The future of digital work relies on people, not a just technology

“When everyone from the CEO to the janitor to the kid in the lunchroom can feel that their digital work is private and secure, they will have more trust to work collaboratively, innovate and build,” Cappos says.

Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer for Microsoft, says personal data can’t be guaranteed as the true and faithful representation of a person, at every point in time.

“This is why we have an obligation to give people the choice about how their data is used and to have a dialogue around how that data is used,” he says. “When we live in a world where people’s personal data is used in ways they might not agree with, we create an environment where social and economic inequalities are too difficult to fix.”

However, Gartner’s Lynch says we still live in a world where individuals can be harmed in cases where a company collects personal data without the knowledge and permission of the individual. So, digital privacy isn’t always guaranteed.

Digital work is growing faster than ever

Businesses that want to survive and thrive need to change their attitudes toward work — and it starts with employees.

Workplaces must change their attitudes toward work

“The old work models are dying out,” Gates says. “There’s going to be much more of a distributed workforce in the future. There are going to be fewer people doing work in the office, more people doing work remotely. In the future, people are going to find themselves in a much more distributed workplace, working in more natural ways, including meeting face-to-face.”

Gartner predicts there will be over 40 billion smart devices in the workplace by 2020 — and they’ll need the highest levels of security to prevent breaches and data leaks. According to IDC, businesses will spend nearly $3.1 billion on security measures for smart devices in the workplace.

But Gates says if you think these concerns are a problem of the future, think again.

“These are very real concerns. And companies need to prepare for these changes,” he says. “You need a strategy that’s attuned to the way people work today.”


Cappos agrees

“People will be a lot more comfortable when they’re comfortable,” she says. “That means both putting in place systems that allow them to protect the work they are doing and being accessible to them.”

So, whether you think that digital privacy is inevitable or a fool’s errand, there’s a strong chance that what Gates says is correct — we’re all headed toward a digital workplace that revolves around a concept that is only becoming more crucial: people, not just technology.

Matthew Schnipper is the VP of content strategy for CIO.com. He is a technology and management writer who has a passion for IT management and best practices. He can be reached at matthew.schnipper@cio.com or on Twitter at @mdschnipper.

This story, "Bill Gates: We need to change our attitudes toward work" was originally published by CIO .

This story, "Bill Gates: We need to change our attitudes toward work" was originally published by CIO .

by Matthew Schnipper on Save Me

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The views expressed herein are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been writing about business and technology since 1996, when he joined Microsoft in Seattle as a marketing coordinator for the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. He left to pursue a master's in journalism at the University of Washington, and he's been a reporter at ECT News Network since 2010.

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