{"id":9272,"date":"2020-08-10T07:13:46","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T07:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/?p=9272"},"modified":"2023-11-21T14:32:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:32:26","slug":"cool-new-tech-trends-that-will-change-the-way-you-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/future-of-work\/cool-new-tech-trends-that-will-change-the-way-you-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Cool New Tech Trends That Will Change The Way You Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Through these hard times and bad news, there are bright spots related to tech trends and how they will shape the future and the future of work specifically. Technology and new innovations are accelerating\u2014and these will have positive influences on all things work, workers and workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The popular saying, \u201cMay you live in interesting times,\u201d isn\u2019t actually the curse it is purported to be. But we definitely can\u2019t argue with the fact that tranquil times don\u2019t necessarily force advances, stretches or\u00a0big shifts<\/a>. This is a time for those.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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For this article, I interviewed tech gurus Steve Koenig, VP of Research for the Consumer Technology Association (the association responsible for the annual CES show in Las Vegas) and Scott Likens, Emerging Technology Leader with PwC. Koenig says the pandemic\u2014and the conditions it has created\u2014”have triggered a massive wave of innovation and new business models.\u201d He says innovation has been \u201cturbo-charged.\u201d Likens points out there has been an acceleration of acceptance, perhaps even more than an acceleration of innovation. \u201cUntil you experience something, you won\u2019t accept it,\u201d he says, and\u00a0increasingly people have been open<\/a>\u00a0to trying new things. Indeed, going through cataclysmic times can\u00a0force us to stretch and adapt<\/a>\u2014and from the greatest barriers, come the most profound innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of technological changes coming. But what will matter most in terms of the content of work, the places we\u2019ll work, how we\u2019ll work with others and the new skills we\u2019ll need? Here are the experts\u2019 perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Changes to the content of our work<\/strong><\/h2><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Work will be less routine.\u00a0<\/em>AI will change the content of our work. Rather than artificial intelligence, think of AI as augmented intelligence. Koenig points out, \u201cAI will do everything from assisting doctors with diagnoses to helping all kinds of workers in decision making.\u201d Koenig goes on to say, \u201cRobots will work alongside humans in the office and take on roles like reception, hospitality, cleaning and security.\u201d In addition, personal digital assistants may help with everything from managing task lists to scheduling meetings. Likens says, \u201cAI will do the more routine work and humans will do more of the higher-level functions. It will fundamentally change the way we create value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things will be more secure<\/em>. Biometrics (think: fingerprint recognition) and blockchain will enhance security and personalization. According to Koenig, this will affect things like network connections, cloud applications and personal computing preferences. Likens points out blockchain will \u201cautomate trust\u201d through securing assets and helping us avoid deep fakes, authenticating what\u2019s real.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Changes to our workplaces<\/strong><\/h2><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Our spaces will serve our needs.\u00a0<\/em>Both Likens and Koenig reference how offices will change. Specifically, IoT (the internet of things) will connect multiple systems within an office and create more value for the user. From more efficient energy consumption to more effective\u00a0space utilization<\/a>, smart spaces will\u00a0optimize offices<\/a>\u00a0for people who use them, adjusting to the preferences of the person working. Rather than having a keyboard, mouse or laptop, there may be \u201cone device to rule them all,\u201d says Koenig. Specifically, \u201cThe desk of the future may only have a display since our mobile devices will perform all computing functions accessing data, applications and functionality which will be in the cloud,\u201d according to Koenig.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Changes in how we work with others<\/strong><\/h2><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Our communication will be enhanced<\/em>. Computers and robots will do natural language processing meaning they will recognize and translate our language, increasing our ability to communicate effectively across traditional barriers. \u201cThis will ensure communication on mission-critical applications such as contracts, customer engagement and international marketing,\u201d says Koenig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our presence will be expanded<\/em>. Virtual reality (VR) will allow us to have rich, collaborative experiences in more places, more often. Koenig calls this virtualization. \u201cDigital tools like VR will replicate physical environments and\u00a0reduce the need to be physically present<\/a>\u00a0in meetings,\u201d says Koenig. Likens explains, \u201cVR creates immersive, collaborative experiences which can enhance empathy and connectedness. It creates a safe space to take risks, interact and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Changes in the skills we\u2019ll need<\/strong><\/h2><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Upskilling will be required<\/em>. It\u2019s impossible to consider technology and its effects on the future of work<\/a> without people asking whether their jobs will go away. People have been\u00a0worried about technology replacing humans<\/a>\u00a0since the 1950s. Likens points out, \u201cJobs will change across the board and no job will be the same.\u201d Upskilling will certainly be necessary. Koenig says, \u201cRetraining and upskilling will be critical for retention, and both employees and employers have the opportunity and responsibility to build capabilities.\u201d This is, of course, especially true during the pandemic. One\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0finds people have upwards of 200 billion extra hours to spend on training because of furlough or reduced work schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNew collar\u201d work will emerge<\/em>. Likens says we\u2019ll need\u00a0new or enhanced skills<\/a>\u00a0in design thinking (to enhance the human-machine interface) and data science (to interpret the exponential amounts of information to which we\u2019ll have access). Koenig points to the need for additional skills as well, \u201cSkill requirements will become more technical.\u201d He calls this \u201cnew collar work\u201d distinguished from blue or white-collar work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human empathy will distinguish us<\/em>. But will machines be able to do it all? No, we can empathize in ways machines can\u2019t and we can work through the nuances of human communication and connection as robots never will. According to Likens, \u201cIntelligence isn\u2019t unique to humans and machines are logically-based systems, but emotion is unique, and it isn\u2019t possible to train machines for empathy\u2014at least not yet.\u201d Koenig adds, \u201cWe\u2019ll need an evolved set of interpersonal skills as we interact more on a remote basis.\u201d Indeed, we will need greater skills in reading others\u2019 cues and emotions via video as well, and we\u2019ll need enhanced skills in\u00a0communicating our points of view<\/a>\u00a0through remote means. Our opportunity is to broaden our capabilities to work in conjunction with machines and enhance our ability to connect with others. This, after all, is what we have to offer that is distinctly human and something that cannot be replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future is bright<\/a>. \u201cOverall, new digital tools and technology will empower human ingenuity, creativity, productivity, collaboration, leadership and more,\u201d says Koenig.<\/p>\n\n\n

Things are changing, and the acceleration of innovation is happening at warp-speed. It will affect everything including the content of our work, where we work, how we work with others and the skills we\u2019ll need to survive. But we have a lot to look forward to\u2014more efficiency, enhanced effectiveness and a great new work experience that will surely be fulfilling.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through these hard times, there are bright spots related to tech trends and how they will shape the future and the future of work specifically. Technology and new innovations are accelerating\u2014and these will have positive influences on all things work, workers and workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":881,"featured_media":9273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[531,409,295],"ppma_author":[3816],"class_list":["post-9272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future-of-work","tag-innovations","tag-technology","tag-trends"],"authors":[{"term_id":3816,"user_id":881,"is_guest":0,"slug":"tracy-brower","display_name":"Tracy Brower","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/932a4eecd4c56445671ab08bbe82091353a7ad68a6761ebd347eb701a27feced?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/","last_name":"Brower","first_name":"Tracy","job_title":"","description":"Tracy Brower, PhD, a work environment sociologist, is a Principal with the Applied Research + Consulting group at Steelcase. She is the author of Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work: A Guide for Leaders and Organizations which focuses on work-life fulfillment. She is a contributor for Forbes.com as well as an executive adviser for Coda Societies and for the MSU Professional Mathematics Program. She is also a board member for the FM Research & Benchmarking Institute. Her work has been referenced in the Wall Street Journal, Green Source, MMQB, The Digitalist, Forbes.com, Fortune.com, Inc. Magazine, and Fast Company."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/881"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9272"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34244,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272\/revisions\/34244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9272"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}