As working culture is going to through a quicker change than anticipated, workers all over the world are becoming more and more aware of what they wish their job would offer: more flexibility and ease in their daily tasks. To answer the increasing demand for flexibility and new ways of working, many companies are looking into creating a digital workplace. Having a digital workplace strategy in place enables companies to have a futureproof style of working in the digital era. Here’s why companies should begin creating a digital workplace.
Benefits of a digital workplace in short
- Better employee experience
- Increased flexibility of work
- Better collaboration
- Reduced operational costs
- Better talent acquisition and retention
- Future proof workplace
What is a digital workplace?
A digital workplace is a full, connected environment that enables collaboration and work tasks regardless of time and space. Gartner defines the Digital Workplace as follows:
The Digital Workplace enables new, more effective ways of working; raises employee engagement and agility; and exploits consumer-oriented styles and technologies.
In other words, a Digital workplace gathers all essential information into one place and enables high collaboration no matter where people choose to work from, while still maintaining all necessary security that companies and organizations need. In addition, a digital workplace relies on intuitive technologies that are designed the user experience in mind.
What are the benefits of creating a digital workplace?
The modern worker is feeling dissatisfaction in executing unnecessary tasks, using multiple tools, and having difficulty collaborating. As Microsoft Research The New Future of Work says, while our processes are becoming more flexible, and networked, at the same time, the pace of work is speeding up and the amount of information is increasing.
The benefits of creating a digital workplace are:
1. Better employee experience
We all know that having multiple apps and platforms for information creates stress and unnecessary work during your workday. We are also starting to realise that the old, one-size-fits-all style of working at the office from nine to five does not guarantee the best result in productivity or promote a healthy work-life balance. A digital workplace strategy aims to make things simpler and allow different working styles from full-time office work to flexible seating and hours. When a digital workplace strategy is in place, people can connect from anywhere they like.
2. Better collaboration
As Harward Business Review article states, collaborative work in companies has ballooned by 50 % or more. While teamwork can be applauded, workers report that they are also struggling under emails, reviews and request access to files and data.
The digital workplace aims to make collaboration easy and simple no matter where your co-workers are. When everything is found from one place, the need for inquiries and leaves time for effective collaboration.
What are the advantages of returning to the workplace?
3. Reduced Operational costs
If there is one thing the COVID19 year has thought us, is that we don’t need as many face-to-face meetings as we once thought we did. When working from home becomes the new norm and traveling for work decreases as many meetings can be held virtually, companies can save in rental costs, office furniture and traveling costs.
4. Better talent acquisition and retention
In many fields, companies are in constant competition over the best and most talented workers. Today, people are looking for the most progressive working environments with the best employee experience and a lot of flexibility. Companies that have created a digital workplace, can attract the best talent to their teams with proof that they offer a work environment that aims for the best employee experience with high flexibility, trust and good collaboration.
5. Future proof workplace
Digital workplaces are a part of the future of work. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the word at the beginning of 2020 and people were quite suddenly rushed into remote work, it can be said that the companies who had already adopted a digital workplace were the winners as they already had the strategies of digital working in place, whereas the companies with no or little digital workplace strategies had to try and adapt very quickly.
One benefits of creating a digital workplace is also that it makes the workplace future proof for not just world wide pandemic, but to the rapid changes in work life and culture.
Creating a digital workplace for the better future of work
A digital workplace offers many benefits for a company. By making everyday work tasks easier and enabling flexible work styles to your team, you can create better employee experiences, ensure better collaboration, reduce costs and attract and keep the best talent. Finally, you will also make sure your workplace is future proof for all kinds of changes in work-life.
