Technology in the workplace used to mean things like computers, printers, a shared landline, and so on, but these days it’s something else entirely, and it could include all kinds of different things like real-time collaboration apps, cloud-based programs, and automated reporting tools, just as a few examples.
And while new gadgets and platforms are launched every day, what workplaces actually need from their tech hasn’t changed quite as much as you’d think – at the end of the day, it’s about making work easier, faster, more secure, and just generally less of a headache.
So what does good workplace tech look like in 2025? Read on to find out more.
It Has To Work
This idea sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how often it gets overlooked. No matter how feature-packed or exciting a piece of software actually is, if it constantly crashes, glitches, or takes forever to load, people are just going to give up on it. In the end, tech has to be reliable, and it needs to be something teams can count on without having to worry that it’ll fail mid-meeting or freeze when you’re halfway through a report.
Of course, that doesn’t mean everything has to be perfect one hundred percent of the time because things do go wrong, updates happens, and all kinds of issues can come up that you couldn’t have planned for, but in general whatever you’re using has to be a smooth, stable experience that helps your business and doesn’t cause more problems than it solves because it’s always interrupting your workday.
It Needs To Be Simple
Time is tight, and attention spans are shorter than ever, and if a tool isn’t intuitive, it’s probably going to end up being ignored, no matter how useful it might be. The fact is that no one has time to work out how to use something that takes weeks to understand or that everyone has to go through hours of training for just to get started, let alone actually make use of it.
That’s why it’s the user experience you need to consider when you’re choosing the right tech for your business – it has to make sense the first time you use it, and it should look and feel familiar even if it’s brand new. What we mean is that the best workplace software is the kind that doesn’t mean you think too hard because it just guides you without any fuss and perhaps even adapts to how people work – and it should never get in the way of what you’re doing.
It Needs To Understand The Sector
Different sectors need different things, and what works for one place might not work for somewhere else doing something different. That’s why it’s important to look into industry-specific tools that match whatever it is you’re doing because in a lot of sectors like education, healthcare, local councils, charities, and so on, general tech just won’t do what you need it to to keep you on track and moving forward, and it’ll often be missing crucial elements like reporting standards, audit trails, compliance regulations, and so on. That’s why you need to make sure you find tools that understand the work you’re doing.
For example, when it comes to handling grants, public records, procurement, or budget reporting, organisations often rely on public sector software that’s tailored to meet the very specific requirements you need to work with. And using these kinds of tools means you’ll have a lot of trust, accountability, and you’ll be able to ensure the work you do ticks all the boxes it has to, meaning you can really focus on what’s important.
It Should Talk To Everything Else
We’ve all had that moment when you finish a task in one app, only to realise you’ve then got to duplicate the whole lot manually into another. And then you’ve got to update a spreadsheet. Then send a Slack message. Then log it in the CRM. By the end of all that, you’ve spent more time syncing your systems than doing the actual work.
So workplace tech needs to connect easily, whether that’s through direct integrations, APIs, or just smart export and import functions. Whatever it is and however it does it, the goal is for systems to work together, because that’s really the only way you’ll get everything done and save yourself a lot of time and effort. The fact is that when tools communicate well, everything becomes a lot more efficient, and you’ll find you get updates in real time, nothing falls through the cracks, and people spend less time going between programs and platforms and more time actually doing their jobs.
It Has To Grow With You
What works for a team of five probably won’t also work for a department of fifty… unless you’ve got great tech that has been made with the idea of growth in mind, and that can support different sizes, needs, and even different stages of growth because it can all go backwards and forwards and get bigger and smaller as you change this or that and work out what path to take.
You might think that it’s okay to get a piece of software in place that allows you to add more and more users, but that’s actually only one part of scaling up – you also need to be able to change how you use the software as you evolve, so you’ve got to bear that in mind are well. Maybe you’ll start with just the basic functions, and then you’ll grow into the more complex areas and elements. Or perhaps your data needs change. Maybe your reporting gets more details because you’ve got more clients or you’ve got more departments and they all need information… as you can see, good tech will grow with you and allow you to do all that without you having to keep changing your software and programs all the time.
It Needs To Be Safe
Cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue – it’s something that affects every aspect of the workplace and every part of the business. And with remote and hybrid working being such a big part of things (a part that’s here to stay), people really do have to be able to keep their work protected, and they need to know the tech they’re using is going to keep it all safe.
Having said that, you can’t sacrifice usability for security, so you’ve got to have the right balance that means people can do their jobs without loads of barriers in the way all the time – no one’s going to want to use a program that makes you go through a lot of login checks every time you want to use it, especially if you’re just checking in on something. In the end, the most effective workplace tools have the right level of security included (which could mean something like a single sign-on, two-factor authentication, and encrypted storage, for example) which doesn’t slow anything down, but still gives everyone the peace of mind they need.
It Has To Reflect The Way People Work
The way we work has changed massively, and workplace tech has to keep up with that, otherwise it’s not going to be much help at all. We don’t all sit in the same office between 9am and 5pm anymore, and today some people do their work at their kitchen table, or they use shared coworking spaces, or they’re always in different places and working on mobile phones… So because of that, the software we use to do that work has to be just as flexible as the work itself, otherwise it’s not going to be something people want to use – if they can even use it in the first place.
Cloud-based systems are a great place to start, for example, because they’ll work anywhere. Plus, it’s good to find mobile apps that are just as good as the real thing. And on top of that, what about offline access if you’ve not got a signal wherever you happen to be? Oh, and don’t forget you’ll want to get updates in real time, but you won’t want them to disrupt your work – or your day.
All of this means you’ve got to recognise that people work in different ways, and you’ve got to pick (or let your team pick in some cases) the tools that are going to match how your business does its thing.
It Needs To Support People, Not Replace Them
With all the talk about automation and AI, it’s easy to think the future of workplace tech is just going to mean there’s no place for real people anymore, and everything will be done by software. However, the reality is that good tech doesn’t replace people – it supports them instead.
That’s because it takes care of the repetitive stuff, and it flags things that might have been missed, which can save a lot of hassle down the line. And it gives you more time to focus on work that actually needs your brain, your experience, and your human judgement, which are things a machine or program would never be able to fully replicate. The point is that when AI or automation is involved, it’s meant to feel helpful, not scary.
