Responding to the needs of one of our most active communities, C2C Connect: Workspace, C2C set out to bring the experts in for an authentic conversation about the future of work. The series will continue through the year and will explore all angles of our professional lives. What will culture look like, and how will employees remain engaged? What about security? How have consulting businesses pivoting, and what will they do going forward? What about Google Cloud customers? How are they remaining connected and productive through disruption?
We kicked off the series with a discussion between Kelly Ducourty, VP of GTM strategy at Google Cloud, and Peter High, a strategist, lecturer, and author of "Implementing World Class IT Strategy," and president of Metis Strategy.
High began the conversion with a keynote about understanding what the future of work will look like in the post-pandemic world.
You can watch the keynote below.
Ducourty, who runs a massive global team, shared how Google Workspace has enabled the future of work. You can watch her explain below.
High then shared his perspective on the market holistically; hear his answer below.
Doubling down on this concept about the employee experience, we wanted to understand if roles and responsibilities will continue to evolve into the future.
Innovative Inventions Born out of Necessity
As the conversation pivoted to discussing the balance between employee experience, customer needs, and speed of innovation, certain new norms sprouted. These inventions, born out of necessity, as the saying goes, have had a profound effect, and we were curious about how these innovations will continue.
Hear Ducourty and High share their views.
How has a virtual environment enabled a more inclusive environment? How will that be maintained into the future of work?
Some key ways that Ducourty mentioned include the following:
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Speech to text supporting those with disabilities and helping them feel more included
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Location details, letting people know which physical location you are in at the moment, enabling understanding about how to work with one another
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Scheduling email sends, which allows people to work when convenient while maintaining professional boundaries
Some of these features are still within Google as the team tests and iterates before releasing to the market.
Hear Ducourty and High share more about inclusivity and how they foresee DEI initiatives.
KPIs and Productivity Measurement
As employers develop the future of work and how employees will engage and continue productivity, there is a sense of employees enjoying working from home. And for employers, they've enjoyed the increase in productivity. A study conducted by Prodoscore found that employees are 200% more productive than they were pre-pandemic. So, we asked the experts, what are some KPIs and metrics that organizations have used to measure the effectiveness of the success? What is being used today? What will continue in the future?
Culture and the Future of Work
One of the critical discussion points centered around culture. Google and Alphabet are known for maintaining a culture of innovation; as Google continues to grow and redesign for the future of work, how will Google ensure that culture, for which Google has become famous, will continue?
Hear what Ducourty said about that business goal.
High offered a view from the industry.
"Chief Information Officer Ben Freed is a great somebody I greatly admire, and I asked him that very question: how does Google as it has become a behemoth maintain its entrepreneurial spirit, its ability to innovate? He talked about the importance for companies to change a core competence and that that's something that Google has constantly had. Also, he talked about how the organization has these bureaucracy-busting days, where employees list ideas when bureaucracy is beginning to rear its ugly head and unwinding those very activities. He added that being deliberate around this really can facilitate having that innovator's edge, even as an organization grows large."
We will continue this conversation and explore how leading organizations are leveraging cloud collaboration tools to keep their teams moving forward on June 24.
C2C Community Questions
We love hearing from the community and getting their perspectives on the issues we are bringing to the fore in the C2C platform.
A community member shared with us in advance of the session a fundamental question on all business leaders' minds: Who owns the project of restructuring and redesigning the workplace?
What is the role of the physical office in the future? What about hybrid offices?
Do you see differences forming around industry lines for the future of work? What are you seeing, hearing out in the market with customers on these types of progressive approaches?
Extra Credit
Google Workspace and The Evolution of G Suite
Top 20 Google Workspace Features of 2020
C2C Talks: Top 20 Workspace Features in 2020, Predictions for 2021, and Hybrid Work Futures
Javier Soltero Answers Customer Questions on Google Workspace and Collaboration in the Cloud
