AGI – After more than a year of smart working, an evaluation of the experience can be made above all to understand what was the preparation of Italian companies and institutions for such a sudden transition, which today appears epochal, but also to imagine how the future will be remote work, which some see as’ hybrid‘.
“Smart working is here to stay,” says Emanuele Baldi, Lenovo’s executive director for Italy, “The country was not prepared and this is also demonstrated by the demand for equipment that arose a few minutes after the lockdown came into effect, “he adds,” showing a significant technological gap with other similar countries. ”
When on the manufacturers requests for thousands of pieces of equipment rained down. from tablets to laptops to desktop computers, Baldi estimates that 4 or 5 times the standard demand remained unsatisfied. “It is a very strong indicator of the problem we had and that we carry with us”. So what happened was that company employees found themselves working on home computers and kids following distance learning on smartphones. With conceivable consequences on the one hand on the security of information transmission and on the other hand on the effectiveness of teaching.
“The companies have delegated the organization to the worker” says Baldi, “In this first year we have managed a little, but moving towards a hybrid model – that is, a little in presence and a little remotely – the real challenge is to organize the employee’s access to work“.
One of the most discussed issues is that of stress: the illusion that working from home would eliminate tension collided with a very different reality. In the face of the reduction of time lost in travel, for example, we have to deal with “the stress generated by a work model based on the mix between private time and time for work and we cannot think that this is the responsibility of the employee “says Baldi,” we must find models that help to have the right compromise “.
Responsibilities that also become practical, when, for example, the company must make a technology available to the employee “whose choice cannot be left to the person”. “There is a legislative problem” explains Baldi, “because the law that regulates smart working does not provide for a heavy hybrid model like the one that is emerging. Before the pandemic it was a sort of ‘concession’ by the employer of work, is now a model of work and even the law must be interpreted by giving greater flexibility in choosing the way to work “.
Hardware manufacturers have had to face an exponentially growing demand, between 70 and 100%, “which clashed with the fact that this technology does not allow volumes to double in such a short time”. There revolution on the equipment market there was. For example, the laptop segment was considered a mature market for many years and that of fixed workstations even in decline. “Nobody was equipped and we are closing the gap and I believe that even if today we have a much better situation, we carry with us the problem of having built in a short time a system that now presents a series of limitations on the efficiency front”.
The first front is that of cybersecurtity. “Individual and corporate sensitivity has increased tremendously. There is a good level of generalized awareness. Even if it is still a bit difficult because this then turns into actions that respond to the knowledge of the problem. There are logics of construction of the technological model of the company that are obviously far from those of a family. Today we can say that we are in the middle of the ford: there is adequate awareness, but it takes time to transform it into effective action “.
Baldi is not unbalanced on the issue of the quality of work in smart working compared to that in the presence. “In the short term, quality was accompanied by quantity because the remote employee concentrated more on it. But the fact that smart working is so massive and for such a long period gives the feeling that opportunities for sharing with some impact on creativity. It improves on chores, but if you have to be creative you tend to lose something because there is no interaction. For this “he concludes,” the hybrid model is indispensable.
The quality of the equipment – they must be increasingly complete and linked to software functions – it is a theme: we are talking about security, artificial intelligence to develop remote connectivity software and work between groups. Finally, a consideration on distance learning which, says the Lenovo manager, “has sharpened the digital divide and it was an area where people were asked to solve problems on their own.
“There have been valuable alternatives to help families, but surely we could have done better. Today too many kids still dad with a smartphone and this is unacceptable for a country that aims to be successful in international markets. It is an area where we must do a lot. We must be ready in September to have part of the conditions even if we do not yet know how much distance learning will be done. The 500 euro program given by the government was a good idea but it never took off because it is too complicated, the mechanism is cumbersome and is poorly communicated. The devices are there, the warehouses are full, but the requests that arrive are too few and remain in the queue for too long. Regulatory intervention is needed to streamline procedures. It is absurd to live in a country where you can easily watch TV series with almost any type of connection and you cannot do teaching “.
.