In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital workplaces have become must-haves for enterprises. Get tips on building an effective digital workplace strategy!
- Building a Digital Workplace
- What is the Digital Workplace?
- Digital Workplace Solutions
- Digital Workplace Components
- Stefanini Can Build Your Digital Workplace
The nature of work is rapidly changing and so are your employees’ demands. According to Gartner, by 2025, team tools and skills will change and co-evolve, digital dexterity will be closely measured, and learning will be connected, among other expectations.
Yet, due to COVID- 19, we’re finding that these workplace changes had to happen much more quickly than anticipated.
The answer? Build a digital workplace. Get tips, tricks, and more on crafting the most effective digital workplace experience for your enterprise –read on for insights!
What is the Digital Workplace?
However, we’re getting ahead of ourselves! First, let’s define “digital workplace.” The meaning of the term seems self-explanatory – after all, the word “digital” is in the name. While the goal of digital workplaces is to support seamless collaboration across virtual and physical offices, its potential offers much more.
Gartner defines the digital workplace as enabling new, more effective ways of working that increase employees’ engagement and agility while exploiting consumer-oriented styles and technologies. Much of this working style is made possible by bringing together applications, data, information, and collaboration tools that are tailored to the individual employee’s role, physical location, and tasks. A successful digital workplace raises productivity, makes organizations more flexible, and allows them to choose the services and technologies that best fit their needs.
Building a Digital Workplace
Creating a digital workplace is a team effort. It requires bringing together people, processes, and technology to ensure a secure, consistent, and effective employee experience that also supports anywhere operations. To build a functional digital workplace, enterprises should study traditional work environment models and determine how digital technology would better serve customers and improve the overall end user experience and customer experience.
An all-inclusive digital workplace strategy supports an organization in driving higher revenues, attracting and retaining talent, and outperforming the competition.
Digital Workplace Solutions
As the world continues to evolve, the needs of the digital workplace will also change. Yet, there are several solutions enterprise should implement to ensure their workplace is well-supported:
- Communication and Collaboration – To help your teams stay connected, enterprises should seek products that enable communication in real time and from anywhere, including remote connectivity tools that support video conference calls, instant messaging, the completion of tasks online, and the ability to share data securely.
- End User and Cyber Security – All digital workplaces need up-to-date cybersecurity measures that can track user actions, malware, enable security on a BYOD, and other concerns.
- Application Data Access – Employees should also have a VDI to access virtual interfaces, work from home, and access streaming applications anytime, anywhere.
- End User Support – Empower employees with the ability to work on the go and utilize multiple devices. Leveraging the cloud, virtual, and managed workplace services can simplify employee interactions and maximize their productivity.
- Remote Infrastructure Monitoring and Support – Ongoing infrastructure support should enable project management and analysis, workflow and SOP automation, and more.
Are you struggling to support remote workers? Our W@H Suite has you covered. Get the details here.
Digital Workplace Components
Like any other business venture or organizational change, enterprises transitioning to a digital workplace should utilize a framework that consists of eight components recommended by Gartner.
Support leaders during the planning, directing, and evolution stages of digital workplace programs with the following building blocks:
1. Vision – To start, the vision should describe what digital workplace success will look like and how it will benefit stakeholders. It should be an extension of the enterprise’s values and inspire stakeholders to craft strategy that will help realize this vision.
2. Strategy – A strategic roadmap is needed to define the goals the organization must meet as it puts together its digitally empowered workforce.
3. Metrics – The organization should look to its application leaders to measure the value of their initiatives. Useful metrics include workforce effectiveness, employee satisfaction, employee agility, and employee retention. Further, the right metrics will provide a feedback loop for the continuous development of strategy, change management, and employee initiatives.
4. Employee Experience – every excellent digital workplace provides an equally excellent employee experience. By including employees in plans for redesign, they will better understand how the new structure supports desirable business outcomes. Further, you can bolster your company culture by making enterprise social networks (internal, private social media) available to employees, thereby raising employee satisfaction.
5. Organizational Change – Digital workplaces require consistent review of the way the business is structured. Enterprises will need to become more flexible in terms of internal processes, incentives, departmental structures, skills, behavior, and culture. Remember, undertaking a digital workplace initiative will affect every system, process, and role in the organization.
6. Processes – High-impact work could always use more agile, responsive, and collaborative processes. One of the benefits of the digital workplace is that it gets high-impact workers to become more flexible and adaptable. Further, it requires leaders to examine current business processes and reimagine new and improved ways of working that invite the increased use of technology and collaborative tools.
7. Information – Workers are already using enterprise tools that enable searching, sharing, and consuming information. Increasingly, more employees expect the tools they have access to at their place of employment to work for them. This means that information and analytics need to be contextualized based on individuals’ roles and delivered when they need it.
8. Technology – Application leaders need to understand how to use the technology inherent in digital workplace programs to reach customers, internet-connected things, and ecosystems. This knowledge includes leveraging artificial intelligence like digital assistants and the Internet of Things to make working more efficient while also easily integrating new digital technologies without having to completely overhaul digital workplace programs. Like anything else, it’s a balancing act!
Stefanini Can Build Your Digital Workplace
With technology continuously changing and innovating the workplace, it can be hard for enterprises to keep up with digital transformation initiatives. Managed workplace service providers promise quality service and improved productively. At Stefanini, we deliver much more.
We understand your business now relies on new modern infrastructure including cloud, virtualization, platforms, and applications. These digital tools must integrate with mobile devices, hardware, and traditional data centers, without sacrificing security.
We’re experts at implementation and integration so you’re leveraging technology to meet business objectives. Our broad and customized solutions offer your business new opportunities for higher user satisfaction, productivity, and innovation.
Interested in learning more? We’re ready to talk when you are. Reach out to us here – we’re just a phone call away!
