Emerging Trends for a Collaborative Work Environment in 2024

2023 is a year that has not gone unnoticed in the transformation process undertaken by many companies. Hub Institute even speaks of a triple transformation underway in the workplace: digital, sustainable, and organizational. 

Collaboration at work is a topic that is rooted in each of these three aspects, and therefore deserves particular attention. As 2023 draws to a close, it continues to evolve towards new, more flexible, and efficient formats, while considering an economic situation where every investment must be carefully evaluated. 

In this environment, executives need to consider the increasing prevalence and accessibility of artificial intelligence (AI) at an operational level. Simultaneously, their teams should redirect their attention to the human element, specifically emphasizing the enhancement of diversity in expression and transparency in everyday collaborative work.

Let's take a look at how these different trends will impact collaborative working over the coming year so that you can be better prepared to fuel innovation and enable your future workspace.

1. Optimizing efficiency and performance

Inflation, budget restrictions, talent shortages,... With the aim of optimizing the allocation of their means and resources, the main question on the minds of today's business leaders is: how can we do more with less? 

Here are several ways in which we can help you cost-effectively transform your collaborative workspace, and increase both the efficiency and performance of your teams in 2024.

Create an environment that supports hybrid and asynchronous working

In 2023, the debate has intensified more than ever between managers and large companies, who want to see a return to on-site working, and employees, who are calling for greater flexibility.

According to Glassdoor's 2024 Workplace Trends study, this flexibility will be a key factor in retaining talent within large companies. For example, it has already been shown that some job-seekers are turning more to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), precisely because remote working policies are often more flexible than in large organizations.

In this context, business leaders are constantly questioning the role and needs of the traditional face-to-face workspace. For them, it's also a financial issue, as the implementation of environments compatible with hybrid and asynchronous working represents opportunities for cost optimization: office rental and maintenance, transportation for employee commuting, etc.

In 2024, it will therefore be important to provide your teams with a virtual workspace that suits them, and that is both adapted to hybrid and remote working. In this way, you can guarantee them a seamless working experience wherever they are, particularly when they need to switch from face-to-face to remote work (and vice versa). 

Make sure you also include asynchronous working facilities. This will enable you to shorten the time spent in meetings and make better use of your working time, regardless of your geographical location. For example, Klaxoon’s work collaborative platform makes this possible thanks to the Question tool, with which you can challenge each other as a team on a given subject, and then come and enrich the exchange at a time that suits you best.

Use all-in-one tools to optimize collaboration

A study by Owl Labs shows that, for 72% of remote workers, using collaborative tools is essential to their productivity.

Fortunately, these solutions are also compatible with good cost optimization. Collaborative tools in the form of all-in-one platforms are the way to go. Not only do they deliver budget savings on a large scale, they also deliver operational benefits (with data centralization, and therefore simplified exchanges compared to managing several collaborative tools combined) and security benefits.

What's more, research by Constellation (The Leading Trends in Visual Collaboration for 2024) reveals that companies using a visual collaborative platform see an average 20% increase in team productivity and a 15% acceleration in decision-making.  

An all-in-one platform like Klaxoon ensures you a seamless working experience and easy exchange of information between your teams, wherever they may be. This multiplies their efficiency while reducing the initial investment and training time required compared with the adoption of several complementary tools.

On the one hand, productivity gains are guaranteed, thanks to innovative, visual collaborative work tools. But if we look at the way teams work, it's the human factor that is once again at the heart of the collaborative stakes at the end of 2023. And it's by fostering committed, empowering management that you'll succeed in creating a collaborative work environment that encourages long-term talent retention.

2. People-centered management

Without committed leadership, there can be no effective transformation of working methods. Good middle management is therefore crucial in articulating the company's strategic vision with the collaborative work of its teams.

The role of middle management in talent retention

According to McKinsey, middle managers play a vital role in today's organizations: they are seen as performance accelerators, while enhancing the expertise and well-being of their teams. Over time, good middle management even reflects better talent retention. It is therefore important to provide these managers with a working environment that facilitates their development and collaboration. 

Yet, among the main problems encountered by middle managers today, no less than 44% mention bureaucracy and lengthy processes in the first place (McKinsey). These two factors weigh on their workload on a daily basis, and as a result, managers have less time to devote to developing talent and employee experience in their teams.

There is therefore a need to equip your managers to simplify their work processes, and thus reduce the time they spend on data entry tasks, organizing meetings or finding effective working methods for their teams. Klaxoon can help them do this with dozens of ready-to-use templates, but also by enabling managers to quickly and accurately assess employee engagement thanks to integrated data analysis functionalities and automated meeting minutes.

Continuous improvement and skills development

According to the OECD, the lifespan of a technical skill has fallen from 30 years in 1987 to just 2 years today. We are witnessing an ongoing skill obsolescence, and this reinforces companies' need for dedicated follow-up within teams, and management committed to helping employees identify, renew and develop their skills.

Here, the manager plays the role of coach, whose aim is to encourage learning initiatives and continuous improvement within his or her teams. Klaxoon's all-in-one collaborative platform can help managers simply achieve this goal. With its unique suite of 10 visual collaboration tools, they can create limitless virtual environments where it's possible to experiment as a team, and where everyone can have their say on what works and what doesn't, like during a retrospective. 

What's more, Klaxoon integrates easily with recognized tools such as Jira, Google or Microsoft Teams, enabling teams to leverage cross-functional skills.

Alongside management, the very nature of teams and their needs and expectations will also change considerably in 2024, all in a context where sustainability and diversity in collaboration are essential.

3. The challenge of employee experience

Generational renewal and collaborative working

There is currently a generational renewal going on within companies, and this will become clearer in 2024 with the gradual arrival of Gen Z (or Generation Z) in the active workforce. According to a study by Glassdoor, 2024 will be the year when the number of Gen Z employees surpasses the number of Baby Boomers in organizations. 

This also means new expectations and needs at work, from a generation that has grown up with digital technology. Collaboration is not left out, with new challenges linked to greater transparency in exchanges, and once again a need for flexibility related to hybrid working mentioned above. Finally, this generation needs more than ever to feel heard and supported by companies and expects them to give meaning to their work. 

Here again, Klaxoon's all-in-one collaborative environment offers many possibilities for ensuring transparent exchanges, requesting and gathering feedback from your teams with Surveys, and offering them interactive and participative formats from anywhere (Quiz, Challenge Questions, gamified pathways, etc.). The aim is to take everyone's contribution into account, in a stimulating, innovative work environment adapted to the needs of all generations.

Diversity of expression: fostering collective intelligence for better collaboration

In addition to this generational challenge, companies are facing a more global one linked to the diversity of means of expression in their collaboration. In 2024, it will be a question above all of enabling everyone to express themselves in the way that suits them best, and to make the most of their skills and expertise in the workplace.

Implicitly, success in the workplace is still very much linked to oral skills and fluency. This excludes people who have good ideas to share, but who don't dare to speak up, or who are pushed aside in favor of those who usually speak more. 

So it's important to provide everyone with a working environment that allows them to get involved and participate naturally, and that maximizes collective intelligence, anywhere, anytime and anyhow. And this is precisely what Klaxoon does, providing a visual collaboration experience in which everyone can find their place, and where all ideas have a chance to be valued.

4. AI’s impact on teamwork

Of course, when we talk about improving collective intelligence in 2024, it's also important to mention the democratization of artificial intelligence (AI) that has taken place this year, particularly in the professional environment. Let's take a look at the impact AI can have on your collaboration, and how it can be used to complement your existing collaborative tools.

The role of AI in the Future of Work

Whether we're talking about content or data-generating AI, process automation or even coding assistants, the possibilities are increasingly numerous and sophisticated. This is an opportunity not to be missed if you want to improve your performance and efficiency at work.

Goldman Sachs forecasts show that AI-related corporate investment could reach $200 billion by 2025. To stay ahead of the game, even in today's global cost-optimization environment, it's therefore vital to include AI in your strategic thinking starting now.

It's also a question of anticipating this revolution for your company: preparing a favorable governance framework, raising awareness of the use of AI across all business lines, and seeing how it can complement your collaborative tools to offer you even more possibilities. 

A survey by TECHnalysis Research shows that, while 88% of companies are already using generative AI in some way today, only 7% have set up a regulatory framework dedicated to these tools. This lack of guidelines can lead to loopholes that could damage companies' reputations, particularly in cases where automatically generated content is delivered directly to the audience, without prior human verification.

Using proven visual methods, Klaxoon can then help you create a structured framework to accurately assess the risks and opportunities of implementing artificial intelligence tools in your company, and facilitate your transformation projects while improving your performance.

The role of AI in visual collaboration

According to Gartner, by 2024 - this means very soon - visual collaboration applications will be fully utilized in 30% of meeting experiences (whether before, during or after meetings).

Complementing your visual collaboration tools, the use of AI will then enable you to offer your teams more personalized work experiences, and even faster. For example, it can be used to develop content tailored to each team, or even each employee, based on ready-to-use methods such as Klaxoon's numerous templates.

You can also use many AI tools on the market to help you create relevant content to quickly share your Memos, Quizzes or Surveys. Finally, AI can help you take your training courses even further, with personalized content that can be easily added to an Onboarding Path Board or a group workshop.

Are you willing to learn more about Klaxoon’s all-in-one platform, and how it can help you address the major trends in collaborative working within your company in 2024? Feel free to contact us for a chat or a quick demo.