With the growing popularity of digital tools in the office space, such as Alexa or Siri, effective communication between employees in a small environment can become difficult to maintain as the use of these tools grows substantially in the next few years. It is undeniable that many digital tools are necessary for streamlining business processes and cultivating efficient practices between employees in one office and another, such as secure data rooms for due diligence and productive collaboration. While tools such as these have become prominent in the workplace because of their utility for projects, virtual data rooms create a connection between employees whereas voice assistants can distance us from one another. If you are considering implementing a voice assistant in your office space, here are a few things to keep in mind before doing so:

• With employees constantly calling out commands, the office space will become much louder
• Employees will be urged to wear headphones on a daily basis, distancing themselves from those around them and creating a barrier of communication throughout the day
• Casual socialisation between employees will decline; however, voice assistants are ready at a moment’s notice to help when needed throughout the day, making socialisation less important

To some, tools such as Alexa and Siri will be a necessity to perform basic tasks throughout the day and stay on top of employees’ schedules, for others it will be a hindrance in the way they experience the social office setting and affecting collaboration due to knew rules of etiquette surrounding voice assistants. While they do offer services that humans can’t always offer, they regular implementation for simple functions will make employees much more reliant on these digital tools rather than innovative and communicative with their co-workers. Every day we are moving toward this change, so it is important to consider the ramifications of intertwining our lives with computers even tighter than we already have.