Optimizing the Hybrid Work Experience

Knowledge workers with the ability to work anywhere have been reassessing their work environments and needs over the past two years. The next hurdle in this journey, is dealing with the wants and needs of multiple segments of employees that now exist – fully remote, fully back-in-the-office, and hybrid (some days in office, some days at home). What innovative technology will take off in this next phase of a fulfilling, effective, sustainable work-from-home environment, and what won’t?

Many of the biggest work problems emerging are around collaboration (e.g., best practices and etiquette), and perhaps the most painful pain points relate to optimal communications between workers across multiple settings. Zoom fatigue became a real thing, and we all have recognized that there must be better ways to collaborate. CMB has remote workers, along with a hybrid of Boston-based employees who split time between home and the office. Like many companies, CMB developed best practices for hybrid meetings, but the question remains: how can the remote team feel more connected? Could the Metaverse be one of the solutions?

As my colleague Marty Murk mentioned in a recent post, perhaps the only thing everyone agrees on regarding the Metaverse is that its rollout is uneven across industries and a bit confusing. While VR and AR are used widely in education, training, health care, and navigation, we haven’t seen substantial progress for office workers. Co-experiences and digital worlds could provide more meaningful connection and allow for more emotional and spontaneous conversations. Will we all finally wear the AR glasses that consistently make it to the headlines but not the masses?

There is the potential to work better together in the Metaverse. The Metaverse has options that allow knowledge workers to connect in their virtual worlds, activating microphones and connections when colleagues are in close proximity to reignite water cooler conversations. Perhaps we’ll use Microsoft Mesh with its mixed platform collaboration to participate in a virtual meeting space. And Meta is releasing a VR-AR mixed reality headset. Will I just feel like I’m living in the Sims world?

VR might reinvent the standard Zoom meetings that we’re all just settling for.

So, what can your business do?

• Prioritize which AR opportunities will have broad reach within most businesses and support that development
• Research what is the next frontier in the AR-VR realm that your platforms and products need to support
• Be prepared to support the ever-growing remote and hybrid communications businesses need

CMB can help you prioritize your research in the AR-VR space and grow your business to meet the needs of the new hybrid workplace.  Want to start the conversation? Let’s talk.