There has been much talk about the “sharing economy” – the rise of co-working spaces, collaborative technologies and more open processes and systems that provide new ways of working to current and future generations. But the benefits have largely remained untapped by Australian businesses. Until now.

Spurred on by the consumer-side innovation that is creating enormous value for technology startups, enterprises are beginning to see the light at the end of the technology tunnel – adopting cloud platforms, apps and platforms that are not just changing how we work – but impacting the where, how, why and when of work as well.

At the recent Skype for Business Australian conference, hosted by Generation-e, the Australian authority in unified communications and cloud technologies, I closed out the conference with the following presentation. I touched on:

• The demographic challenges facing businesses in the immediate and medium terms
• Ways to understand employee motivation
• The “Three Ps” that help businesses embrace disruption and unleash creativity
• The “Five Impacts” that allow us to map the future of work out to 2025.

And with over 400 people attending the day’s proceedings, it seems that unified communications, new patterns of work and technology innovation is a hot topic. The question is – how ready are you and your business for the future of work, now?