Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 20 | Page 38

TALKING

‘‘ business

AI-enabled tools can also help with dissolving the departmental siloes that keep teams separated .
Can you see how this would ensure teams are aligned towards a common purpose and that customers feel more understood ?
Let ’ s get flexible
The pandemic completely upended the traditional officebased work week and employees now have expectations over the location , schedule and content of their days . According to Gartner , almost half of employees now expect this flexibility over work arrangements .
We are now operating in a time of work-life integration , where the lines between the home and office have irrevocably blurred . Organizations are obliged to operate within this reality or risk losing staff to competitors .
An example of accommodating work-life integration could be allowing staff to manage their workday directly from personal devices , given that mobile phones are among the accepted and often even preferred way to communicate and complete jobs .
Employees also need more than just a virtual meeting room to form ideas , retain information and raise their hand to ask for help from supervisors . While working from home , they should be empowered to connect and collaborate in a way that is seamlessly integrated with their digital lives , all within one place rather than switching between several collaboration apps .
When it comes to creating an environment customers and employees want to revisit in a world of boundless choice , we need to go beyond the stop-gap measures that were hastily rolled out in 2020 and do not cater to the expansive needs of today .
People are quick to recognize hollow gestures and it ’ s important we start converting the lessons of the last two years into meaningful action to fortify ourselves against the challenges of the future , latch on to opportunities and have the right people with us for the journey . p
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