The pace of technological change in the 21st century has left many state-of-the-art offices looking like yesterday’s news after only a few years of service. In some cases companies are shifting focus so quickly that the standard office space that worked fine for them in 2014 was useless in 2015. Given an environment where companies are up one day and down the next and the app that was going to save your business in June is hopelessly outdated in November what steps can you take to “future proof” your office and ride out the storm?
Make Demountable Walls the Lynchpin of Your Future Proof Office
A company whose idea of adaptation is to move every time the winds of change blow is not going to be competitive for long. The only reasonable course of action given today’s volatile business climate is to future proof your office so that you can stay where you are and concentrate on business. But how do you do that?
- Invest in demountable walls – In today’s global marketplace a product can take off with little notice leaving management scrambling to meet demand and adjust staffing levels. With demountable office walls as the backbone of your future proofing efforts your space can inhale and exhale as circumstances demand. What was a little used conference room yesterday can become a fully integrated part of the expanded sales and marketing department overnight.
- Keep your eye on tech trends – Companies tend to get stuck in the here and now and are sometimes slow to react to advances in technology. But with those advances now occurring at exponential speed it’s more important than ever your IT department is able to predict where things are going. Don’t make future plans based on today’s technology. Think about where things will be in a year or 2 or 5. Everything you anticipate will be one less future surprise.
- Be smart with furniture – When it comes to purchasing furniture take the same approach as you do with demountable walls. Purchase modular components with simple, non-trendy designs whenever possible. These can be mixed and matched and reconfigured as circumstances require, unlike stand alone pieces. Also by shying away from style trends you won’t have to replace everything in a couple of years to avoid looking out of touch.
- Create hot desks – Do a comprehensive analysis of the way people use the space they’re given. This will reveal if it is possible to create hot-desks that can be shared by several members of the staff. Hot desks can save you valuable space as well as reduce your expenditures on hardware and software. They can also give you a leg up on the future by allowing you to add shifts without adding desks, computers and the like.
- Don’t forget privacy – Eliminating private spaces in a rush to embrace the open office concept has come back to haunt many companies. Use demountable walls to create quiet spaces where those who need to are able to work undisturbed. If you suddenly need room to host an important client get together you can combine these spaces quickly to create a state of the art conference room which can be returned to its original purpose the next day.
Trying to plan for the future amid the breakneck speed of change today can seem an impossible task. Future proofing your office can be made far less daunting however, if you use demountable walls as the foundation component of your plan. The future belongs to those best able to adapt and nothing provides your office with a higher degree of adaptability than demountable wall systems from IMT Modular.
