The Times They Are A-Changin’ (again)

Adrian Blidarus, Founder and CEO of Softelligence, shares a few personal thoughts about this year and reflections on the year we’ve just left behind.

The future of work becomes present

The future of work is here: 2022 has perfected the art of hybrid schedules, Activity Based Working (ABW) frameworks and an increasing appetite for AI and automation coming from our clients. The past year has brought us closer than initially expected to what used to be dubbed as “the future of work”. We’ve seen these models prove themselves and generate unexpected value from a boost in creativity as well as an increase in efficiency. Where will 2023 take us further along this journey?

On the employee community side, we’re currently evaluating new ways to boost motivation and engagement while reassessing notions like “work-life balance”. Personally, I never adhered to this concept that pits work against personal time, instead I view the two as a continuum. They are both part of our lives and it’s a sense of maturity that enables us to navigate between the two, not a dichotomy.

Ethical AI, sustainable technology and a focus on ESG for 2023

In terms of what trends, I believe will shape 2023, I would highlight AI. The discussion around AI is, as usual, hot and divisive, but it’s important to keep it top of mind. Chat GPT is creating lots of waves, but have you seen how good Siri’s got at this point? Voice recognition, image processing, natural language processing have endless applications where we’ve just scratched the surface. Lots more to be done here and I’m excited for what’s next, especially in the field of regulation and defining the ethical AI prerogative. We can’t ignore the mental health toll for workers in ethical AI, so there are a lot of ways we can improve on current processes using responsible technology practices.

Additionally, I expect sustainable technology and ESG to take center-stage and challenge us to come up with new, exciting solutions to problems that have been slowly but surely cooking in the management boards’ ovens.

I’m a firm believer in people and in technology. This doesn’t have to sound like a contradiction in terms anymore, when we see so much value we bring with technology to improve people’s lives, as well as our clients’ flows and processes. I believe that, despite the turmoil caused by instabilities in the workforce market and in the political arena, 2023 is well positioned to be a great year for all of us.

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