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Business evolution flags tech effect

Gartner predictions hint at direction for IT channel over next decade

Gartner predicts a future where workers – a bit like bees – will meet up in swarms to work more effectively

Gartner has forecast 10 key changes to the world of work over the next decade that point towards radically different technology needs.

According to the market watcher, content and collaboration offerings must adapt to an increasingly de-routinised workplace characterised by ad hoc teaming, weak intra-team linkages and informal and spontaneous processes.

Tom Austin, vice president and fellow at Gartner, said at least 40 per cent of enterprise work will become non-routine by 2015 – up from 25 per cent in 2010.

“People will swarm more often and work solo less. They will work with others with whom they have few links, and teams will include people outside the control of the organisation,” he said.

Swarming is defined by Gartner as a form of ad hoc teamwork where anyone and everyone who is conceivably available and able to add value works together on a project in an ad hoc way, dispersing when the particular activity is completed.

“Work will become less routine, characterised by increased volatility, hyperconnectedness, swarming and more,” said Austin.

The line between work and non-work has already blurred, and the change is tipped to continue to 2020. Organisations will need to plan for increasingly chaotic environments that are out of their direct control, according to Gartner.

Companies must harness technology and technology governance, particularly around content and collaboration offerings, to adapt.

The 10 trends

De-routinisation of work
Non-routine skills, according to Gartner, are those we cannot automate – uniquely human, analytical or interactive contributions around discovery, innovation, teaming, leading, selling and learning.

Work swarms
Flurries of collective activity rather than working alone or in specific, long-lasting teams.

Weak links
Swarming involves individuals working together when they may only know each other through a third party or through professional, personal or social networks. Social networking will thus become more critical to business success.

Working with the collective
Informal groups – bound together by an interest, a fad or a historical accident – outside the direct control of the company who can affect success or failure.

Work sketch-ups
A more light-handed approach to collecting activity information, created on the fly.

Spontaneous work
Reactions to emerging patterns and proactive work such as seeking new opportunities, designs or models.

Simulation and experimentation
Active engagement with simulated or virtual environments for all sorts of data.

Pattern sensitivity
Increased volatility means less predictability, so more organisations will appear that are charged with detecting pattern emergence and divergence and how such scenarios might play out.

Hyperconnection
Organisations existing within networks of networks, unable to completely control any of them.

'My place'
Increasingly virtual workplaces appearing as more meetings occur across time zones and locations and with swarms of participants.

“Organisations will need to determine which of the 10 key changes in the nature of work will affect them, and consider whether radically different technology governance models will be required,” according to Gartner.