I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Ben Pring. a futurist who leads several thought leadership initiatives for Cognizant and their Center for the Future of Work.
We discuss how the "Future of Work" has become the "Present of Work" in the last quarter during the COVID-19 crisis.
He discusses moving Cognizant's global workforce to a work-from-home model, their work alongside Microsoft to help Sensodyne with a contact tracing app in the UK and a large robotic process automation (RPA) project for an Australian retailer.
We discuss how the great work from home "experiment" of the last few weeks will likely play out and how companies are developing protocols for re-opening physical sites. He describes the swinging of the globalization pendulum, and he references an upcoming Cognizant study on 21 places for the future which are likely to benefit from the reshaping of global supply chains.
We also discuss automation trends that have accelerated during the crisis (both of us have written books on automation and jobs in the last few years) and, in contrast, the calls for "Reverse Fordism" and of rethinking platforms to also benefit participants not just the provider.
He describes what he calls the "Clean Regime" - a focus on hygiene in all aspects of work and workplaces. He thinks we may see a Health Security Agency (HSA) similar to the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) that emerged after the 9/11 attacks.
He jokes he is looking forward to air travel with"(Westin) Heavenly Beds, soggy club sandwiches and the TSA crew at 6 in the morning."
Ben and I were colleagues at Gartner and always have plenty to cover when we meet. For now, meeting via Zoom is not that bad an option.
