Confined to our homes over the past year, many of us have moved our social interactions online. But teens and young adults have been hanging out with friends virtually since long before COVID-19, and not only on Zoom. From attending a gig in Fortnite to building with pals in VR platforms like Rec Room, Gen Z has developed a deep familiarity with a variety of virtual forms of communication.
Just as this cohort plays and socializes differently than other generations, it will work differently too. In an increasingly hybrid workplace, this is no bad thing. The growth of remote work creates a strong demand for what the next generation of workers can offer in abundance: the ability to think strategically, brainstorm, and problem-solve with others in both 2D and 3D virtual settings.
They will need access to the right technologies though. Today’s toolset consists mostly of 2D interfaces such as smartphones, video calling software, and messaging platforms like Discord. As remote work grows, immersive 3D VR meeting workspaces that boost collaboration will become enterprise staples too.
The future is coming faster than most think. The affordability of VR headsets like the Pico Neo 2 Eye and Oculus Quest 2 is helping to unlock the business case. In 2021, sales of VR, AR and MR headsets will double over 2019 levels, according to Deloitte research. In turn, that growth is spurring interest in virtual collaboration platforms like Glue that exploit the possibilities of the hardware.
Exactly which solutions take off will be determined by Fortniters themselves. In 2020, large companies were using, on average, more than a thousand different cloud applications, according to Netskope, up a fifth on the previous year. Notably, 97% of these applications were not managed by a centralized IT or security function, but rather freely adopted by different parts of the business and individual users.
This tells us that digital natives are more eager than ever to complement their normal workflows with any tool that can make them more productive and efficient. It also suggests that businesses will need to give their workers the freedom to make the right choices: failing to adapt to how new recruits want to work could mean they miss out on the best talent.
Are you ready to welcome the Fortnite generation into your workplace?
Try Glue as part of your workflow today here.
