The pre-Covid commute has been replaced by entering data into the CRM.
Maybe Salesforce just isn't that good of a product.
He overhired. The market changed. Remote professionals discovered that they don't need a manager. Oh...and SalesForce isn't that good of a system its customers are old-school, command and control, status-quo, adhere to the process not deliverables, CYA, types that demand Walk Around Management, and define productivity as staying" between the lines."
And another thing - all these professors coming out of the woodwork and pontificating, are the propagators of the " old-school, command and control, status-quo, adhere to the process, not deliverables, CYA, types that demand Walk Around Management, and define productivity as staying between the lines." mentality - they taught it.
The world is in a place nobody has been before and comparing anything today with what was done just 48 months ago is foolish.
Upon an ocean of auguries and reflections, my contrarian tendencies pull me into ignoring if not despising each "end of the year" account and "predictions for next year". So many articles and pontifications - it's stifling.
Who needs it?
Well, low and behold, I've surrendered to the waves, to the Fire. Here is my contribution to the deadwood of 2022 and the albatross of 2023.
*SPECIAL NOTE IF YOU WANT TO SKIP TO SEE YOUR FUTURE SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO "Artificial Intelligence" becomes simply "Intelligent".*
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we work, communicate, and live. With many businesses forced to close their offices and switch to remote work, the "work from anywhere" movement has gained momentum. However, this trend was already on the rise before the pandemic, fueled by advances in technology that make it possible to work and collaborate from anywhere in the world.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
As the article "Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Manhattan May Never Be the Same" by Matthew Haag highlights,
So, I found this article from 2013 - The top five regrets of the Dying.
#1 - "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realize until they no longer have it."
Now, today, view this thought through the post-fear-of-covid, work-from-anywhere, lens.
45-minute commutes
empty face-to-face meetings
irrelevant and ineffective managers
2% raises after 'check-box' evaluations...
In her work as a palliative care nurse, Bronnie Ware encountered the dying epiphanies of patients in their final days.
The most common regrets she observed are as follows:
Not much to say here. Reasons aside, change is in the air like never before in every area of interest; from news media to manufacturing to Office Technology. The Fear of Covid, remote and the return to the office movements, and AI will contribute to and accelerate the rate of transformation on a Universal plane.
You don't need to look too deeply for motivation. The Ford model went along the lines, "...make a product that employees will buy...". Banks have money tied up in commercial real estate and clients who are invested in property.
It is bad optics to have a company that makes money when buildings are occupied letting their employees un-occupy their own buildings.
Of course, this is BS, the End is Near. CRE is going to metamorphose into something different - just like the rest of us.
Executive Points:
A recent decision by a new CEO to halt remote work sparked a backlash among employees, underlining the shift in expectations regarding workplace flexibility.
Despite pushback from employees, certain sectors like banking continue to advocate for in-person work, arguing it fosters a career-oriented mindset.
The tug-of-war between employers and employees over remote work indicates a changing landscape, with the possibility of companies losing talent if they don't adapt to new norms.
There is a revolution afoot few recognize or acknowledge. This event will obliterate every business model in our channel. Most of corporate America, the Fortune 1000, have decided to keep employees working from home, they’ve canceled yearly company get-togethers and will not be sending anyone to shows or conventions.
You figured it out, and built office space in your kitchen, second room, or closet, with no guidance from HQ.
You learned Zoom.
You became more 'self-managed.
You weren't considered 'essential'. That high standing was reserved for the antiquated accounting department and even more old-fashioned mailroom.
And now, today, the taskmaster wants to look out upon a sea of workers toiling away in the cotton fields of the 21st century - the cube farm.
Managers hope we don't figure out how obsolete they've become - they fear for their jobs.
The most fearful are in the C-Suite. Those "Killers of Passion" who command their complacent, easily replaceable, and 'loyal' chattel back to the stalls.
It's worse. Upon return to the office, everything you learned and did 'for the company' during Covid is to be forgotten or suppressed - the hierarchical, top-down rules of management must be enforced to maintain order.
They entice and seduce:
Friday is blue jean day.
Group outings to the baseball game.
Free cappuccinos in the luxury kitchen; beer.
Catered breakfasts, corporate BBQs, and Christmas Parties.
401k's, healthcare, and 2.5% yearly pay increases.
Ignore the 45-minute commutes, and missed recitals.
Enjoy the useless, mundane, and mindless 4PM meetings that inevitably and predictably run over by 60 minutes - "this could have been an email."
Don't forget co-worker personalities and hostile environments - HR is not your friend.
"Some simply refuse to schlep back and forth to an office, taking two-plus hours a day commuting into a crowded, dirty and crime-ridden city. Insurance and financial services giant Prudential conducted a study that found “one in three American workers would not want to work for an employer that required them to be onsite full time.” - Forbes
Here's the nasty and silver lining: Covid19 and remote working opened our eyes to bigger possibilities. We can pursue our passions and our passion is not a 9 to 5 prison. Sure, there are great advantages to working for somebody else from anywhere. The big, huge transformation will not be technology-driven, it will be powered by passion your passion, unleashed.
This is a great fear the establishment denies - workers, once unshackled, will move away from the establishment and towards their personal, unique dreams. Maybe that dream is to be the best Events Manager in the industry - why would the best work for one company? Better yet, why wouldn't she work for herself instead of Big Brother?
Fascinating...the possibilities are endless.
Gambling man rolls the dice, working man pays the bill
Unions at Amazon. Musk, the once Hero of Technology, bought Twitter (the employees go nuts), and teachers acted badly - 1200 bodies of civilians in Ukraine.
Unions are on their last breath -Robots will not participate in a Great Resignation. Nothing is going to stop Alexa, Cortana, or Siri.
Hybrid work models are the best of both worlds. Hybrid work refers to employees returning to the office throughout the week. They may come in every Tuesday and Thursday, choosing to work Monday Wednesday Friday, and work from home Thursday and Friday. This is flexible and great.
Like always, there is more to the story. For management, hybrid means they keep control because they see their workers face to face. For employees, the ability to work from home, at least, facilitates more freedom, happiness, and greater productivity.
But there are problems arising from hybrid work environments.
With 24 months of #WFH and #Hybrid work behind us, data is starting to trickle in revealing some interesting challenges with the practice. More than 80% of workers polled say that hybrid is ‘exhausting’ for employees, according to a TinyPulse survey report.
'You can't stay home in your pajamas all day!': NYC Mayor Eric Adams says workers must get back to the office because work-from-home policies aren't economically sustainable for the Big Apple and New Yorkers need to 'cross-pollinate ideas and interact'.
'We must get open, and let me tell you why,' Adams said in an appearance in Bloomberg TV last month.
'That accountant from a bank that sits in an office - it's not only him, it feeds our financial ecosystem. He goes to the cleaners and get his suits clean, he goes out to the restaurants, he brings in a business traveler, which is 70 percent of our hotel occupancy.'
Detroit, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, NJ - the places that locked down the hardest are going to PUSH for "back-to-office" mandates.
A quick response:
"No.
Perhaps we WERE in PJ's - but that's not any of your business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend of remote work, and many companies have embraced it as a permanent option.
However, Amazon's recent announcement that its corporate staff must come back to the office at least three days per week starting May 1 marks a significant shift in remote work policies.
Embracing change and shedding old skin: America's journey towards a brighter future.
Three-point executive summary:
American values, including patriotism, religious faith, hard work, and having children, are receding in importance to Americans, as per the Wall Street Journal-NORC poll.
The country is divided by political parties over social trends such as racial diversity in businesses and the use of gender-neutral pronouns.
Only money was cited as very important by 43% of respondents in the new survey, up from 31% in 1998.
__________
Greg's Opinion:
As one of the few people who voted for Ronnie Raygun, it the results of the survey are not surprising.
The self-loathing of a nation has been eroding foundational values since the 60s.
And that's okay.
There will be a tomorrow and America will be there, leading to way. For all the angst, all the fabricated and false shame, we are the nation that leads - we lead in tech, we lead in societies, we lead in business and we lead in change and we are always growing.
Unfortunately, constant growth equates to continuous growing pains.
GPT summary of WSJ article, "Americans Pull Back From Values That Once Defined U.S., WSJ-NORC Poll Finds: Patriotism, religion, and hard work hold less importance"
If "Where there is Mystery there is Margin" is your catchphrase, you deserve what's coming.
I just read a blood-curdling article that was not intended for our industry. The story was not penned by one of our beloved industry writers or curators. It wasn't birthed by any resident bloviator or hired shrill.
By all accounts, the tome is innocuous, if not boring. There exists between the ink or pixels, an ominous report for those of us residing in the realm of fire and static, of paper and notions; "The End is Near."
Through the haze that is the fear of Covid, the desperation of supply chains, and the illumination of a purpose beyond the cubicle, copiers prevailed. Even with the fall of private equity, commercial real estate, and an unhealthy dose of self-loathing, dealers remained. They stood.
That was then, this is now.
No degree of strategy, tactics, or blind luck will save us now. Artificial intelligence will render the document's annihilation - and with it, an industry.
"Microsoft’s new Copilot will change Office documents forever"
should scare the shit out of every single person in the Office Technology Realm. OEMs from NJ to Japan are quaking or swimming the sweet River of Bliss.
The Event Horizon is passed, Gravity has us all now. It's a matter of hours.
When I first joined LinkedIn, back in the stone age circa 2008, I appreciated the nascent application at the same level as My Space, America Online and Twitter. Back then, LinkedIn was an environment for recruiters and the unemployed. Salespeople rarely engaged with prospects or customers online. I joined because it seemed interesting.
Today, things are very different. Indeed, since COVID-19 and Microsoft’s purchase, the still-strong recruitment application has become a singular business-to-business platform.
According to some LinkedIn business statistics:
There are 57M+ companies listed on LinkedIn.
73% of buyers are more likely to consider a brand if the salesperson reaches out via LinkedIn.
There are more than 10,000 B2B software product pages on LinkedIn.
There was an increase of 110% in confirmed hires year-over-year in...
Behind the Curtain: The Real Reasons Companies Want You Back in the Office
Greg's Words
Why are large corporations mandating a return to the office? Real Estate investment(ROI) and a survival instinct.
If #WFH worked during the fear of Covid, why not now? Control? Rationalization? Relevancy? When there are no employees in an office, why do we need managers? And without managers, why do we need a C-Level?
Now throw in AI.
AI allows two people to do the work of 10 -programmers, writers, etc. - Why office space for programmers, Marketing, H/R, Chief People Office, or general administration?
New people taking on the Establishment and helping dealers make their customers happy.
You are invited to "The Cloud and Managed Print Services" featuring a deep dive into cloud print technology with MyQ. This session will explore the potential of cloud print solutions, emphasizing the cutting-edge features and unique benefits of MyQ Roger. https://lnkd.in/dcntFiYV
We're going to kick around topics like Clouds, Customers, and Voice Commands. It' is going to be grand.
Don't be a printer fool, embrace the AI revolution
It shouldn't be any surprise, that remote working has impacted managed print services - although anecdotal reports say volumes have approached pre-fear-of-Covid levels, how the evolution of the office transpires will impact your MPS contract volume.
The supply chain is almost back to normal, and by some estimates, 60% of businesses are returning to the office. Again, some data suggest different numbers.
As the 'office' goes, so does the number of devices and print/copiers produced go - this was evident before 2020.
But now Artificial Intelligence is on the scene - eliminating job functions and if you look closely, when AI is asked to solve a business problem in workflow, the answer does not include the statement, "First print a hardcopy of my recommendations and make 500 copies."
AI maximizes processes and as you know, the slowest function in any process is the function that involves hard copy output(print/copy) or input(fax/scan). AI eliminates slow processes and print is the slowest, least efficient.
So what?
Well, we put together a quick reseach project and engaged the great AI in the sky to help illustrate the current environment of MPS and possible influences and outcomes.
Well, folks, let me tell ya, the 'Work Spouse' has been around since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Y'know, back in the days before the Covid-19 pandemic, the office was a breeding ground for interpersonal relationships, and the label 'work spouse' was like a rubber stamp of approval for a third-party 9-5 romance.
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