India would be front-runner in adopting mobile work-styles, with workplace of the future providing just seven desks for every 10 workers. Globally, almost a quarter (24 per cent) of companies has already fully adopted mobile workstyles.
By 2020, organisations are set to reduce office space by almost a fifth (17 per cent), and each person will access corporate IT network from an average of six different computing devices, according to study by Nasdaq-listed IT firm Citrix.
The trend towards fewer office-based employees – who use multiple computing devices to access corporate applications, data and services from a range of locations outside of the traditional office – is part of a global trend called mobile workstyles.
By the middle of 2014, 83 per cent of organisations will have embraced mobile workstyles. The Citrix Workplace of the Future report polled 1,900 senior IT decision-makers across 19 countries.
Some of the highest desk-to-worker ratios in 2020 would be in Japan (8.77), South Korea (7.95) and Germany (7.90) and India (7.12). The figure for 2020 is as low as six desks for every 10 workers in Singapore, the Netherlands, the US and the UK.
“Organisations are encouraging people to operate outside of the traditional workplace on their own personal devices to improve the bottomline – by making the organisation more responsive, improving productivity and reducing the cost of real estate and device management,” said Mick Hollison, Vice-President, integrated marketing and strategy Citrix.
“At the same time, organisations are investing in the space they have to create enticing workplaces that foster collaboration, innovation and creativity. The result is a stronger organisation, with high calibre people performing at their best. The technology to enable the workplace of the future is already available and proven, and plans for workplace redesign can easily be put in place. The real winners will be those that get the people management and culture right, to empower the workforce of the future,” he added
WORKSPACE OF FUTURE
Almost every organisation says it will redesign office space to be more appealing. The workplace of the future will foster creativity, be inspiring and encourage collaboration by enabling people to work from wherever, whenever and on whatever device so that work becomes something people do, not a place people go.
The global report also reveals that a third of people (29 per cent) will no longer work from their traditional office. Instead, employees will base themselves from various semi-permanent locations including the home (64 per cent), field and project sites (60 per cent), and customer or partner premises (50 per cent). People are also expected to access corporate applications, data and services while mobile from locations such as hotels, airports, coffee shops and while in transit.
For organisations, mobile workstyles create a more flexible, agile workplace (73 per cent), lower employee-related costs (53 per cent), reduce real estate costs (48 per cent) and help attract (47 per cent) and retain (44 per cent) top talent.
Employees benefit from more flexibility (65 per cent), increased personal productivity (62 per cent), less commuting time (61 per cent), and a better work/life balance (55 per cent) are other benefits. It also helps them spend more time with customers (48 per cent).
The majority of organisations (83 per cent) will use bring-your-own-device initiatives to manage the growing number of devices that people use to access the corporate network. Employees will generally choose and purchase their own computing devices, with 76 per cent of organisations reimbursing the employee in-part or fully.