Interview with Andreas Preuer, Hub Manager for the San Francisco Bay Area

WU alumnus Andreas Preuer, Head of Business Development at Google Play, set up the new WU Alumni Hub in the San Francisco Bay Area at the end of 2020. We take the founding of the Hub as an opportunity to ask him a few questions about innovation and digitalization in the world of work.

Covid-19 has sent most of us into home office. Will this have a long-term impact on our work practices?
Under the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen an incredible acceleration in digitalization. Collaborative tools and cloud services enable close and frictionless online teamwork. Many companies are already using these to recruit staff globally, as it’s no longer necessary to live and work in the same place. I believe the new structures will be permanent: Employees who are now spread around the world will continue to work remotely even after the pandemic. Digitalization will remain an important topic. It will continue to transform our experience of work while also influencing many products, which will increasingly develop into digital services.

Many people miss having a casual chat in the staff canteen, where many ideas and solutions often emerge. Are we losing something here?
There’s no doubt that such informal encounters are really important. But I believe that there are also good ways of creating such neutral spaces online. The difference is that we have to make a conscious decision to meet up virtually for a coffee, for example. This is not so much a question of technology but of corporate culture – and in many cases this culture is still evolving. In the future, the arrival of new technologies is certain to create entirely novel rituals. For many youngsters, for example, it has become normal to meet up within an online computer game, not necessarily to play the game but simply to spend time together.

So online doesn’t have to mean impersonal?
No, not at all. In my experience, people deliberately take more time during online meetings to ask others how they are doing, what’s going on in their lives and so on. At in-person meetings, you often dive straight into the agenda. Moreover, being online can give insights into the everyday lives of other people: You literally get a glimpse of their private space, their living rooms, maybe even get to know their children or pets – sometimes unintentionally. This makes videoconferencing much more human.

What about welcoming a plurality of opinion? In Austria, one occasionally has the impression that some companies still have a hard time with this.
From an Austrian perspective, many companies in Silicon Valley are certainly less strictly regimented. Here it’s important to listen to a wide range of opinions and to discuss these openly at all levels in the hierarchy. I think that this aspect of the corporate culture is reinforced by digitalization, because in a video conference it’s easier to bring another three people into the meeting just to hear their opinions. Good ideas can come from all corners. And sometimes a company’s culture can really benefit from hearing controversial opinions.

So the trend towards diversity is continuing – even when borders are closed?
In recent years we have seen very often how diversity can benefit a company – how different opinions, backgrounds and experiences can actually make a business stronger. This is particularly evident here in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. I am sure that diversity will continue to be an important factor in the future; ultimately, the market demands it. If a company offers its products or services globally, but the employees only represent a specific segment of society, that’s a real problem. Then you come to realize how important diversity is from a purely economic point of view – that it’s actually a necessity!