It took a while, but headlines now talk daily about the age of disruption and its impact on business and jobs. Automation, Artificial Intelligence, additive manufacturing, cyber security, and immersive tech are painting an ominous picture of dismantled jobs and radical business restructures. There is, however, a global trend that uses both technology and a human response that may help, and deserves attention.
In response to convergent disruption, business will form and reform, building and managing products and services by accessing a networked pool of professionals working across organisations. This workforce will, in turn, build and dismantle consortia. Legal frameworks will emerge to support warranty and intellectual property agreements.
This transition to a brave new world brings concerns, but it is not new. Mobile and flexible workforces were forecast in the 1980s by Tom Peters' seminal work, "Thriving on Chaos" and Charles Handy's portfolio works ('The age of unreason' and 'The empty raincoat')
Governments are concerned at the risk social dislocation. Ageing populations face vanishing traditional jobs while condensed roles focus on core skills provided by an increasingly self-employed workforce.
The prospect of providing a living wage, meaningful contribution and transition support for displaced workers is an increasing discussion among economists and business. These and other ideas are an attempt to soften the tensions of change while the market and workforce adjusts. Policy settings are in flux; On one hand, providing stimulus for entrepreneurial initiatives, while on the other hand, closing tax deductions as the workforce shifts to self-employed status.
Both business and Government should consider the ballooning global growth in collaborative co-workspaces in response. Today's co-workspaces are primarily short-term office rental, with platform based services such as WeWork, NextSpace and regus. Growth in these spaces is exponential, growing from a few hundred to over 20,000 in a few years.
The transformative opportunity however, is the rapid evolution into collaborative co-workspaces and platforms such as BizBuddyHub - a community startup in Melbourne's West
The emergence of collaboration platforms and workspaces will soon enable many-to-many commercial relationships. This will create both capability and intellectual property that may be independent of business directly, but harnessed by it. Where Uber platforms allow one provider to draw on many skills, Bizbuddy type co-workspaces and their collaborative platforms will provide a marketplace where business and workers trade and flux in response to demand. While the concept is not new, the scope, breadth and the legal and regulatory frameworks enabled, will be.
This model becomes one resource element of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). Protocols and platforms will emerge to provide the required legal and commercial constructs, using blockchain type integrity. Skilled workers will be sought after, forming virtual troupes and studios, delivering agility, productivity and professional outcomes. As trust grows, so will relationships and knowledge. Collaborative co-workspaces will form skill "guilds", interconnecting across geographies, providing the means for "greater than the individual" outcomes.
The present opportunity for Government and business is to support these community collaborative workspaces to enable transition to the convergent economy.
Businesses, well down the path of outcome-based active workspaces, will join KPMG and EY to increasingly subscribe to BizBuddyHub type spaces to attract and retain professionals. Lower costs outside CBDs will support the transition as leaders implement outcome-based work practices and replace 'presenteeism'. They will ensure their teams are engaged and delivering meaningful work. The flow-on effect of mentoring in these spaces will become significant in the path to the work of the future.
Workers will collaborate inside and across workspaces to create and knit capability across businesses and geographies. They will not lose productive time with commuting, business overheads and carer services. They value the social interaction, mentoring, and reduction of the isolation and poor practices that may come from home-based work.
Community co-workspaces increasingly attract local services to support their workforce, creating a multiplier effect on the local economy. Volunteerism and community engagement will benefit from working locally. BizBuddies will service each other's needs - offering financial, commercial and marketing and other services
BizBuddyHub is aligning with University and trade institutes to create skills hubs and education tailored to transition to new work skills and demands
Governments, through policy settings now have a vehicle to stimulate the work practices, access to work, development of social support fabric and training needed. Workers are thus not left to flounder, finding themselves irrelevant and lost in once-dormitory suburbs
As an opportunity to grow and stabilise community through disruptive times, in a commercially sustainable way, collaborative co-workspaces are an ideal transition mechanism.
Want to know more? Contact us at Immercom
BizBuddyHub a community based startup is hosting a "pop-up" Co-workspace on July 12th. For a tour and a meet with CEO Sara Mitchell, follow the link or contact us at Immercom
Pierre Nunns is the founder of immercom - immersion commerce and a core member of the community startup BizBuddyHub
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