25 Apr Humanyze live on CNBC: The Future of Work

Ben Waber, co-founder and CEO of our portfolio company Humanyze, was live on CNBC today. I enjoyed hearing speak about the need for companies to use more data for people-related decisions.

In particular, I was happy to see CNBC focusing on privacy and how Humanyze ensures all data remains protected. It is such a core part of the company’s value proposition, but often misunderstood by the media. Even if collecting new data can sometimes be challenging, using data that companies already have can unlock tremendous value if analyzed and acted upon rationally; we have seen this at some of our large customers.

We may have no idea about the future of work, but it’s obvious it will be more data-driven than it is today, especially when it comes to all the chess pieces on the board (the employees). One of Ben’s other points, however, also resonates: “If we only care about cost, we should just have everyone work from home. But if we believe there is something about the physical environment that improves how people collaborate…rapidly iterating and using data to drive those decisions is how you’re going to get much higher levels of performance”

I believe humans collaborating in person have powers to create something special. I do not think virtual interactions can fully mimic this something special. That doesn’t mean video conferencing or VR solutions won’t grow, but they won’t cover the highest value use cases. Something that startups should remember as they increasingly take the easier route of setting up very distributed or remote teams! And if you do, then being data-driven about how those teams are functioning is critical to optimizing your chances to success – whether you are a startup or a Fortune 500 company.