The digital transformation of companies must be accompanied by an internal reorganization to optimize the operations of the different work teams and the correlation between them. According to the IT company, Softtek, the key is to implement strategies based on Fusion Teams. These are multidisciplinary work teams that incorporate a variety of roles and professional profiles, both from the technological and commercial branches, which makes it possible to increase efficiency, deliver products and services of greater value to the end customer and optimize business results.

Its purpose is work together to develop products and services, ensuring that technological knowledge is being applied in line with business performance objectives. To successfully implement a strategic approach based on Fusion Teams, the organization must function based on the principles of Human-Centered Design. That is, the development processes must respond to the problems of the consumer or end user. In this way, the economic performance of the organization will increase and final products of greater value will be created.

A model of success in digital business

Fusion Teams are multidisciplinary teams that bring together Technological, business and analytical skills to develop solutions.

The key to this approach is based on the fact that technological advances always have a commercial vision from the start, placing special emphasis on the early design stages, but also during product development. For this work model to work successfully, organizations must solve a series of challenges:

• Governance: Teams must be clear about the roles of responsibility and accept collaborative work with very diverse areas of expertise and with different degrees of technological knowledge.
• Fluid communication and operational flexibility: It must be ensured that new internal organizational silos are not created, as well as removing any hierarchical barrier that could hinder rapid decision-making.
• Trust on the part of management: the executive layers of the organization will have to trust the ability of the teams to make decisions autonomously by measuring performance in terms of business results and customer experience.

The future of this trend involves implementing a work approach based on the principles of Human-Centered Design, which put the client or end user at the center of all decisions or initiatives taken throughout the development of products and services. . This approach seeks to ensure that solutions are built from the start based on solving the needs of the end user from a usability perspective, but also from a behavioral and emotional perspective. For this, the Fusion Teams that work based on Human-Centered principles will follow iterative development cycles based on four stages:

• Investigation: initial stage of deep understanding of the needs and characteristics of the user.
• Ideation: generation of possible ideas through the combination of different perspectives and points of view contributed by the multidisciplinary members.
• Implementation and prototyping: prioritization of the chosen solutions and generation of minimum viable products whose performance can be quickly measured through feedback from real users.
• Testing: launch of initial versions contemplated for subsequent optimization, redesign and improvement.

“The adoption of a business culture based on Human-Centered principles will allow Fusion Teams to start running successfully much more quickly. The synergy between these two trends resides in the need to incorporate agile work methodologies so that solutions can be constantly tested and optimized, putting customer feedback at the center of these actions. For this, it is essential to have a very flexible corporate mentality under which teams can quickly modify plans or make agile decisions autonomously”comment David Alejano, Digital Strategy & Experience Director.

According to a survey by the consulting firm Robert Walters, 13% of professionals is inclined to give up the hybrid work model (the one that combines working in the office and working remotely from home) in favor of working one less day a week, 7% would sacrifice advantages such as training and 71% to have a relationship with their colleagues and enjoy internal corporate events.

“In recent months, workspaces have taken a turn as the days of face-to-face work in the office have increased. This has brought an explosion of energy, collaboration, creativity and productivity. Therefore, it is incomprehensible to think that the four-day work week could have a negative impact on corporate culture or in the well-being of the teams”, comments Gema de Francisco, Associate Director at Robert Walters.

He also adds: “Just like we experimented with telecommuting and later hybrid work, changes in the workplace always bring certain challenges. That is why company leaders must be cautious but be open to what their workforce demands”.

Can the four-day work week be considered a privilege?

According to the Robert Walters survey, 91% of professionals would be interested in their organization implementing the four-day work week. In fact, this tops the poll about the benefits they appreciate most those profiles who are looking for a new job: 49% affirm that this would be what would most attract them in the description of the vacancy, while 35% would prefer to have the flexibility of working from anywhere.

15% of the professionals surveyed stated that they I would accept a salary increase of 10-15% versus the 4-day work week. In addition, only 1% say they would give up this advantage to have more internal events in the office or have breakfast in the office.

“It is true that organizations are more responsible today for the well-being of their employees. However, professionals should be aware of the fact that this responsibility It goes both ways and they have a duty to contribute to the success of the business, especially if the company goes through periods of economic uncertainty.” Francisco argues.

Pilot test in the UK

At the beginning of the year, more than 60 companies with almost 3,000 employees completed the 4-day Week Pilot Trail, from which the following data can be extracted:

• 28% declare that they have worked the same or even more hours than with the 5-day work week.
• 49% have not perceived any change in the overtime they work.
• 22% have suffered symptoms of burnout syndrome.
• 15% have reported difficulties falling asleep and 45% state that their sleep quality has not improved significantly.
• Only 2% state that their workload has decreased, 20% state that it has increased, and 78% have not perceived any change.
• 42% believe that the level of complexity of their work has increased.

“This data does not indicate that the four-day work week won’t work, but rather provides insight that can help organizations understand what works and what doesn’t and make a strategic decision, keeping in mind that this advantage does not increase productivity. nor does it improve well-being as much as was originally believed”concludes Gema de Francisco.

Beyond the consequences of the war in *text muted*, which has shaken the European economy and caused an escalation of inflation not seen in decades, now the drums of another financial crisis are heard. In fact, in the last year the economic prospects have tightened, inside and outside our country.

Younited, the credit platform, has compared its own data for March 2022, the month in which the effects of the start of the war began to be felt, and April 2023. The objective is to understand How has consumer credit evolved? in this year of economic instability and what readings can be made of the state of the pocket of the Spaniards as conclusions of the analysis. Some of the most important results are:

• When comparing the data March 2022 with respect to April 2023there is an increase of more than 37% (37.02%) in the average credit demanded, from €7,629 on average last year to €10,453 in April, possibly the result of the general increase in prices.
• The current economic situation It has not stopped the predisposition of Spaniards when it comes to carrying out reforms in their homes, being one of the categories in which the average credit has increased the most. In April of this year the average figure was €11,093, being 35% higher if we compare it with March of last year, where this figure was €8,217, €2,876 higher.
• Transport and, specifically, the automobile It is another category that has become visibly more expensive over the last fourteen months. The average credit requested for new cars has reached €15,464, which represents an increase of 22.46%. In the case of second-hand cars, the increase is higher, 36.14%, placing the average amount requested at €8,935 in April 2023.

Younited already announced last fall that one in three loans requested in 2022 was intended to improve the solvency of the Spanish pocket against inflation: At that time, 35.42% of loan applications were directly intended for reunification of debt (19.54%) or obtaining liquidity (15.88%). This trend is maintained and increases considerably with the beginning of 2023: The demand for loans destined for economic solvency increases to 39.8%, four out of ten, of the total during the first weeks of April (debt reunification, 22 76%, and liquidity 17.02%).

The consequences of the war have made economic recovery after the pandemic difficult, With runaway inflation and skyrocketing energy prices, as well as the paralysis in employment in recent months. The recent bankruptcy of some banks, such as the SVB or the crisis of the European Credit Suisse, are not a point of support in the financial perspectives of the Spanish, who increasingly see their incomes more suffocated.