What Exactly is a Digital Workplace?

A digital workplace is an ecosystem of workplace technologies that allow companies to effectively collaborate and converse - whether you’re working remotely, hybrid or in an office.

The implementation of digital workplace components allows for the acceleration and success of flexible work, especially in recent times with the rising popularity of hybrid work.

It’s also enabled companies around the world to expand and globalize their operations with expanded hiring pools and new methods of collaboration.

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Examples of Digital Workplaces

Seamless communication between coworkers

With advances in mobile technology, it has become easier than ever for workers to stay connected to their colleagues even while they are working remotely. This is especially helpful for those who need to stay in frequent contact with headquarters or other members of their team.

Digital workplaces don’t need employees to hold on-premise meetings to discuss project updates. Software provides dedicated channels for asynchronous and synchronous communication and provides insights for stakeholders. Additionally, through the use of specialized software and apps, workers can quickly share and access information such as project documents, messages, and other files right from their mobile devices, creating a more seamless digital workplace experience.

Increased efficiency through digitalization

The digitalization of workplaces is about using technology for greater efficiency and technology optimization. At times, a digital workplace is straightforward for work tasks and problems. Then there are occasions when digitalization of the workplace will reveal problems that the organization may not have considered. In both cases, there will be demonstrable advantages to both internal and external participants through the deployment of digital technologies.

Schnuck Markets is an example of a company using technology to benefit their employees and their customers. Before moving their systems to the cloud, employees had to check their email and manage orders from breakrooms. Of course, this required employees to walk back and forth from their counters to the back rooms. Meanwhile, the customers would be waiting at the counter for assistance. Employees can now log in to their shared Chromebooks, review orders, check emails, and assist customers without leaving their stations.

Innovation through digital transformation

Digital transformation has become a top priority for many organizations today, as they look to streamline and automate their processes in order to keep pace with the rapidly changing digital landscape.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by utilizing digital technologies, such as robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, to digitize complex or time-consuming business processes. This enables tasks that would normally require human labor or significant time investment to be handled quickly and efficiently, freeing workers up for more important duties.

Additionally, digital technologies can be used to create proactive tools that can scan data streams for potential issues and implement workflows that automate corrective actions before problems occur.

Overall, digital transformation offers countless possibilities for transforming the way businesses operate and unlocking tremendous value in terms of productivity gains and cost savings.

Why is a Digital Workplace Important for Companies?

Enterprises need to know the ROI of their investments into digital workplace technology and tools, here’s an overview of the key benefits a digital workplace delivers.

Increased flexibility

Companies are no longer limited to their physical locations. Digital workplaces have enabled quick access to business-critical information, no matter location or device.

As such, by having a digital workplace, companies and employees are no longer geographically locked to their physical office space. Instead, employees can work from home, abroad, or pick a hybrid work pattern – whatever works best for them and the team.

Improved productivity

Physical storage  has been replaced by cloud storage files that are accessible with a quick keyword search and a click of a mouse. This allows employees to more efficiently access the information they need to perform their duties, which increases the time they have to work effectively.

Not to mention the ability to share resources and information in real-time across the company means everyone is constantly in the loop, meaning no one loses time needlessly chasing people for information.

Increased revenue

Digital workplaces allow access to innovative market research apps that post the results on a shared intranet or platform so employees can actively work towards implementing them.

This in-depth access to research directly impacts the ability of companies to curate and focus their strategies to quickly see an increase in their revenue.

Improved customer experience

While digital workplaces are vital for in-house collaboration, they’re also useful for communicating with customers.

Facilities such as live chat help customers access customer services within minutes, helping them get the information and service they need without waiting days for an email reply or hours listening to annoying call-holding music.

This drastically improves the customer experience and makes clients more likely to make repeat purchases in the future.

Employee satisfaction

With digital workplace companies facilitating the options for working from home or hybrid working, employees have more agency over their work pattern, which in turn improves morale.

And with employees that are happy in their work situation and want to be there, they are more likely to put in the effort needed to help companies continue to thrive.

Reduced costs

It costs a LOT of money to run a physical office space. Rent, electricity, water, paper, printing ink, heating, AC… the list goes on.

Digital workplaces are associate with an embrace of remote work where the costs largely shift toward technology and SaaS subscriptions. Similarly, in a hybrid working situation, companies are able to downscale their office space or may decide to invest in co-working office spaces instead.

➞ Explore more strategies to better engage remote employees

Empower your employees

A digital workplace gives your employees the freedom to dictate their work patterns by offering them the option to work from home or adopt a hybrid working schedule.

This will improve their work/life balance and make them more motivated.

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How to Improve your Digital Workplace

Creating a digital workplace is a great start, but the work doesn’t stop there. You need a comprehensive digital workplace strategy that allows you to improve and optimize your operations. So how can you improve your digital workplace?

1. Make sure it aligns with your vision

As your company strategy evolves, your wants and needs may change with it. And if you’re still using the same suite of digital apps in your digital workplace, you may not be getting the best ‘bang for your buck.’

So make sure you’re auditing your software at least once a year, and don’t be afraid to look for new providers or change your plan if the software you are using no longer fulfills your needs.

2. Make your digital workplace scalable

The goal of every business is to expand, grow, and increase revenue as much as possible.

As such, you need a digital workplace that is able to grow with you. That means it should be able to facilitate more users, wider functions, global research and analysis, etc. You should also be able to integrate digital apps as necessary.

When choosing your software, this is something you should be looking for, but if you didn’t it might be time to change to a digital workplace suite that can be scaled up.

3. Make your digital workplace easy to use

Your employees have a job to do. And the last thing they need is the stress and headache of trying to navigate a poorly laid out, unintuitive software package.

Not only will it demotivate staff, but it will also waste valuable time that could be put towards growing the company.

So audit your software to make sure everything is accessible.

4. Make sure your digital workplace flows well

Similar to ease of use, your workplace needs to flow well. That means links and pages should make sense and intuitive connections are made across core functions.

For example, internal accounting teams may benefit from express links to specific HR details for payroll purposes.

Likewise, sales staff may benefit from links straight to live inventory without having to wade through numerous irrelevant pages.

5. Encourage employee feedback

There’s no better analysis of the digital workplace than direct feedback from the people constantly using it – your employees.

They will know which functions are working well, what links are needed for optimum workflow, and can make suggestions on any functions they feel are lacking.

They can also give insight into the effectiveness of communication apps both internally with colleagues and externally with customers.

6. Implement adaptive learning systems

As your software advances, so does the training needed to operate it. While you may have extensive initial training for your staff, it is unfair to expect them to confidently remember everything the first time around.

Make training videos and walkthroughs easily accessible so that employees can take control of their learning and use them for reference as needed.

7. Enable effective remote work

Digital workplaces empower employees to be productive when working remotely. With cloud-based systems, authorized individuals gain access without the need for a separate protocol. Individuals can also share updates, get their questions answered, and collaborate from anywhere.

Managers are empowered to focus on higher-value tasks and fewer administrative chores. Organizations can also make significant savings on maintenance and transport costs, which can be invested in product development or other projects tied to revenue outcomes. In other words, a digital workplace enables an organization to be more agile and innovative.

➞ Read more: Remote working benefits for employees and employers

8. Create a connected workplace

By ensuring seamless communication and collaboration, a connected workplace improves productivity. Here’s how.

• Peer mentorship - By encouraging active communication across the team, colleagues can help each other thrive by sharing ideas and tips, and helping solve problems, leaving senior staff to focus on other areas of work.
• Hosting social events - Online working doesn’t mean that you no longer talk to colleagues. In fact, it presents a new way to interact. Hosting regular social events allows staff to feel connected no matter where they are located.
• Collaborative integrations - By creating shared spaces, colleagues can easily collaborate on projects in real-time, wherever they are, and add to it whenever they want. This collaboration will allow your team to expand its capabilities.
• Employee directories - If you manage a large company, it can be difficult to know who does what. Using a platform with a dynamic and real-time employee directory allows employees to contact team members as needed.

Digital Workplace Transformation Components

Not sure how to transform your digital workplace? Here’s insight on the digital tools, as well as the connected components you need to develop or optimize for a smooth transformation.

Digital transformation tools

Technology is obviously a key factor when it comes to digital transformation. From accounting to collaboration, every sector has experienced some form of digital transformation in the past decade. This list of tools provides context on the range of options to consider.

People

People are at the core of digital transformation. For almost all organizations, this means gaining timely and relevant data about three sets of people - clients, employees, and consumers. This is especially true for larger organizations.

Data

Every action and interaction in an organization will create data. The focus should be on capturing it to create digital records that can be widely accessed and easily retrieved.

Insights

Merely collecting and distributing data won’t do the trick. It comes down to gaining impactful and actionable insights based on that data. This requires reliable data science, a framework, a model, or a system.

Action

Data and insights should lead to meaningful action. It would be tempting to think that data science, analytics, and AI can substitute action. But eventually, individuals have to act on the information and insights they receive.

Results

The process of analyzing results will generate further data. This virtuous cycle of data enabling insightful actions which create richer data that encourage better actions will be a crucial part of digital transformation.

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