A next generation hybrid office visualiser platform to enhance workforce collaboration and productivity (Focos-HOV).

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When workplaces were forced to work fully remotely in early 2020, the tools and technology they needed already existed. The main challenge was adopting them quickly and updating longstanding processes. For some, remote work has created new job opportunities, offered more family time, and provided options for whether or when to commute. These benefits mean as we emerge from the pandemic, many organisations recognise that a hybrid office is inevitable, long-term. An Accenture survey found that "83% of employees prefer a hybrid work model (working remotely between 25% and 75% of the time)." However, challenges lay ahead. When employees do work remotely, teams become more siloed, productivity drops, and innovation and creativity through ad-hoc collaboration is stifled.The transition to a hybrid workplace is therefore proving more disruptive than the move to remote work. One crucial factor is that the technology needed to create a seamless hybrid office experience remains largely nascent, meaning there is a significant technology gap in the Digital Workplace market.One area being heavily invested in is virtual and augmented reality, and the market is expected to reach $72.8bn by 2024\. Within this market, innovators are developing immersive and non-immersive hybrid office technology offerings, however both areas face significant barriers to mass adoption. Immersive technology remains costly and impractical, requiring hardware (e.g. headsets) to be worn by the user. Whilst non-immersive technology provides virtual environments with no hardware requirement, current solutions only offer basic collaboration functionality. None currently harness the power of big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).In response, Futuresoft Limited, a cutting-edge software-as-a-service (Saas) company is developing its latest product line called 'Focos-HOV' - a next generation technology which aims at delivering a first-of-its-kind hybrid office visualiser and collaboration platform. The innovation builds upon the commercial success of Futuresoft's first product (Focos) which enables businesses to operate all their SaaS applications via one single cloud platform, reducing the user's need to switch between various tabs and windows.Focos-HOV will transcend the first-generation product by harnessing the data Focos collates and integrating other data sources and AI/ML techniques to provide an on-screen virtual office environment, showing company members, their location, and availability to one another for enhanced remote and office worker awareness. Focos-HOV will provide a game-changing hybrid office technology, enabling vital 'unscheduled' interactions between workers to foster creativity and collaboration, and reduce unnecessary context switching and interruptions.