New year, new you – for your company and cloud solutions anyway. The past two years have seen incredible transformations in technology and workplace culture, and 2022 will only continue this evolution. You want to make sure your resources are allocated well and invested wisely so that you can fully embrace the potential of the hybrid cloud work environment. Here is what you need to know as you prepare for the coming year.
What To Expect About Hybrid Work in 2022
Prior to the rapid transformation to remote and hybrid work that the pandemic instigated, there were certain customs and trends in the workplace. Generally speaking, businesses wanted to use a smaller number of enterprise tools, with each one capable of accomplishing a variety of different tasks. Organizations wanted to reduce the number of applications they used.
At the same time, there was an internal work culture of staying “on top” of people at work. The idea was that managing the tasks they completed and how they spent their time was the best way to get the most work out of them.
Hybrid work, however, has turned both of these strategies on their heads. This over-the-shoulder type of management has proven to not be the most effective means of managing employees. At the same time, there has been a massive influx in the number of applications used by enterprise workplaces over the past year. Moving into 2022 we are likely to see further development of both trends.
Hybrid work environments need flexibility and customization. If one employee knows what type of project management software they want to use, the IT department needs to secure it for them without giving them a hard time. These departments also need to have the elasticity that allows them to accommodate temporary contractors and other short-term workers that might come into the business for just a few months to accomplish a task and then leave. The IT team will just want to support them and provide security for the apps and tools they want to use, without forcing them to adopt internal preferences.
Management, in general, will take on more of a role than just telling team members what the end result should look like, and then getting out of their way. The cloud quickly becomes a critical component in both of these trends, empowering the flexibility of the workplace.
Why You Need To Consider the Cloud for Hybrid Work
In the traditional work environment, once you purchased something – like a software license – you paid for it regardless of how much you used it. Given the importance of flexibility and elasticity in the hybrid work environment, cloud-based applications become the only real toolset that can work in this type of setup.
With the cloud, you do not have to worry about bleeding cash. You can buy something, spend as you use it, drop the expense when you don’t need it, and then pick it back up when you do. This level of customization makes it easier for you to only pay for precisely what you need – empowering you to create the necessary flexibility needed in the workplace. As a bonus, it also makes it easier to track the actual cost of a project, as you can tally the costs of the tools needed to a far more precise degree.
The Challenges Facing Companies With Hybrid Work
While hybrid cloud work can certainly enhance the workplace in a variety of ways, there are still some challenges organizations face as they make this transition. It can be hard to teach people how to effectively manage their teams remotely, particularly when they are established professionals and have spent much of their career doing something different.
Managers need to learn how to set their success and failure criteria. You need to articulate:
- What are the stakes?
- When will this project start and finish?
- What will define success or failure?
- What are the steps in the project and at what points do we want to see success?
It is only by defining these important criteria that businesses can set and monitor effective metrics.
Managers also need to re-evaluate how they will gather information about their team and build relationships. No longer can they walk down the hallway to make small talk with people and gauge their frustration and successes from subtle signs – such as tone of voice and nonverbal cues. They will need to establish new ways to evaluate these points of contact with employees to see how people interact and the progress they make.
Finally, those in middle management will also face the struggles associated with resignation. Rather than only looking to replace poor performers, they will also need to find replacements for excellent performers enticed by other companies to new jobs. With the remote workforce, companies from all parts of the country will have to compete for the same pool of workers, creating a competitive atmosphere for businesses.
How the Cloud Will Simplify Hybrid Work This Year
People have asked us what aspects of remote work can be improved through using cloud services, and our answer is essentially: everything. In the modern age, remote and hybrid work really cannot be done without the cloud. The cloud-based applications, with their built-in flexibility, have essentially won. Everything has moved online, including how you access software and applications. To stay competitive, your business must adopt these applications too.
The Power of Protocol Network’s Cloud Solutions
We simplify the process of building cloud solutions for our clients. We have picked out best-of-breed solutions in a number of different areas, and the tools we have selected play well with others. This makes it straightforward for our clients to integrate the different tools and begin building their hybrid workforce.
Our clients find the convenience factor to be tremendous.
We have purposely designed our selections so that no tool in the toolset must be used. If a client does not need one, or if something comes along in the future that would work better, it can easily be replaced.
If you are ready to take your hybrid workforce to the next level and uncover the power of the cloud in streamlining your tasks, reach out to us today. We can guide you through the process and help you seize the opportunities available moving into 2022.
