5 essential building blocks for a digital workplace
Published on 07/12/2020 in Tech, tips & tricks
Where your employees work and when are defined less by time and location these days. They work in their own digital workplace, meaning that they require more than just a laptop and software. Have you considered connectivity, security, and support yet?
We are progressively evolving toward hybrid work, causing the formal dichotomy between the office and home to vanish. That gives a pivotal role to instant employee access – anytime and anywhere – to the right applications, data, and the related support. It calls for more than just digital tools and a laptop.
To upgrade to an efficient digital workplace, you need these 5 essential building blocks:
1. Connectivity
A reliable internet and telephone line along with great 4G coverage ensure that employees can log on in a snap and can be reached at the office. Most corporate networks have adapted to digital demand.
However, recent research shows that employee internet is not always as good as it should be for telecommuting. To facilitate efficient remote work, it needs to be upgraded to professional internet quality.
2. Devices and infrastructure
To begin with, that covers all the elements required to work at the office and remotely, for example, devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, supplemented by accessories and furniture such as headsets, speakers, laptop stands, ergonomic office chairs, desks, etc.
Digital work impacts how you arrange your physical office too. Smart offices and meeting venues need to be custom-equipped to optimally support every single activity from video conferencing to discrete face-to-face discussions, brainstorming sessions, etc.
3. Digital applications
Excellent connectivity grants employees access to cloud applications such as Microsoft Office 365 and Teams. Those are available anywhere and anytime, whether they are at the office or not. The first element to tackle is office applications such as e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, cloud storage data, etc. Those need to be supplemented by collaboration applications such as IP telephony, video conferencing, chat, etc.
Do your employees have direct contact with customers? If so, make them accessible everywhere with instant messaging and social media. And a chatbot can help answer frequently asked questions more quickly. That way employees have more time to spend on your customers’ more complex issues.
How ready is your company to embrace the next business normal?
4. Support your employees
Not every employee gets the hang of new tools quickly. Consequently, management needs to take a different tack toward leadership too. Make the transition easier on them with support. Offer e-learning and online training and develop change management and adoption processes.
Your company can also stay on top of things by monitoring and analyzing user experience. The KPIs measured, for example, can be used to customize the user experience.
Digital Heroes
Proximus launched the Digital Heroes to support employees. Employees who feel like experienced users for a certain application volunteer to be heroes. Is there a co-worker who needs help with an Excel pivot table or with PowerApps, for example? Then they can ask a Digital Hero, a co-worker who understands the ins and outs.
5. Security
Security plays a crucial role throughout the entire process. That is especially true now that your employees can access the company data from anywhere. And that has not escaped the notice of cybercriminals either. Phishing and ransomware attacks have spiked during the lockdown, hackers are trying to hack devices via less secure private networks, and fraud through text messages and e-mail have a better chance of success due to less formal work communications.
Digital Workplace-as-a-Service
Companies can upgrade their digital workplace by going for a Digital Workplace-as-a-Service (WPaaS). The concept behind the as-a-service model is that the company focuses on its core business and calls on specialists for other issues like a productive, efficient, and hybrid working environment.
“WPaaS means the business approaches the whole concept of an office as a service – bells and whistles and all,” says Yashfeen Saiyid, Proximus Benelux Head of Advanced Workplace. “It’s often a huge challenge for companies to adapt their office environment to the changing needs of employees with the right devices and software and customized security, training, and support. WPaaS gets rid of that stress.”
Curious about WPaaS?
Equip your homeworkers with quality tools
This makes working more pleasant, creates less distraction and makes them more productive.
One
One magazine is the Proximus B2B magazine for CIOs and IT professionals in large and medium-sized organisations.