The events of 2020 took us all by surprise. There was no time to prepare, and thus, the devices that we used throughout were ones designed with the ‘old’ reality in mind and not the ‘new normal’ we were thrust into. The world’s workforce adapted to working from home, pushing devices to their limits in an attempt to emulate the office experience in the home.
With this new challenge came revelations. Perhaps being tethered to an office was no longer necessary? Maybe we had been tied down to an outdated concept dreamt up in an era before mobile phones were confined to the realm of science fiction.
What initially began as a few weeks, a temporary situation; a time of setting up one’s laptop on makeshift stands made of books and other paraphernalia, and working from bed or couch, or perhaps kitchen table, soon evolved into more long-term thinking. We bought proper desks, we got real chairs, maybe we even bought a proper laptop stand. Slowly, but surely, white-collar workers around the planet set up their work from home station to reflect the long term nature of our collective predicament. But largely, we kept the same old devices.
As time passed, and we began to tentatively emerge from lockdowns and restrictions, we found ourselves in a whole new world. Work from home became work from anywhere. After all, if we had been working just fine from our bedrooms for two years, why should we be expected to go back to an archaic style of in-office work?
But amidst the lockdowns and the work from anywhere revolution, most of us continued to rely on outdated devices, which, as touched on earlier, were constructed with the in-office status quo in mind.
In 2021, an Office Depot survey revealed that companies were letting down their employees when it came to technology. Forbes reported, stating “According to data collected from more than 1,000 U.S. workers, many remote employees have had to upgrade their home internet to accommodate their workload … Hybrid workers also tend to spend an hour or more each week dealing with tech hiccups and overall say they don’t feel supported when it comes to troubleshooting issues.”
Research from Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index indicates what was once temporary is shifting towards a new normal, with 38% of employees surveyed saying their biggest challenge is knowing when and why to come into the office. The survey also found that 28% of leaders have created team agreements for hybrid work to define why and when to go into the office.
As we accept that the temporary has become the new normal, it’s vital that companies and individuals alike make the necessary upgrades to devices built to handle the strains that come with work from home, work from anywhere, and hybrid working situations.
With security built in by default, Windows 11 Pro devices with Intel vPro processors are designed for the new era of mobile work. Utilising technology designed to protect against threats, it provides powerful security that protects the operating system from unauthorised access to critical data — giving individuals and companies alike valuable peace of mind as we navigate a new mode of working.