What Is The Modern Workplace?
Attitudes towards working styles and business frameworks are fast-changing. We live in a 24/7 economy, and it’s no longer about being chained to the office desk.
The modern workplace is about trying to achieve a work/life balance by leveraging the ability of technology to help you get more done with less effort.
Here is a short video on why you need to modernize your workplace:
The Modern Workplace: Enabling A Mobile Workforce To Collaborate More Effectively And Drive Consistent Experiences
Here I am sitting on the beach, compiling this article on my laptop. I can’t help to instinctively feel guilty, as if I am skiving work and failing to be productive. But the reality is that’s simply not true. This is a classic case study of what the modern workplace can help you achieve; it means working from anywhere anytime.
As a contemporary employer, the modern workplace provides you and your staff with the tools that you need to feel included, be informed, and always productive. This is typical of the workplace today; multi-generations working together, increased transparency, and people working from anywhere across various devices.
Ideally, the modern workplace is not only about integrating technology into your day-to-day business operations but also the cumulative effect these technologies have on your staff.
What Exactly Is The Modern Workplace?
The modern workplace and its sister-term ‘digital migration’ have caused such a fuss in the IT world that some people are actually convinced that they are simply market-speak.
Microsoft describes digital migration as being “about reimagining how you bring people together, data, and processes to create value for your customers and maintain a competitive advantage in a digital first-world”. From the surface level, we can adopt this definition for a modern workplace.
The modern workplace is really about using digital transformation to improve collaboration, empower your personnel, and instill a culture of change and innovation.
The challenge for most enterprises is how to obtain business value from software tools post rolling them out. Simply installing and leaving them at that leads to a catastrophic systemic cycle of IT investments without any substantive ROIs. That is what separates spasmodic digital transformation from a strategic modern workplace.
The end-goal is to enhance customer relations, improve interactions between your employees and partners, and have a culture of embracing transformative digital trends.
Digital Transformation vs. The Modern Workplace: Digital transformation focuses on the evaluation of your existing business frameworks and protocols, both human and technological resources, and aligning them to your business goals.
The modern workplace, on the other hand, is about developing systemic cultures that promote the integration of technology to enhance the capacity and standards of innovation produced. Note that this is a departure from merely changing or recapitulating your business models without a concise strategy.
Developing A Modern Workplace Strategy: You must have gathered by now that for a successful modern workplace to be achieved, having a precise plan of action is inevitable. The strategy should address:
- How will you orient key technology platforms — such as ERP, SharePoint, CRM, and Office 365 — to suit your business framework?
- What is the ease of your users acquiring and deploying the new technologies?
- Can the platform grow with your business as it scales?
- What complimentary tools or additional administrators do you need to deploy the technology platforms successfully?
- In case of unforeseen developments, what is the safest way out?
Modernize Your Workplace Following These Simple Tips
The old ways to manage workplaces were never ideal. Migrations and upgrades could take months, stagnating innovation, and causing massive disruptions. You need new ways to deliver exceptional and modern workplace experiences.
- Develop a Modern Workforce: A study by BBC reveals that there was a 74% increase in the number of people working from home between 2008 and 2018. The shift is even more profound since the21st century employees demand increased autonomy and flexibility. Empower them to work from anywhere anytime. The employer-subordinate relationship pattern does not hold ground anymore. Have an open-minded approach to internal communication. You don’t have to formally send emails when a simple call or WhatsApp message can work even more efficiently. Those yearly or semi-annual evaluations that are synonymous with undue stress on the workers can be abandoned for a more effective continuous feedback approach. In the end, a modern workforce is more productive and less overwhelmed.
- Invest in Collaborative Efforts: Having various departments working hand-in-hand is healthier than when they strain to outshine each other. Competition is good, but it must be towards achieving a common goal. Platforms like Office 365 enable users to share and amend files, organize meetings, and collaborate instantaneously over the internet. Employees evade the hassle of having to compile various versions of the same documents.
- Move to The Cloud: IDC predicts that more than 59 ZB of data will be generated and used this year. As data increasingly becomes an integral part of business operations, the problem of limited storage space sets in. Transformative platforms like Microsoft Azure provide not only adequate cloud storage space but also guarantees top-tier security of the data collected.
- Embrace Modern Technology: Besides acquiring the best technologies, ensure that your workers are in a position to operate and drive value from them. Your technological investments are only as productive as the employees can use them. The notion that investing in building your staff’s capacity increases their chances of leaving for better jobs is misplaced. The American Staffing Association documents that 61% of employees agree that training is a significant reason for remaining in their current positions.
- Get Professional IT Support: Seek the support of an established IT service provider. This helps in accessing a deep bench of experts experienced in modernizing workplaces while saving on cost.
How Do You Stand To Benefit From Workplace Modernization?
- Increased productivity since your employees can work from anywhere anytime.
- It results in a satisfying workplace that has a stable life/work balance.
- Enhanced communication and collaboration within the organization and between the enterprise and its end-users.
- Cloud storage provides a centralized and easy-to-access database.
Need help modernizing your workplace? IT Network Solutions Group is more than ready to assist you.
Email us at support@itnsgroup.com or call (800) 350-0013 and we’ll answer any questions you may have concerning the modern workplace and how you can modernize your firm.
