# The next normal is collaborative and people-centric - The Asana Blog > Wayne Kurtzman, IDC Research Director, Social, Communities & Collaboration discusses the next normal in work and collaboration. Source: https://asana.com/resources/idc-culture-of-collaboration ## The next normal is collaborative and people-centric #### Summary The pandemic accelerated digital transformation by five years, especially in collaboration. In this guest post, IDC’s Wayne Kurtzman explains why the future of work depends on integrating collaborative technologies with a people-first culture. Learn how to align tools, trust, and teamwork to drive results in the next normal._Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Wayne Kurtzman, IDC Research Director, Social, Communities & Collaboration._ The last ten years saw businesses adopt collaborative applications, but the “Work from Home” needs generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has created a hyper-acceleration of adoption. Prior to the pandemic, this market was already growing at over 20% annually according to IDC, but COVID-19 enabled the **adoption of collaborative applications to accelerate by five years**. Transitions that dramatic come with the need to make changes in how everyone works—especially if you want to see your company move from business continuity to what IDC calls “The Next Normal.” The power of collaboration comes from replacing legacy email with new modes of connecting people in ways that save time and money, especially when they are adopted in a culture of collaboration. Collaboration is not just technical. It is the cultural willingness to share and win as a team using the right technologies and the assumption that everyone can add value. This a fundamental and significant shift in culture for teams or full companies. Yet, despite projected cuts in IT spending, IDC worldwide surveys show 54% of companies expect that they will increase collaboration applications spending this year. CEO projections are even higher. Smartphone owners already knew they could download an application to connect and get things done with family, friends, and their communities. They were often puzzled why they couldn’t do the same at work. As a result of COVID-19, everyone’s multi-year Digital Transformation plans must be implemented now as a matter of survival. And smartphone owners are proof the workers are ready, even if the workplace was reluctant. ## Making collaboration happen Collaboration needs to be built around a core of security, governance, and compliance. It needs trust, both from the workforce that their personal data is secure, and from the enterprise that their data is secure. The right side of the diagram below focuses on technologies that need to be in place to effectively leverage collaboration. The left side depicts the Culture of Collaboration that needs to be in place to make working together more effective. **The Communications Layer** enables people to be human and do “people things,” from conversations, business meetings, short-form text messaging (like they use outside of work), and bringing groups together within collaborative applications. **The Content Layer** adds the needed files, documents, and content people need to get works done. _These two layers are critical_—but maybe not for the reason you think. If a business fails to provide robust, easy to use tools in these areas, workers will bring in their own. After all, since they are working from home, they need to demonstrate they can be productive. They know which applications can help them reach that goal. **The Productivity Layer** adds superpowers for everyone. These are the integrations that bring the flow of work together with the communications and content layers. Work management, systems of record integration, and even marketing technology integrations save considerable time and money. IDC identifies that **three or more integrations creates significantly more time savings per person—over 30 weeks per hour per person more savings.** **The Culture of Collaboration** is a top-down/bottom-up change that creates new norms, and supports the move of work from siloed email to collaboration platforms. To achieve this, people need to feel the collaboration platforms are a safe place to share their best ideas. Collaboration is new to a lot of people—they need to feel safe, especially now. Peer mentoring and behavior modeling within the teams are more effective than manager suggestions for driving appropriate behaviors. Recognized “official” peer mentors at every business level can also be used to feed back to system administrations what features can be improved in the system. Finally, the ability to cross silos and regions to get subject-matter experts involved adds new voices that expedite solutions with new insights and helps avoid pitfalls. ## Old way is over The hardest part of having people adopt new ways of working is thinking “the old way” was better. Today, most everyone knows the old way is no longer an option. It makes sense to leverage the skills you have and want to attract. Improving ease of work through collaboration is core to that goal. 工作管理 - [如何在家工作：成功的 30 個祕訣](/zh-tw/resources/how-to-work-from-home) 混合及遠距工作 #### 內容撰稿人 隨著兼職和全職的遠端工作機會逐漸增加，您可以告別長途通勤和辦公室隔間了。雖然穿著睡衣工作的前景可能很有吸引力 (而且更舒適！)，但遠端工作在時間管理、工作場所溝通和團隊合作方面也帶來了一系列新的挑戰。在家工作的人必須重新調整他們的排程表並學習新方法，才能成功在家完成工作。同時，管理者面臨著遠端領導和激勵團隊的挑戰，同時要保持與以前相同的協作和工作品質。要在 ... - [克服這 19 種無意識偏見，助您打造更具包容性的環境](/zh-tw/resources/unconscious-bias-examples) 領導 #### 內容撰稿人 Whether we realize it or not, our unconscious biases influence our professional lives, from the way we think to the way we interact with colleagues. Unconscious biases are mental ... - [工作管理是什麼，您的團隊又為什麼需要它](/zh-tw/resources/what-is-work-management-ebook) 協作 靈感與影響力百寶箱 #### 內容撰稿人 在團隊間協調作業很容易陷入混亂，特別是如果您必須在電子郵件或訊息間挖掘資訊時。如果沒有一個系統可用於規劃、整理及執行工作，那麼困惑及混亂便有可能不斷滋長。這就是為什麼我們需要工作管理。在本電子書中，我們會深入地定義工作管理，包括它與專案管理的不同。瞭解工作管理 如何幫助團隊輕易連結與協調，讓每個人都能一起達成更多成果，甚至是在這個不斷朝向分散的方向發展的世 ... - [How leading organizations are driving real results with AI and collaborative work management](https://resources.asana.com/driving-real-results-AI-work-management.html?utm_medium=website&utm_source=web_event_hub&utm_campaign=for26) 工作中的 AI #### 內容撰稿人 - [The next normal is collaborative and people-centric](/zh-tw/resources/idc-culture-of-collaboration) 工作管理 工作管理 Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Wayne Kurtzman, IDC Research Director, Social, Communities & Collaboration.The last ten years saw businesses adopt collaborative application ...