The future of the way we work

Recent predictions forecast some fundamental shifts underway in the global labor market and suggest significant implications well beyond 2009. Ed Frauenheim, in an article featured at workforce.com details thoughts and predictions from a panel of experts for what the workforce of the future might look like. The top expectation was “an increased focus on infrastructures…to support building strong relationships and collaboration”.


Most clients we work with realize driving growth in global markets and building relationships with key stakeholders is not easy. Managing budgets and schedules in multiple time zones can be equally daunting. To create the leadership position in their relentless pursuit of these global communication imperatives they see the need to build a foundation for world class global collaboration. In doing so, they shape the conditions for what Ed calls a “unified global culture with local strategic and cultural differences” which was the focus of the Global Business category.

At the Localization World conference in Seattle in 2007 I enjoyed a presentation by Jeff Howe, a contributing editor at Wired magazine and the author of Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business. In his keynote address Jeff described his thoughts on the growing phenomenon of leveraging mass collaboration enabled by the web. The Workforce.com panel identified this process of taking tasks traditionally performed by specific knowledge workers and outsourcing it to large undefined groups of people was identified as well.


To listen to André-Paul Pellet, the Senior Solutions Program Director and Architect at COMSYS Global Enterprise Content Management Practice, an open call such as crowdsourcing will help improve the quality, review and acceptance of localization projects. In our many conversations about the language translation process, Andre’s passion for involving more, not fewer, people is unmistakable as he describes how organizations will ultimately utilize technology in the future to facilitate this new business model.

Developing the infrastructure necessary to meet the needs of futuristic collaboration is a challenge. My prediction is organizations that fail to take the necessary steps to better understand the implications will likely miss out on the rewards of improved performance and reduced costs.