The future of work
Innovation and technology could considerably change the way we work in years to come. Emma Blee reports.
“ICT is only just starting to reach its potential in terms of productivity”, claims the head of PA Consulting’s innovation unit, Rob Gear.
In a report ‘Future Information Technology in focus,’ the firm shows how up-and-coming technologies could help employees and employers to increase their working capacities, without increasing stress or fatigue.
Among others, it highlights how the technology of augmented cognition can enhance a workforce. AugCog integrates computer technology with human cognitive abilities and helps humans to overcome problems such as loss of attention or memory.
Looking forward to how business ICT might look in the future, Gear says there will be big changes to the way that we use technology. Until now “ICT has been about making things go faster”, he remarks, but new technologies will allow businesses to add value by monitoring their performance in real-time.
More sophisticated business intelligence systems will be developed and they will be capable of drawing conclusions and information from data almost as soon as it arrives, allowing businesses to act on the findings quickly.
According to Gear, in as little as two years we will start to see a greater use of metadata and semantic web technologies that bring meaning to data. This will mean that computers understand the values of the data they process.
He also expects to see an increased use of both cloud computing and software-as-a-service applications, particularly among SMEs and organisations that have “little desire” to own and manage their own ICT infrastructure.
One of the biggest changes that Gear anticipates is that businesses may break down large centralised offices into less structured workplaces, depending on how practical it is.
Gear says that by 2020 processing power and storage should be available on tap, meaning that more people could work from home or commute to shared ‘work hubs’ close to where they live, rather than to big offices in the centre of town. This would cut back on CO2 emissions and those working from home could fully interact and participate with their colleagues at the office but would also have more time to spend with friends and family.
He says that by 2020 we could see the benefit of large scale technology-led infrastructure projects, e.g. intelligent highways, which would communicate with vehicles to provide safer and more efficient transport.
“It won’t be too long before we all have a fibre-optic connection at home that will enable a huge boost to current broadband connection speeds”, says Gear. He predicts that before long there will be more ‘things’ than people connected to the internet, so all the extra capacity will be needed.
Looking forward to 2050 and beyond, Gear says the role of artificial intelligence will be significant and problems could be addressed through the harnessing of computer ‘brains’. He is also hopeful that breakthroughs in energy technology “will help to pull us back from the potential climate disaster we face”.
