The connected ecosystem
The modern workplace
A workplace as a connected ecosystem is a modern work environment where employees, physical spaces and digital tools are seamlessly interconnected to support flexible work. This system unifies communication, collaboration and access to resources, creating a cohesive experience regardless of location.
We spoke to Christiaan Cumine, CTO & COO at The IN Group, and Charlie Noble, Head of Culture at The IN Group, about how organisations can build truly connected workplaces.
The fundamental shift is that technology now has to suit the employee's lifestyle, rather than employees making life work around tech. Big Tech companies created "sticky" offices — spaces with amenities such as sleep pods, laundry services and childcare — essentially building villages where employees could work flexible hours. Employee output increased simply by virtue of people being there longer.
Following widespread changes to how we work, the challenge evolved: how do you make people feel attached and engaged with culture when they're remote? The awareness that you must actively create culture became apparent. While many companies have now settled into a hybrid working week, this has eased some challenges; however, building a cohesive culture still requires additional effort with teams often spread across different in-office days.
Businesses are increasingly designing offices with hybrid work firmly in mind, moving away from fixed desks and rigid layouts toward more intuitive, flexible spaces. Hot-desking allows teams to flow in and out with ease, while meeting environments are being rethought to better support collaboration — particularly on the days when people come together in person. There is a growing recognition that office time should be purposeful: a place for connection and shared problem-solving, balanced with access to breakout spaces that support focus and wellbeing.
As a result, offices now often include quiet zones for concentrated work alongside informal areas for exercise and relaxation, creating environments that better reflect how people work rather than how offices once assumed they did.
It's about respecting people's time and enabling considered behaviour. A Teams call can happen during the school run, be recorded and watched later. AI can summarise meeting transcripts and direct you straight to the relevant section. This awareness has made people more thoughtful about their interactions — implementing policies such as encouraging cameras to be on during calls.
How technology is set up matters enormously. It spans everything from giving employees access to the right platforms wherever they are located, to ensuring hybrid interactions feel intuitive rather than compromised, and even extending to AI-controlled buildings that can predict attendance and dynamically adjust air quality and resources.Technology drives behaviour, behaviour shapes culture - and culture eats strategy for breakfast! Tech had to become more available to allow company culture to thrive, but in doing so, it infiltrated the boundary between work and home life. The shift is clear: culture is now being actively shaped by the tools we use and how we use them.
You can be a people-first business that's led by technology. AI won't replace culture, but the big question is how to use it to meaningfully support culture in 2026.
At the heart of all this is trust. The modern world needs to trust people working from home, but trust operates on multiple levels: how does the employee trust their employer and vice versa? How do we build a culture that creates trust and have technology that supports it?
Trust manifests in different ways — trust that you're in the best environment to do your best work, trust in your decisions, trust in your manager, trust in company values. At The IN Group, our employment letters say "thank you for trusting us with your career" because it's a huge risk joining a new company. Technology is just an enabler; the real foundation is the culture of authenticity, empowerment and creativity that surrounds it.
The hardest thing to maintain is authenticity and communication with a people-first rationale. Technology will support offices in different geographies, but if you're making in-person attendance mandatory, such as for an offsite or event, make sure it’s worth it.
We believe that maintaining a hybrid environment is core to attracting high performers. People who take pride in their work value flexibility. For any business scaling, especially one with multiple brands, the only way to get people pulling in the same direction is to enable everything through technology.
