Joining the Hybrid Work revolution is not a luxury but a necessity

When the pandemic hit, the shift to remote work happened almost overnight. But it was just the beginning of a journey toward hybrid work that is transforming work as we know it. It is a change that will have profound implications for human society. That is because hybrid work is a revolutionary force that converges people, technology, and places that can positively impact everything from work-life balance and organizational agility to sustainability and global opportunity.

This is the first blog of a series that will address hybrid work and its benefits and challenges and how we can best leverage this $82B global market together with our customers and win. There is also a great opportunity for you to assist organizations in assessing where they are in their hybrid work journeys, and what they need to do to achieve their goals.

Hybrid work means continuing to transform our technology, to further dissolve the barriers of geography, language, and socioeconomics. But as important as technology is, it is only part of the story. Helping customers transform their work cultures and workspaces will be equally important: to the point where work is no longer a place they go, but a thing they do, from anywhere.

Joining this revolution is not a luxury; it is a necessity for your customers. As the Great Resignation has underscored, a lack of flexibility in how and where we work is a key frustration. It is also a fantastic opportunity for organizations to transform in strategic ways because there is no going back to the rigid models and workplace hierarchies of the past.

To assess the scale of the change, Cisco launched a 2022 a global hybrid work survey of over 28 thousand full-time workers across 27 markets in 6 continents (excluding Antarctica) * and over 20 industries and found that hybrid work is now preferred globally by 71% of employees. Why? 78% say it has improved five aspects in their overall well-being (financial, physical, emotional, and mental) and work/life balance.  84% of companies have started embracing hybrid work strategies since it has improved productivity by 60% as well as improved job skills and knowledge (59%) and workplace relations and attitude (50%). The net result is a win-win for employees and companies alike.

We have learned that workstyles and work preferences are different for everyone, so we must help our customers be flexible, adaptable, and open to what works best for each individual and team. For many it means a blend of from home, office and anywhere. This means providing solutions that empower their workers to be engaged and productive anywhere, solutions that can provide visibility across the entire IT (Information Technology) environment to make management and end-user support easier and more effective and secure.

Creating strategies in this new world will involve not only Chief Information Officer (CIO) leadership but collaboration with other C-suite executives including the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Facilities executive. While technology investments are critical to success, they must be matched with investments in work transformation, policy, culture, and facilities.

Measurable wins with the CHRO will include productivity, employee satisfaction, retention, and offer rate acceptance while the COO and facilities executives will additionally care about managing spaces to reduce spending on energy and monitoring space utilization to achieve sustainability goals.

Hybrid Work Maturity Model: Are your customers ready to support hybrid work?

“Over the course of the pandemic, business and IT leaders have seen the challenges of adapting quickly to remote work […] but they understand that moving forward, creating a great hybrid work experience will be critical. That’s why we are collaborating with Cisco on the Hybrid Work Maturity Model. It will enable leaders to assess where they currently stand in their hybrid work journeys and to create successful strategies to continuously improve.”
—Amy Loomis, Research Director, Future of Work at IDC

Today, 45% of business and technology leaders say remote work will be an embedded part of accepted work practices moving forward and 93% are planning to maintain or increase spending in this area. Organizations are looking for expert guidance as they shape hybrid work for their teams. They want to know where they stand in their own hybrid work journeys; what benefits and outcomes the more mature organizations are experiencing; and what challenges remain for those that are lagging. This research aims to answer such questions by quantifying and validating key data points on how companies in different stages of hybrid-work maturity operate.

The IDC maturity model study can help your customers; those that have not yet started their journeys, those who have begun to implement and learn, to those who have truly embraced a hybrid work model who through their leadership are pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved in this new way of working. Using these tools, your team can work collaboratively with your customers to access their level of maturity and identify opportunities for improvement in the short, medium, and long term.

Only Cisco sits at the intersection of an unparalleled portfolio breath that spans collaboration, security, networking, cloud and application and expert services that can seamlessly bring it all together. Hybrid work is one of the largest cross-architectural opportunities for Cisco, our third-party partners and you, our channel partners. At Cisco Live Amsterdam on Feb 6th, we will be announcing the new Work from Home, Work from Office, and Software Offers along with new CX services. They are aggressively priced and been purpose built (and tested!) to solve the key challenges our customers are facing in today’s market. We are committed to making it easier for you to design, quote, and more importantly – win!

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