EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK IN-PERSON COLLABORATION AND NETWORKING IS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS ?
The detrimental effect COVID-19 has had on businesses over the past couple of years is finally beginning to waver as organisations muster up the courage to send their employees back to the office and society regains its confidence to meet in large groups , as opposed to meeting on Zoom .
In-person business events such as Data Centre World held in London and MWC Barcelona are now back , with attendees and exhibitors rediscovering the benefits of meeting face-to-face . This type of collaboration also offers innovators a chance to showcase their products , build meaningful and longlasting relationships with potential new clients , as well as having more significant conversations about the industry and where it ’ s heading .
Events such as these also offer industry experts the opportunity to bring their wealth of knowledge and advice to the market alongside sparking new ideas for thought-leaders . However , last year Gartner predicted that by 2024 , in-person meetings will drop from 60 % of enterprise meetings to 25 %, driven by remote work and changing workforce demographics .
Today ’ s workers are making the most of collaboration tools and are now well-equipped to attend virtual meetings which have in some cases become preferable . Gartner also found , in its Digital Worker Experience Survey , that nearly 80 % of workers were using collaboration tools for work in 2021 , up from just over half of workers in 2019 . This type of collaboration might on the whole seem more efficient and meet the requirements of the modern employee , constructed over the last two years .
Here we explore how industry leaders view collaborative approaches and events in today ’ s modern working world .
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