During a recent panel discussion hosted by The Economist, "Cloud, collaboration, and connectivity: How can seamless communication be delivered?", M-Files CEO Antti Nivala took on some of the toughest issues facing businesses in our time of digital transformation. For many, the new ways of working are freeing, but there are unanswered questions: How do businesses communicate seamlessly in a work-from-anywhere world? What does a good office environment look like in the cloud era?

For years, experts have been saying that telecommuting—otherwise known as working from home—would be the "wave of future." However, few predicted the wave would rapidly crash into the real world so quickly to become the "new normal." A recent study showed about 20% of people said they worked from home prior to the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. As of late 2021, 71% of workers were reportedly working from home.

Over the last decade, virtually all industries have been altered and improved by the growth of artificial intelligence. However, one area that has changed radically, but many might not think of, has been the document management ecosystem. Information-rich tasks have benefited from AI enormously, particularly in terms of knowledge management, business process management, security, and compliance.

Every day, the worlds' businesses produce and collect a mind-boggling amount of data. Contained inside that data, like a million needles in a million haystacks, are the key insights needed to create better products and services, forge better and longer-lasting relationships with clients, and operate more efficiently. But according to one recent study, poor data quality costs the United States economy as much as $3.1 trillion every year.

We're now more than a month into 2022, and one thing we can say for sure is that the world hasn't "gone back to normal." For many of us, remote working and online meetings are a fact of life. App and subscription services deliver our music, television, and groceries. Compared to just two years ago, the way we work and live has changed drastically.