetus to speed up adoption.
“In a few short weeks, the pandemic has forced a new virtual work reality on businesses and entire operating models have been shifted – and in many cases, upended,” wrote Bernie Gracy, Chief Digital Officer of Agero, for The Enterprisers Project (reposted by DX Journal).
Industries of all stripes moved swiftly — although ‘scrambled’ might be a more appropriate term — to ensure employees could successfully work remotely. According to Matt Cain, Distinguished VP Analyst of Gartner, Inc, “the pandemic rapidly elevated many digital workplace technologies from nice-to-have to must-have status.”
It’s one thing to make sure teams have the tools for right now. But what about the long-term digital resiliency of the business?
As a result, the Gartner Hype Cycle for the Digital Workplace, 2020 recognizes the need for — and heightened interest in — emerging technologies.
ICYMI, Gartner Hype Cycles are “a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and how they are potentially relevant to solving real business problems and exploiting new opportunities.”
Here are the six biggest digital workplace trends on Gartner’s Hype Cycle for the Digital Workplace:
The “new work nucleus”: Remote work is near-impossible without an all-in-one-cloud collection of tools that includes email, instant messaging, file sharing, conferencing, document management and editing, search, and discovery, and collaboration.
‘Bring Your Own Thing’ (BYOT): Personal IoT devices or wearables like fitness bands, personal assistants, smart lights, smart earbuds, and VR headsets are increasingly being put to work as support for employees.
The distance economy: Commonplace organizational interactions from hiring interviews to internal and client meetings have gone almost exclusively virtual since March. As a result, innovative meeting solutions have gained in popularity. For instance, Zoom usage peaked at 300 million daily participants in April.
Smart workspaces: It all comes down to efficiency when workspaces are combined with technologies like IoT, digital signage, integrated workplace management systems, virtual workspaces, motion sensors, and facial recognition. As offices gradually reopen, physical distancing measures will marry smart workspaces with safety.
Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS): “On-demand, virtualized desktop experience delivered from a remotely hosted location,” explains Gartner. “It includes provisioning, patching, and maintenance of the management plane and resources to host workloads.”
Democratized technology services: Low-code and “no-code” development tools and environments are continuing to enable citizen developers and citizen integrator tools. Complex data is also being democratized by citizen data scientists.
Related reading: 5 Trends Drive the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2020 (via Gartner, Inc)
