When was the last time you were in the concentration zone and able to deliver a seriously productive day? Perhaps a more important question is where – was it at the office or from home? If the previous decade saw the ubiquitous rise of the open office, the coming one will see the complete decentralization of the workplace.

Understandably, the start of the decade has been one of unprecedented global business disruption. As industries and economies are upended, the state of flux provides both challenges and opportunities, with everyone needing to remain agile and adapt to new ways of working.

The start of the decade is seeing a new need to entirely reconfigure the spaces in which we work

Fueled by globalization, health concerns, a growing demand for flexible working options and a cluster of other factors, the start of the decade is seeing a new need to entirely reconfigure the spaces in which we work. With this demand for further flexibility comes a different set of challenges with regards to the ways in which a company innovates through collaboration, and employees tackle concentration.

While previously being challenged by open-office densification, increasingly distributed teams and the resulting challenges to our concentration and collaboration, the 2020s will be defined by a more radically adjusted style of working and greater need for supporting technology to keep up with these deeply impactful changes and accelerated state of change.

As we face greater spatial challenges, improving our communications tools can lead to a combination of greater concentration and collaboration, both of which are being tested in new ways through these workspace changes. Technology also offers a way to flexibly future proof your teams or business while safeguarding fundamentals like concentration and collaboration, regardless of what the future office or workspace of tomorrow looks like.

Improving our communications tools can lead to a combination of greater concentration and collaboration, both of which are being tested in new ways through these workspace changes

Coupled with this flexibility, the right technology can also deliver further insights. As the very foundations of how we work change, so too will the data sources we use to make business decisions. While business intelligence will continue to improve the future of smart buildings, it will increasingly become important for companies to gather business intelligence from its remote workers. Certain suitable technology can offer new data streams, helping you to gauge the effectiveness of these new work environments and make decisions to adapt quickly in these fast changing times, ensuring your employees are productive and engaged.