Compliance and the Office of the Future

December 12, 2024

Written by Eric Krapf, General Manager and Program Co-Chair, Enterprise Connect Publisher

Remember the Metaverse? We were all supposed to be working there by now, the technology so advanced that our digital avatars would have legs and everything. Instead, the biggest Metaverse proponents (like, uh, the guys who changed their name from “Facebook”) are chasing AI dreams. Meanwhile, Amazon is leading yet another round of return-to-office (RTO) demands.

RTO strategies still vary widely among industries and individual enterprises. This No Jitter article by Irwin Lazar of Metrigy offers survey data and analysis suggesting a mixed bag when it comes to RTO in 2025. Contrary to the impression that some may want to create, Metrigy finds remote work more likely to grow next year compared with in-office work: “Almost 32% say that they will allow more remote work next year, while 25% plan to require more days in the office,” Irwin writes.

Nevertheless, five years after the pandemic started, enterprises are nearing the point where technology advances and replacement cycles, combined with office space rationalization, may be poised to trigger evolution, if not transformation, in the way knowledge workers use office space.

One discouraging piece of data from Metrigy’s recent study: Only about 22% of collaboration teams are involved in workspace allocation policies. That’s unfortunate for all the reasons that date back to before the pandemic – most of which involve the enterprise building out spaces that look great but may be poorly designed to use collaboration technology (the classic example being glass conference room walls).

But it’s not just audio and video issues – it’s a new generation of compliance challenges. Just last week, Boeing put on hold a scheduled roll-out of “office occupancy” software after an employee leaked the plan to the Seattle Times newspaper, sparking concern over the level of surveillance workers would be subject to. Boeing noted that the system would blur photos of individuals or documents, but clearly was concerned about the appearance of heightened surveillance.

Software that can track and heat-map employees’ movements in the office isn’t new. Companies have used it for years to aid in designing spaces. But in the AI era, everyone is hyper-aware of technology’s ability to encroach on privacy and empower authorities to, shall we say, micro-manage the populations under their control. Enterprises that respect their employees will need to understand what their office technology is capable of – and what must be placed off limits. That’s a discussion IT needs to be included in.

We’re going to tackle this issue of the office of the future at Enterprise Connect next March 17 - 20 in Orlando, FL. Deloitte veteran Aaron Roe is leading a session on Building the Connected Office for the Next Generation in which he’ll address many of the promising new developments around creating smarter offices that work better for employees – while also dealing with the challenges and questions that accompany this next generation.

Whether your focus is collaboration platforms, AV, contact centers/CX, security, or some combination of these, you’ll find great content at Enterprise Connect, and great people to discuss that content with. Register now to get our lowest rates, and I hope to see you in Orlando!