How To Make Your Digital Workplace More Effective

“The capabilities I want from a digital workplace are the following. First, I need a capable communication platform, which lets me send texts and make audio and video calls, as well as share my screen. Next, I need a feature that lets me manage my projects better. We built a tool that aims to blend these two together and I think it’s doing a good job so far,” says Dmytro Okunyev, founder at Chanty.

Many organisations are trying to build their own tools to bring their communication into their projects. Each project needs high-end analytics and reporting capabilities to really get control and insights over all the activities running within.

The next challenge is to take these insights into actions, to manage work, people, and their collaboration in one go. Many enterprises build their own tools for the purposes of customisability and data security. They cost a fortune, but get the job done in an efficient way.

However, there are some collaborative project management tools that SMBs and mid-markets could use to get the job done. They can still catch up with their enterprise giants if they realise this problem and start acting upon it.

Improved knowledge management

“We can also expect enterprises to pay greater attention to their employees’ competences and knowledge augmentation. In this context, digital workplaces could get expanded with previously unavailable knowledge management features.

I am looking forward to welcoming software solutions capable of sorting out batches of business content and capturing valuable knowledge that could be further automatically relocated to employees’ competence centres, as well as shared across teams and communities,” says Alex Paretski, Knowledge Manager at Itransition Group.

In today’s dynamic work environment, it is important to document and manage information that needs to be on common grounds for all-round access. Getting new employees up to speed is easier when they can find the resources by themselves and fill their knowledge gaps.

It also lightens the load on all teams when users can search for information right at their fingertips with ease- it simply gives a better experience for employees. With powerful search tools that can understand queries based on the context, a digital workplace should have knowledge management as a priority for every organisation.

Increased productivity with remote work

“As more people work from non-traditional locations (even within a traditional office), it’s critical for employees to provide tools to enable productivity while being mobile. The Capital One 2019 Work Environment Survey found that 61 percent of professionals expect their next employer to offer flexible hours, and 54 per cent expect the ability to work remotely.

To meet those expectations, business leaders and employees must make smart technology choices that allow for collaboration and seamless work/life integration,” says Christian Teismann, Senior VP and General Manager at Lenovo.

Remote work has been on the rise over the last decade. It allows employees to work at their own time and place. Studies have shown that the performance of employees increases when they work remotely.

But how to make remote work a reality that works for both the organisation and employees?

The best way forward is to give employees the right digital tools to stay connected to work. It has to be the right mix of providing maximum functionality and flexibility along with data security.

To keep a tab on everything, it is also necessary to reduce the number of apps used by employees to get more visibility.

Employee-centric approach while adapting to new technology

While software applications are expected to become more intelligent, employees will need to be empowered to leverage these technologies to become more effective and productive.

Until now, the solution to any work problem is looking for digital tools. However, the biggest mistake is assuming that buying and implementing a tool will solve the problem automatically.

Make sure that employees adapt to a new work culture with those new tools. Only then will you see a significant change in ROI.

After all, employees are human beings with habits that are hard to change.

How to approach a digital workplace?

Digital workplace initiatives are bringing in a lot of benefits to businesses of all sizes. Even if the term ‘digital workplace’ is loosely defined, it is necessary for leaders to try and understand why people are talking about it.

The ideal approach to your digital workplace should be to identify the current needs of your business, get digital tools if required, and implement them in the system through people. The vision for a digital workplace is an ongoing wave. Better to ride it than be late to the party.

source: e27