For a long time, we had been anticipating how we work will change—but no one could have predicted it would happen like this. What began as a gradual shift to more remote and flexible environments, driven by digital transformation, demographic transition, changing workforce preferences, and broader macroeconomic trends, suddenly happened overnight.

But this transition was in progress, and inevitable, whether there had been a pandemic or not. Urban unaffordability, global competition for talent, advances in cloud technology, and workforces driven by Millennials and Generation Z are just a few of the factors that have been propelling us toward where we are now, throwing out our old notions of “business as usual” and searching for more flexible and modern alternatives.