AVT Question: Please share insights into the trends and solutions shaping the modern workplace and collaboration spaces.
Thought Leader: Natalie Appleton, Vice President of Korbyt Workplace at Korbyt
2026 will not be defined by a single workplace trend, but by a broader shift toward intelligent efficiency across every aspect of the workplace. Organizations—especially those in banking, legal, and enterprise environments—are moving beyond feature-driven purchasing decisions and demanding measurable outcomes. This means that workplace platforms must now improve operational productivity, reduce day-to-day burden on IT and facilities teams, and deliver clear ROI at scale. As hardware commoditizes, differentiation has shifted decisively toward software intelligence, analytics, and integrated services that create operational clarity instead of fragmentation.
The real differentiator will not be the technology itself; it will be how intentionally organizations align that technology with culture, governance, and operational discipline.
Natalie Appleton, Vice President of Korbyt Workplace at Korbyt
We will continue to see accelerated consolidation around cohesive workplace platforms that unify room booking, digital content, and device management into streamlined operational models. The most successful systems will be ambient, operating inside tools employees already use, like Outlook, Teams, and mobile devices, rather than forcing adoption of siloed solutions. AI will move from a headline feature to an embedded operational layer, reducing booking friction, enabling predictive workflows, surfacing actionable occupancy data, and shifting teams from reactive troubleshooting to proactive oversight.
Physical spaces will continue evolving into adaptive environments powered by real-time booking data and actionable analytics. But the real differentiator will not be the technology itself; it will be how intentionally organizations align that technology with culture, governance, and operational discipline. Ultimately, the goal is to make work more predictable, inclusive, and focused, allowing teams to spend less time managing systems and more time driving collaboration and performance.
