Organizations have been experiencing a shift from a physical workplace (have a peek at these guys) that houses employees during office hours to a work environment with technology that is extremely connected and always available – better known as the digital workplace.-
While the idea of the digital workplace has been a trend for the past few years, it became widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses were forced to reimagine business processes to accommodate a disparate workforce. These are the 5 learning certifications for the workplace.
So, what is a digital workplace? This blog will cover the digital workplace definition and some components of a digital workplace strategy every business needs to enable their digital transformation initiatives and provide a great user experience.
Digital Workplace Definition
Gartner defines the digital workplace as an operational tool that “enables new, more effective ways of working; raises employee engagement and agility; and exploits consumer-oriented styles and technologies.”
Let’s take a look at the fundamental pieces of a digital workplace strategy, some examples, and what is a digital workplace transformation
Digital Technologies
Perhaps the most important investment a business could make from a technology perspective is cloud infrastructure. Cloud technology should serve as the foundation of any modern-day IT strategy, transforming the organization by enabling a simpler and more flexible workstyle.
When talking about digital technologies – the cloud in particular – distributed cloud and edge infrastructure are two fundamental components to take a look at.
Distributed cloud is a public cloud service that lets companies run public cloud infrastructure in multiple locations while still allowing management from a single specified location. With this targeted, centrally-managed distribution of public cloud services, businesses can deploy and run applications or individual components in a mix of cloud locations and environments that best meets your requirements for performance, regulatory compliance, and more.
A distributed cloud model is ideal for edge infrastructure and computing, which is where companies run servers and applications closer to where data is being created. By placing computing services closer to these locations, users benefit from faster, more reliable services and reduced latency while companies benefit from the flexibility of a hybrid cloud solution.
Collaboration Tools
Collaboration tools are a key element of a digital workplace. These tools supplement an organization’s suite of digital technologies to foster an overall better employee experience.
Some examples of commonly used collaboration tools include video conferencing, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and content management platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint. Another collaboration tool that has more recently gained momentum is smart workspaces, which are high-performance collaboration platforms that use technology like the cloud, SaaS, and other innovations. Some examples include Microsoft Modern Workplace, Google Workspace, and Amazon WorkSpaces.
Many collaboration tools also enhance internal communication initiatives across an organization through built-in features and functionality like real time chat, file sharing, project tracking, and more.
