Are we ready to embrace a more digital way of working?

Digital is transforming the way the world does business, by redefining customer expectations and changing the way people work. Every industry has its own nuances and rates of transformation, but it’s happening across the board. What was once a slow burner is now cooking on gas, and IT leaders agree UK businesses will be digitally transformed within 10 years. Some say as early as 3.

This is good news because for the last decade the workplace has been slow to adopt new technologies that lead to a digital way of working. Consider on one hand the technological advances of self-driving cars, 3D printers and smartphones and on the other hand, consider the average office workplace. It’s still full of pens, paper and corded phones. You can hardly call that “digital transformation”.

We’re well on our way now though. Fuelled by advancements in technology large, traditional companies are becoming more agile and more engaged with consumers. Meanwhile, smaller companies are discovering that they can compete with the big boys by crafting highly personalised digital experiences. Slowly but surely a digital way of working is being introduced to organisations of all sizes and verticals. But the driver isn’t technology.

Embracing a digital way of working

Companies are already embracing digital transformation. As for embracing a more digital way of working, that’s down to the workers. Whichever industry you put under a microscope, you’ll find digital transformation in some form. Car dealerships are transforming showrooms into interactive digital experiences; architecture firms are using 3D printing to manufacture mock-ups; pharma is using artificial intelligence to automate disease identification.

As industry disruptors emerge (and they will – innovation always spawns them), workplaces will be reshaped. And as the cost of advanced technologies continue to fall, new opportunities and applications will emerge. This will force a digital way of working and organisational change will happen from the outside in.

Suffice to say, industry-changing innovation has become the norm. Progress is now accelerating very quickly, and the people who use the base technologies that make this happen are lapping it up. A notable outcome of this is work forces embracing all digital change freely. The old ways are becoming irrelevant as smarter ways emerge.