The steady march toward the virtual workplace
Once the coronavirus pandemic descended on us in early-2020, discussions around the future of the workplace went into overdrive. Investors dived into anything they assumed would benefit from the pandemic, including NASDAQ-listed Zoom Technologies (ZTNO). There was a significant problem with this particular case: ZTNO, formerly designated ZOOM, isn’t the video conferencing platform dominating your life for the better part of two years. It’s a Beijing-based wireless communications company, believed to be no longer operating. Once the SEC clued onto this instance of mass confusion in March 2020, they suspended trading. This wasn’t the first time either. A similar occurrence took place when the video conferencing platform was listed in 2019 (see both occurrences in the below chart).
The great (behavioural) reset..?
The case of mistaken identity between Zoom Technologies and Zoom Video Communication is a good representation of the wider confusion around the future of workplaces in the knowledge economy. After all, if your role mostly entails operating a computer and making calls, why do you need to commute to the workplace to get that done? In that case, why live in a small, expensive home within a reasonable distance from such a workplace? Many people had this thought during the pandemic, with mixed reports of exoduses from New York, London, Melbourne and beyond. More recently, however, we’re hearing that the reverse is taking place. Beyond choice of residence, we’ve also seen Peloton return to its pre-pandemic state, university students calling out the reduced quality of remote education and litigating over the reduced value, and some reluctant employees being called back to their workplaces.
A new-new normal
Over the past two years, we’ve heard the phrase ‘new normal’ enough to make one’s ears bleed. Nevertheless, a new-new normal seems to be emerging — not one where we continue living as we did during the pandemic — but one which learns from our experiences. Consider eCommerce, which boomed during lockdowns and subsequently fell — but not to pre-pandemic levels (see below chart). LinkedIn pundits have also flooded news feeds with what the new balance of remote and face-to-face work might be. From what I’ve seen, most respondents seem to prefer 2–3 days in the office, and 2–3 days working remotely.
Removing the friction points of remote work
There is an ongoing and heated debate surrounding the merits and shortfalls of remote working. This has prompted a series of discussions in the Pi Labs office — from sensory stimulation (visual, audio, and even olfactory) to long-standing psychological concepts such as the antisocial effects of psychological distance (it’s easier to break up via text). Technology had begun attempting to remedy shortfalls of remote work long before the pandemic. Upwork and Fiverr (founded in 1999 and 2010 respectively), for instance, reduce the friction of connecting location-independent freelancers, contractors, and consultants to a global network of clients. WeWork, controversially labeled a PropTech firm by its eccentric founder, is one of several real estate companies enabling remote workers to tap into the benefits of working alongside others. On the other hand, Slack is one of 3,218 companies listed on Crunchbase under the “collaboration” industry category. This industry category received more than $5.5 billion in funding in 2021, which was roughly equivalent to the three preceding years combined (see chart below). Lucid, a visual collaboration tool within this category, received more than $500m at a $3 billion valuation in mid-2021.
A virtual workplace…
When it comes to replicating the experience of face-to-face work in a virtual environment, some senses seem easier to address than others. One might easily argue that video and audio communication are considerably more developed than touch, smell, and taste. You may balk at the relevance of these senses, but a Japanese “Tasty TV” was recently announced to the world, and the importance of touch in facilitating trust is well established in both humans and other species. Based on demos, Meta’s recently launched remote work app currently falls short in a lot of these areas, but they’re still in the early stages of this technology. Elsewhere in the virtual world, hologram technologies from Google, WeWork, and Microsoft were chronicled by The Wall Street Journal in mid-2021.
Will one technology outmanoeuvre the others..?
Holograms, virtual reality, tasty TVs and augmented reality are just some of the technologies taking the next step in virtual work. With a growing list of available solutions, the question becomes whether they’ll coexist, whether one will overwhelm the others, or whether our imaginations still haven’t conceptualised what’s to come. For instance, will virtual reality develop to a Matrix-like level of reality? If so, how long would that take to develop (if we aren’t unknowingly living it already…🧐)? Are we perhaps more likely to see an increased use of holograms to facilitate face-to-face events without the wasteful airline mileage of guest speakers? If our virtual workplace is able to effectively emulate the benefits of a face-to-face working environment, then isn’t it also capable of emulating our other environments? If so, does this nullify the need for location independence in and of itself..?
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