A new reports reveals that artificial intelligence has been named as the most influential office innovation by global CEOs with 36% of bosses ranking it in top spot.
The report, commissioned by International Workplace Group, marks the 300th anniversary of the modern office.
Laptops and tablets (35%), video calling and conferencing (31%), Wi-Fi (29%) and hybrid working (26%) complete the top five most influential office innovations.
IWG said the results of the survey show that chief executives view the technological shift workers are going through right now as being as significant as anything the office has gone through in the last 300 years, such as the rise of the typewriter, smartphones or even the internet.
The top five is dominated by modern developments in technology that have transformed working life over the past decade.
IWG said its report shows that the 2020s are viewed as the most transformational decade to date, driven by the rapid adoption of hybrid models, AI, automation and flexible working practices.
This marks a significant leap from the 1990s, the second most impactful era, when the internet, email and early computing technologies first connected workplaces on a global scale.
It also found that many of the 1990s innovations are lost on younger workers. When asked if they could describe some of these innovations, only 20% could do so for fax machines and 16% for floppy disks – despite it being the instantly recognisable “save document” icon.
Despite this generational knowledge gap, there remains a sense of nostalgia with 68% of CEOs say they feel nostalgic for workplace tools and technologies of the past.
Mark Dixon, CEO and Founder of IWG, said that for the past 300 years, the office has continually evolved alongside each major wave of tech innovation.
“Now with the advent and rapid adoption of AI, we are seeing one of the most significant and groundbreaking innovations over this entire period,” he added.
The world’s first purpose-built office – the Old Admiralty Building – opened in London in 1726 to support the rapid expansion of British naval global business and the civil service. Other iconic purpose-built offices of the last three centuries include the Witte Huis in Holland in 1898 – one of the earliest skyscrapers – the Wainwright Building in the US in 1891 and the Pentagon in the US in 1943.
