What does a digital workplace look like?
Look around you, you’re working in one. The difference is to what degree businesses have adopted the technology. Although you may think your paper To Do list is outdated, chances are everything else you do at work is digitised. If you use email, an intranet, a mobile device or devices, online planning tools and the like, you’re digitised.
While some businesses do digitisation wholeheartedly, most are still trying to get to where they aspire to be. It will be a long time before most workplaces are (almost) completely paperless and staff really are working seamlessly from anywhere, at any time.
What are the benefits of establishing a digital workplace?
The benefits are countless and some of the top ones include:
> Faster connections
> Variety of devices
> Borderless communication & collaboration
> Agility & efficiency
> Scalability
A wholly digitised workplace assists in education, supports fluctuating workloads and flexible working arrangements, harnesses cutting edge technologies and encourages a happier workforce. Staff morale and workplace culture should never be overlooked and can be the key to running a successful business.
How do you define a digital workplace?
A digital workplace is always connected. Mobility is seamless whether you are working in or out of the office, cloud computing and cloud based applications are central to operations and interact easily with each other. Collaboration is easy, intuitive and borderless. Portability rules and you can easily access appropriate information from any device type at any time. Of course all of this is limited by what access you have to the technologies that support these ideals – internet connections, apps and devices need to be available and the right ones chosen to get you up and running. The current digital workplace can still look archaic compared to the robotic, science fiction-esque vision of our imaginings; but every day the things needed to get us there are being revolutionised. Although it's different to what we imagine, the digital workplace is already up and running right now.
What does the digital workplace of tomorrow look like?
The digital workplace should eventually be completely paperless, some businesses are already there. Electronic forms, online file sharing, web note taking and electronic annotating are some new innovations that should completely eliminate the need for paper. People’s comfort levels in adopting these new ways of working will grow over time helping businesses reach the paperless ideal. For those dealing with sensitive information or regulatory requirements, a paperless workplace could still be quite a way off; although the ways of taking and storing information are always changing.
Faster connections are being installed daily (check your internet speed here), increasing mobility and flexible working arrangements. Flexible working arrangements will no longer focus on being always on, but will focus on working around personal life commitments and being sympathetic to work life balance. Work will no longer necessarily be somewhere that you go, but something that you do, or it could mean logging a set amount of hours in a certain time frame; working from home; hot desking; or introducing dynamic working hours.
Collaboration is being enormously transformed at the moment. There are already many apps available for borderless communication, teamwork and relationship building, but there is still a gap in the comfort level of using these tools or apps to maximise their functionality. Mastering these tools will only increase collaboration and highlight its many functions like shared notebooks and documents, more document control and compatibility across different platforms.
What are some simple ways to reach a wholly digitised workplace?
Some easy ways to start your digital journey are implementing a seamless wireless network with no drop outs or black spots, datacentre virtualisation, migrating to Office 365 and utilising cloud technologies. Having a highly available, robust Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) plan in place to support your technology is also crucial.
To make the next steps in your digital journey call us on 1300 865 865.
