Digital workplace, services and employee experience

Our way of working has changed dramatically in recent years. We work at the office, from home, on the go or at customer premises. We always want fast and secure access to data and applications no matter what. In this ever-changing market, companies are faced with a significant challenge. Employees are increasingly demanding. They expect the same digital experience at work as they have at home.

"People choose employers who support them and offer them a work environment where they can really make a difference."

Nele Verhaegen, Workplace Solution Consultant at Proximus NXT

The digital workplace in the war for talent

It is no surprise that companies are using their digital workplace as an asset in the war for talent. Nele Verhaegen, Workplace Solution Consultant: “People choose to work for companies that support them and offer them a work environment where they can really make a difference." While employees may switch off from a work environment that does not have this digital dimension. Nowadays, a clever workplace strategy reflects a company's identity.

What is the digital workplace about?

The digital workplace provides employees with the digital tools to interact with customers, communicate and collaborate, work remotely, automate repetitive tasks and protect company data. The digital workplace creates an efficient, safe and flexible environment. It enhances the experience of customers and employees alike.

Need for unburdening

"The technical aspect of a digital workplace alone is a challenge for many companies," says Sander Geerkens, WPaaS Product Manager at Proximus NXT. "There is a structural shortage of IT professionals in the labor market. This makes it difficult for a company to manage its entire IT set up on its own. This is especially true for security, which is essential in the context of the digital workplace." IT managers - and by extension the entire company - need to unburden themselves of the management of their digital workplace so they can focus on their core business.

What is Workplace as a Service (WPaaS)?

With Workplace as a Service (WPaaS), Proximus NXT helps companies to thoughtfully set up their digital workplace. An enterprise customer can subscribe a complete workplace - including devices, applications and all related services - in the form of a scalable service by paying, in most cases, a fee per user. In other words, this solution does not require any prior investment. WPaaS is mainly cloud-based.

"This guarantees that employees always have the right data and applications at hand, anytime, anywhere. In addition, working together with colleagues, customers, or suppliers becomes extremely easy," says Nele. This also significantly unburdens the IT department. "Proximus NXT acts as a partner to take care of updates and secure the whole setup." Companies who choose for WPaaS have one less thing to worry about.

"AI helps people to work more independently and productively, which also increases the employees’ sense of belonging and engagement."

Wilhelmine Dubuisson, Cloud Solution Sales at Proximus NXT

Increased productivity and engagement

This way, companies can embrace the modern workplace. And that is a good thing because the benefits speak for themselves. Wilhelmine Dubuisson, Cloud Solution Sales at Proximus NXT states that "Above all, it is a different way of working. Hybrid working (i.e.: working partly from home or at customer premises) provides more flexibility and a better work-life balance." This promotes wellbeing and helps employers and employees maintain a sustainable relationship.

"In addition, employees feel more engaged due to the numerous tools that make it easy for them to seamlessly connect and collaborate with their colleagues." Wilhelmine adds: "For example, AI has a lot of potential for automation of all kinds of repetitive tasks without added value. It helps people to work more independently and productively." The digital workplace helps improve productivity and achieve better results. This also increases the employees’ sense of belonging and engagement, which ultimately benefits the entire organization.

Digital Employee Experience (DEX) measures workplace satisfaction

The success of a digital workplace greatly depends on the employees’ overall experience with the digital tools, systems, and processes used in their work environment. This satisfaction can be captured by the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) (how well the applications are running, etc.). "This Digital Employee Experience is always top of mind," says Sander. "If we want to provide added value to our employees and, in doing so, increase their performance at work, we must accurately identify their needs. That's the starting point."

"We design a WPaaS solution tailored to a company's specific needs to develop an efficient, productive, and sustainable digital workplace. When it comes to WPaaS, one-size-fits-all is not fit at all. We often see very similar challenges faced by very different companies," says Stijn Bogaerts, Smart Business Generator, "but not every sector has the same challenges. That's why we always start from the customer's specific needs to create a tailor-made WPaaS solution based on a new pilot project.”

"In practice, a workplace process has an increasingly broader interpretation, for example through the connection with smart building applications for lighting and ventilation in the office."

Stijn Bogaerts, Smart Business Generator at Proximus NXT

Smart building as part of the sustainable workplace

"In practice, a workplace process has an increasingly broader interpretation, for example through the connection with smart building applications for lighting and ventilation in the office," says Stijn. "Smart buildings will need to play an increasing role if we are to achieve a climate-neutral economy by 2050. Just imagine the possibility for employees to easily book a meeting room using an app, optimizing the use of available office space.

Or a building management system to make sure that the booked meeting room is heated, lit, and ventilated at the right time—preventing unnecessary energy consumption. Only using what you need when you need it drastically reduces carbon footprint. This ultimately contributes to the employee productivity and wellbeing."

Booking parking spaces or meeting rooms, monitoring security, granting access to the building and meeting rooms, and offering connectivity to meeting equipment, and more: Proximus NXT is collaborating with Sodexo to create a "Digital HQ" app that enables more efficient use of facility services

Sodexo is first testing the innovative smart building platform in its own new office building. In the future, Sodexo and Proximus NXT will also use it to attract potential customers from the financial and medical sectors.

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"Not enough companies are fully aware of the status of their hybrid work environment and don’t realize that there is still a lot of room for improvement thanks to a strong strategy around digital experience for employees."

Sander Geerkens, WPaaS Product Manager at Proximus NXT

Sustainable mindset

“The environmental aspect is very important in all areas of WPaaS. We approach all of our solutions with a ‘green mindset’ to optimize, support, and improve sustainability as much as possible,” says Sander. “It is not just about finding solutions with a smaller ecological footprint and making optimal use of available office space, but it’s also about the employer’s forward-thinking approach.”

CSRD Reporting

Sander: “I don’t think enough companies are fully aware of the status of their hybrid working environment, and they don’t realize that many improvements can still be made thanks to a strong strategy around the digital employee experience. Workplace-as-a-Service prioritizes employee wellbeing and the economic viability of a sustainable workplace, while always taking environmental considerations into account. We continuously improve solutions to provide the necessary reporting on aspects such as energy consumption of appliances as well as their reuse and recycling. This can be a great help for companies with the administrative challenges related to the CSRD regulations.”

Wellbeing, ecology, efficiency

“Creating a digital, sustainable workplace is not only good for the environment, but also for employees and business results. By investing in sustainable practices and technologies, companies can reduce their carbon footprint, increase efficiency, improve the health and wellbeing of their employees, and save costs at the same time. It is a win-win-win situation that leads to a more sustainable future for everyone,” Nele concludes.