In such a situation, it is noteworthy that Logitech Korea has presented a vision for the next-generation work environment. At the ‘Future of Work 2024’ event hosted by ITWorld and CIO Korea on August 28, Logitech Korea’s B2B business director, Hyunseop Cho, emphasized that now that generative AI is taking center stage, paradoxically, a ‘human-centered’ work environment is more necessary. This is because how effectively people can connect with people has become a key factor in strengthening corporate competitiveness.
The Challenges of Hybrid Work
According to a recent survey conducted by Logitech targeting 594 employees in domestic IT, healthcare, education, manufacturing, finance, and media, 66% of respondents said that the hybrid work system has a positive effect on increasing employees’ productivity and ‘work-life balance.’ Employees responded that by reducing their commuting time, they can spend more time with their families or pursuing hobbies.
The usefulness of hybrid work varied, but the percentage of domestic companies that are not implementing it at all reached 32%. This suggests that there are many companies that are implementing a ‘return to the office’ policy as the COVID-19 period, when non-face-to-face work was forced, has passed.
Why did the actual implementation rate of hybrid work fall short of employees’ expectations? In addition to the management’s will to introduce hybrid work (25%), respondents mentioned that better infrastructure is needed, such as introducing devices for remote work (18%) and improving collaboration tools (17%). Managing Director Cho Hyun-seop said, “There are also research results that show that traditional video conferencing can be a burden on the brain. Although the system is in place, employees have to receive training through constant clicking, and concerns about how to come up with creative ideas without actually meeting people are factors that are making people reconsider hybrid work,” explaining that solving these problems will allow them to move forward into a digital work environment suitable for the future.
The Future Changed by AI, the Key to Smart Work Environment is ‘People’
The future work environment that Logitech envisions is one where employees are satisfied regardless of where they work, and where all employees’ work and collaboration flow smoothly. From the company’s perspective, it is also an environment where high agility and productivity can be secured while saving costs. This is why Logitech says that the future work space should be reconstructed as ‘people-centered’ rather than ‘technology-centered.’ While technologies such as AI can be useful in optimizing the work space, it is ultimately people, or employees, who will increase productivity and agility after the introduction of technology.
Managing Director Cho Hyun-seop said, “For example, if we redesign the work method so that AI can take over simple tasks, the question of what employees should do remains. We need a way to manage this well. In addition, if the work method changes due to the emergence of new technologies, the role of the office will inevitably change. For example, after the implementation of remote work, the office can become a space where employees can take a break or come up with creative ideas. These concerns can only be resolved by focusing on people.”
In a situation where many people believe that AI will be central to the future work environment, Managing Director Cho Hyun-seop added that focusing more on people will be necessary to achieve differentiated business performance in the AI era. He predicted, “Now that collaboration and communication have become extremely important in various tasks, efforts to improve business performance ultimately come down to ‘people.’ Rather than physical assets, how to better connect employees and how to provide a smooth and uninterrupted work environment will determine the performance of a company.”
See, hear, and collaborate better with AI···Logitech’s ‘next-generation work environment’
In this regard, Logitech is presenting solutions that value ‘seeing’, ‘listening’, and ‘collaborating’ for the next-generation smart work environment. In line with the future work environment where human relationships become more important, it is focusing on customized technologies beyond physical hardware.
Generative AI is utilized in various ways in Logitech solutions that focus on how well a person’s actual behavior can be transferred to the screen. LightSight 2 technology starts from the idea that not only words but also facial expressions and gestures are important in understanding the other person, and implements an angle that distinguishes participants and captures all actions and gestures using AI and computer vision technology. This helps remote users feel connected. Convenience is also added with various intelligent detection options such as group view, presenter view, and grid view.
Logitech is also working to create a realistic communication environment in the user’s ‘listening’ experience. Representative examples include ‘LightSound 2’, which uses AI to minimize noise and remove voice duplication, and ‘Speaker Recognition’, which allows you to identify who said what in a Microsoft Teams room.
According to Executive Director Cho Hyun-seop, the future work environment that Logitech presents, or the smart workplace, is an environment where “everywhere becomes a workspace.” To achieve this flexible and efficient work, Logitech is also considering the physical elements surrounding the space and is supporting the construction of a video conferencing system that suits the characteristics of each space, from personal spaces to conference rooms.
A representative example of a company that has built a smart work environment with Logitech is Siemens. With 230,000 employees working in 7,200 global locations, Siemens had the task of supporting smooth communication between employees in various regions and maintaining business continuity by allowing access from any location. Logitech supported the process from consulting to simulation and room solutions to build an optimized work environment. Managing Director Hyunseop Cho explained, “Since the introduction of the smart work environment, Siemens has seen a 15% increase in collaboration. When calculated in terms of productivity, it has improved by approximately 36%.”
In Korea, there is HD Hyundai, which has built a video conferencing solution in collaboration with Logitech in its global R&D center. The all-in-one solution, ‘Rally Bar’, was installed in the medium-sized conference rooms and interview rooms of the HD Hyundai Global R&D Center, and the modular video conferencing system, ‘Rally Plus’, was installed in the large conference rooms. Equipped with a 4K resolution PTZ camera that supports up to 15x zoom, the two products support AI-based real-time detection, providing the function of identifying the number of meeting participants and their locations. As a result of collaborating with Logitech from the space design stage, HD Hyundai was able to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase productivity.
Communication and collaboration are more important than ever
According to a Logitech survey, 88% of respondents said they would be willing to choose a company that guarantees work-life balance and offers a flexible work environment, even if it means paying a slightly lower salary. In addition to the advantage of being able to secure talented employees (36%), respondents also mentioned that introducing a smart work environment can help them flexibly respond to natural disasters and unavoidable business situations (43%) and implement ESG management strategies (32%).
There is a reason why many companies are still considering introducing a smart work environment. In particular, with the emergence of a technology called generative AI, communication and collaboration are becoming more important than ever as work processes change. In a remote work environment, it is not easy to manage employees well and create a collaborative culture. However, the benefits that companies can gain are also clear. Managing Director Cho Hyun-seop said, “Employees have a very high preference for a smart work environment. This means that if companies have an employee-centered infrastructure environment, they can secure benefits such as talent recruitment and improved productivity.” He added, “Logitech will support the future work environment through solutions that focus on connections between people and organically link each workspace.”
yuseong.kim@foundryco.com
Source: www.itworld.co.kr
