Experts from several companies, both regional and international, discussed the future of work with a majority agreeing that digital inclusion and employee user experience, as well as investing in digital are the common trends for improving the workforce in the future.

A majority of speakers agreed that upskilling needs to be priority, and already see many companies looking for opportunities to upskill employees, especially with digital skills.

During a webinar hosted by the International Data Corporation (IDC) called “IDC Future of Work; The Path to Business Resiliency,” experts from Microsoft, Dell Technologies, WE Telecom, First Abu Dhabi Bank, ANZ Global Bank, and the Vice President of Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Hazem Nabil voiced their opinions on the upcoming trends and opportunities for the future of work.

IDC’s Egypt Country Director and MEA Senior Consultant, Nagia El-Emary started the session off stating that a hybrid workforce will be the future with cloud services as the underlying platform, adding that cloud service spending is expected to go up by 33%.

According to their data, Egypt’s IT spend is up by 2.5% with digital maturity levels expected to jump 60% in the next 2 years.

Only 36% of Egyptian companies surveyed in December were noted as having a fully integrated synergistic business, which El-Emary highlights as the 4th level out of 5 in corporate digital maturity, with only 5% reaching the “optimized” 5th level.

Around 73% of companies agree that remote work has sparked organization-wide innovation, says Haidi Nossair, Senior Director of Client Solutions (MERAT) at Dell Technologies, according to their Digital Transformation Index.

Supplying teams with keyboards, mice and external screens saw a 42% raise in productivity, she added, highlighting the importance of employee user experience.

Nossair stressed on the point of providing the right technologies, products and security measures to the correct employee persona by personalizing solutions improves the employee user experience and productivity.

ITIDA VP Hazem Nabil noted that he already sees the changes in recruitment, with a growing focus on skills rather than academic degrees, which has been the trend for many years.

Nabil explained that upskilling, especially in basic and advanced digital skills, as well as the possible future reliance on the gig economy, where freelancers may be hired to do certain small tasks on a corporate level, as trends coming from the pandemic’s effects.

“Basic technology skills still need to be established [in Egypt],” stated Nabil, adding that companies need to further develop their employee’s capabilities in areas such as basic computer literacy, digital marketing, advanced analytics, data visualization, and even web and application development to meet future demands. He also noted that new graduates should also focus on gaining these skills.

People spend an average of 1 hour daily to find or create freely available information, taking time away from being productive says Rami Azzi Regional Business Group Lead (Middle East), Modern Work & Security at Microsoft, who adds that this is one of the ways that Artificial Intelligence can help improve productivity.

Azzi highlighted the importance for managers to take time to connect with employees, keep an eye out for burnout symptoms, and teach them how to create boundaries and shut off after work as a way to better empower employees when there is a blur in work-life balance due to working from home.