No one knows for sure what the pandemic has in store for us in 2022, but it’s a safe bet that digital transformation and the move to hybrid work will accelerate this year. Recent research from the likes of IBM and Microsoft underlines that many people want to continue working from home for at least part of their working week.

According to Microsoft, over 70% of workers want flexible remote work options to continue. And as Matt Mullenweg argues, most companies have fewer people in roles that demand their physical presence at work than they imagined before COVID-19.

Companies that don’t offer at least some flexibility via a hybrid model may thus struggle to attract and retain top talent. A hybrid approach is one where some roles work remotely and others don’t, or where employees come into the office some of the time and work remotely other times. Companies hope that a smarter hybrid approach will give them the best of both worlds beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

In theory, companies can harvest cost-savings from downsizing real-estate , while building the corporate culture and enhancing collaboration by bringing people together in a physical space for some of the time. Employees, meanwhile, should benefit from the flexibility of working from home, without the loneliness and disengagement that is often part of the full-time remote worker’s experience.

However, many companies that have experimented with hybrid models have found them to be trickier to manage than pure remote or pure work-from-office approaches. Hybrid models can lead to disconnection between remote and office workers, with resentments brewing on both sides. Many workers may find that they get the both of worst worlds: the always-on nature of work-from-home, interspersed with office commutes.

Technology isn’t a panacea for the cultural and leadership challenges of remote and hybrid work, but it can close some of the gaps and simplify the transition. By investing in the right tools, an organisation can facilitate innovation and seamless collaboration between their people, no matter where they are working. We believe that there are five key cloud enablers for the hybrid workforce:

• Cloud hardware and infrastructure: Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) enables companies to migrate in-house apps to the cloud and supports a dispersed workforce with the scalable infrastructure they need to perform their duties.
• Software-as-a-service (SaaS) collaboration and productivity tools: A unified set of collaboration, productivity and communication tools enables office and remote teams to share documents, meet and work together, no matter where they are.
• Workflow and project management apps: In hybrid work environments, people may work in more asynchronous ways and it can be difficult to keep track of the moving parts. SaaS workflow and project management solutions can ensure smooth handovers of tasks between different people and ensure accountability for work items.
  Security and governance tools: A decentralised, work-from-anywhere workforce raises new security and compliance risks. With the right cloud security processes and systems in place, organisations will be assured that data and systems used outside the campus perimeter are safe.
• Automation tools: Cutting-edge cloud,-based automation solutions can give organisations visibility into – and control over – their cloud expenses and operations. This supports the shift towards cost-effective anywhere operations.

A robust hybrid working strategy should be one of the pillars of any progressive, organisation’s digital transformation programme. By investing in smarter hybrid working infrastructure and solutions, companies attract the best talent, improve employee engagement and prepare their business for the workplace of the future. A knowledgeable technology partner can guide your enterprise in this journey.