The digital workplace is the natural evolution of how, where, and why your employees do their work. The digital workplace is comprised of a technology working environment, where employees have access to all the computing solutions they need to enhance workflows and communications, leading to higher levels of engagement and productivity.
Tech solutions in the digital workplace range from core applications employees need to do their work, including things like HR, social media enterprise tools, email, instant messaging, and even virtual conferencing tools Research shows that information-based employees prefer working with new communication tools, especially with instant messaging, over older generation services like email or team workspaces. And they prefer to do their work anywhere, anytime on any device.
Organizations might already be working with some tech that enables an empowering employee experience, such as collecting payslips online, managing digital workflows, or responding to emails on smartphones. The problem is, employees are forced to work in so many systems of records, it creates a tremendous amount of frustration and distraction, making it hard for them to do their job. As a result, employees feel more and more unhappy about going to work and companies are finding it harder and harder to retain their employees. So while many organizations already have many of these tools in place, the employee experience is poor.
New Workplace Technology Solutions Can Bring Change Right Now
The good news in 2020 is, getting started with improving the employee experience doesn’t always require companies to wait for a complete digital transformation to be built from the ground up. New SaaS technologies can enable massive change that makes the most sense for the most employees. Companies are able to achieve rapid time to initial value using digital workflow solutions like Citrix Workspace with Intelligence in just a few weeks.
As the modern workplace shifts toward digital innovation and employee expectations continue to change, those companies that don’t embrace digital transformation in the workplace to improve the employee experience will absolutely risk slipping in a competitive marketplace.
It’s important to note that companies shouldn’t shy away from implementing new tech tools in the digital workplace due to the costs involved. Sure, some of this tech can cost companies a significant investment upfront. However, the benefits over the long-term far exceed the costs, and the ROI is demonstratively measurable.
Why Should Organizations Implement a Digital Workplace Strategy?
Given the significant advantages of implanting a digital workplace solution, more organizations are allocating funding to HR, and IT budgets for digital workplace strategies.
We can expect the trend to continue as employees continue to build productive and efficient business relationships that extend beyond traditional workgroups.
Consider these statistics when thinking about a digital strategy for the workplace.
- 64% of all employees are willing to accept a lower salary if it means they can work remotely.
- Organizations and brands with strong social networks experience a boost of 75% in productivity levels.
- Organizations implanting social tools in the workplace to improve employee communications see an increase of 20% in employee satisfaction.
- When organizations increase employee engagement, it leads to an 84% increase in key staff retention.
In 2020, management needs to provide its employees with the digital tools they need to connect, collaborate, and communicate with each other to keep employees and stay competitive in the market. Companies must learn to coordinate technology investments and groups, avoiding compartmentalization of implementation.
Organizations need to adopt accurate roadmaps that ensure the digital workplace delivers management and employees measurable results that achieve business objectives. The best roadmaps look at the value the strategy offers the business while mitigating risk and adhering to any compliance requests.
The Framework of the Digital Workplace
There are no definite rules about how to design and implement technologies for the digital workplace. However, there are a few leading best practices that companies prove to be useful in orchestrating a successful digital transformation.
The framework of the digital workplace provides organizations with a means of getting to know the status of the current workplace. It places management in a position where they can identify weak points and bottlenecks in the company’s digital and manual processes.
By thinking holistically about tools employees use in the workplace, management can discover new ways to implement technologies that improve the workplace experience for employees and management.
The digital framework successful organizations use to manage a digital transformation of the workplace includes the following key elements.
Users- Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate
By empowering employees with tools to increase collaboration and communication, the company increases engagement and employee satisfaction.
The approach will create a productive business relationship and allow employees to share vital knowledge across all organizational levels.
Technology
Companies’ digital toolbox builds and supports the digital workplace. Every organization already has an IT department that has plenty of digital tools at its disposal. Depending on the needs of the organization and the industry, the tools company’s use to support digital workplaces vary widely.
The key to a successful digital transformation in the workplace is selecting the right digital tools that empower employees to do work better.
Control – Compliance, Risk, and Governance
The use of appropriate controls underpins the effective use of technology solutions in the digital workplace. In effect, companies must support digital workplaces with the appropriate management processes and governance structures.
The use and flow of information in the organization must meet all company policies, as well as industry regulations surrounding the handling of customer and private data.
Business Drivers – Measurable Results Mean Value
As with any business initiative, the company needs will drive the digital workplace using business objectives during the transformation.
For companies to deliver benefits to employees, customers, management, and executives, the direction of the company should guide the implementation of your digital workplace strategy.
Culture and Its Implications
Organizational culture drives how employees work and behave in the digital workplace. Culture and people lie at the center of every organization’s performance, and it drives both success and failure in the company.
As a result, your company culture determines how your employee’s leverage technology solutions in the workplace to connect, collaborate, and communicate. The key to a successful digital transformation in the workplace is for management to understand how employees like to work.
With this information, organizations can develop a management plan for change, and a digital strategy for the workplace that’s in alignment with the company’s workplace culture.
When organizations foster these initiatives for change and bring together technology aspects of the business, the digital workplace helps companies achieve the following.
- Enhanced Collaboration
- Improved Communications
- Outstanding employee connections
Building The Digital Workplace Toolbox
In the majority of companies, the digital workplace toolbox features tools for supporting how departments, managers, and employees connect, communicate, and collaborate in their day-to-day work activities.
It’s a common mistake for most companies to compartmentalize these digital tools in silos that prevent the implementation of a holistic digital workplace strategy.
If companies want to resolve this problem, they need to create digital workplace strategies that articulate business objectives that guide the development of the company’s digital toolbox.
Through assessing the capabilities of employees in categories, management can identify the focus area, and utilize the organization’s business and culture requirements to identify the digital tools it needs.
Components of an Effective Digital Workplace Governance
Organizations also need to adhere to any company policies regarding compliance, risk, and governance when implementing a digital workplace strategy. Company’s need a model that supports collaboration and connectivity while enabling compliance and mitigating risk.
Information Governance Strategies – Organizations must align their digital workplace strategy with the existing information governance strategy or information management systems.
Certification and Training – Companies must ensure that employees have access to development and training programs that provide them with career and learning opportunities.
Mitigating Risk and Compliance Issues – This strategy allows companies to determine the risks of employees sharing information in the digital workplace. The approach also assesses the risks involved with incidents that might result in damage to the organization’s reputation, its competitive advantage, or the protection of confidential business information.
Policy Training – Employees require training to notify them of the type of information that they can share in the workplace. Management needs to communicate policies on how employees need to handle personal data and how to protect their employer’s brand in the digital workplace.
What Does This Mean for The Organization?
For organizations to reap the benefits of the digital workplace, they need to address the challenges facing employees and the organization as a whole. New technologies must add value to the organization, and work toward achieving business objectives.
Here are a few ways companies can achieve measurable value with innovations in the digital workplace.
- Increases in revenues – Provide digital tools that help employees identify new selling opportunities.
- Reduced operating costs – Implement digital tools that help employees communicate for anywhere with an internet connection. Stop unnecessary traveling expenses for meetings and save everyone time.
- Acceleration in time to market – Provide digital tools that assist employees with testing and delivering products and services faster.
- Enhancements in company innovation – Build 2-way communication channels that launch discussions and drive employee engagement.
- Improvements in CX – Empower employees to find information faster and serve customers efficiently.
- Boosts to productivity and workplace efficiencies – Provide tech tools that help employees, managers, and executives execute on critical business functions, all from a user-friendly platform.
- Strengthen employee retention and recruitment – Develop an employer brand of offering employees an exceptional digital workplace experience.
- Improve the employee experience – Provide your employees with the right digital tools at the right moments that matter.
