At last, the big event is in full swing! We finally opened the virtual Collaborate doors today to thousands of work management enthusiasts for an exciting first day.
We welcomed attendees to our digital conference platform, where they could join our mainstage sessions, visit virtual booths, hop into breakout sessions, attend tailored roundtable discussions, and of course, take selfies in our virtual photo booth.
While we prepare for day two, we’re taking a quick breather and reflecting on our favorite parts of day one of Collaborate.
The four “shocks" reshaping the future of work
Everyone’s talking about the future of work, digital transformation, and reshaping the modern workplace. But what does all this mean in practice? We’re one step closer to understanding what continuous reinvention means after guest speaker J.P. Gownder’s fascinating talk on using research to predict the future of work.
As Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, it’s safe to say that Gownder knows a thing or two about what’s going on in the workplace. He identified the four shocks influencing the workplace (systemic risk, automation, workforce data, and employee power) and how companies can mitigate threats and utilize opportunities.
How Walmart Canada gets things done
Nothing is more impressive than witnessing teams overhaul their operations to become lean, agile operational machines. And that’s precisely what Francis Lalonde, VP of Transportation at Walmart Canada, demonstrated during an engaging executive panel featuring Karina Fernandez, Chief Information Officer of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and Amir Younes, Vice President of Client Success, Wrike, a Citrix company.
We learned how Walmart Canada uses collaborative work management to strip complexity and set new standards for operations, collaboration, and communication for the entire North American transportation business. One thing for sure, we can all take a page out of their book!
Tackling the “dark matter” of work
We're not making an obscure sci-fi reference here, we promise. We’re talking about the exciting opening keynote from Andrew Filev, SVP and Wrike GM at Citrix, on the “dark matter” of work — a fitting metaphor for illustrating the newfound complexity of the modern workplace.
Andrew says during his session that: “The European Council for Nuclear Research believes that we only see about 5% of all matter in the universe. Yet, the other 95% still exerts its gravitational force on the universe.”
“I draw this parallel for our modern work environments. Most of the information related to work travels outside of the visible space of our system of records and instead lives in the dark matter of instant messages and video calls. This makes work difficult to deliver, and even harder to predict and scale.”
Andrew discusses how teams can tackle this “dark matter” and implement systems to bring all work into the light. Let’s just say we’re on board!
Innovations in work management
There’s never been a better time for organizations to adopt new technologies and cloud platforms to support hybrid workforces.
On day one of Collaborate, our Wrike product leader Alexey Korotich presented on the myriad of exciting new features and innovations in the work management space. Our favorite launch might be Wrike for Goal Management, specifically designed to enhance visibility for hybrid and distributed teams.
Head over to our Collaborate product announcement blog to learn about the exciting innovations and features announced at this year’s event.
Showcasing something for everyone
While we loved the mainstage presentations, it was great to see attendees jump into our breakout sessions and roundtable discussions, each tailored to different industries from marketing and creatives to IT, professional services, and healthcare.
We can’t wait to bring you even more exciting content on day two.
