This is the year of the digital workplace, says Concur
Digital workplace trends are on the rise, says Concur, the provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions.
Digital contract-signing will become common reducing the time and hassle of completing a contract, according to Concur.
E-signature services such as Adobe Echosign and Docusign can be used to send a contract, and have it signed and delivered with minimal steps. Concur says e-signatures can lead to larger deals, shorter sales cycles and higher win rates.
As well as contracts, receipts will be paperless. Evernote's ScanSnap is one example of a technology solution that can help to digitise a workplace. This solution enables a user to capture and organise important documents such as receipts.
Solutions such as UberConference will transform conference calls, says Concur, providing employees with a system that automatically calls them when a meeting is to start, shows who is in the meeting, who's speaking, and how long they stayed.
These conference calls will work hands-free, and Concur says hands-free commuting will also be a key trend this year. Driverless cars, adaptive traffic signals, and road trains bumper-to-bumper traffic will change the worker commute, says Concur.
Another trend identified by Concur is wallet-free living. According to the management solutions provider, tools such as ApplePay will enable workers to use their smartphone as their wallet. Concur says Google, PayPal, Visa and MasterCard are currently developing mobile banking systems.
Matt Goss, Concur managing director SMB, says workplace procedures can benefit from becoming digital.
"Employees have grown accustomed to the friendly, intuitive experiences that smartphones and tablets deliver. Businesses need to come to the party and deliver the same experience in the workplace," says Goss.
"Often, businesses use outdated practices not because there aren't better alternatives out there, but through force of habit. While technology doesn't necessarily mean less work it does hold the promise of bringing new, intuitive tools into our work lives to make it better," he says.
