4 Things You Should be Focusing on in a Digital Workplace

If you've ever been involved in building, growing or working in a digital workplace, you'll know that it's an ongoing journey. The digital workplace is constantly evolving and changing.

Just look at your LinkedIn newsfeed. Every day a new article emerges around remote working, the latest chat apps and collaboration developments, and how artificial intelligence systems could revolutionalize your workplace.

In a world that's so rapidly changing before our eyes, and an over-saturation of products and services available and advice on which to pick, it can be hard to know exactly what to focus on.

So, if you're looking to really hone in on the steps you can take to improve your digital workplace, here are the four main things to look out for and constantly develop, as highlighted by CMS Wire's 2019 State of the Digital Workplace report.

1. Work on who owns the employee experience

According to the latest report, ownership of employee experience is extremely fragmented across the board within digital workplaces. Just take a look at these eye opening stats:

What this tells us, is that while we know employee experience is important, there's no real 'owner' of the task, or cohesiveness in strategy. In most digital workplaces, it's all up in the air.

But why is employee experience so important to stay on top of?

Think of it this way. If a workplace is digital, you'll regularly be introducing and rolling out new technologies. If you want to bring in a new technology that'll improve your business, you'll need to make sure it's something that'll get your employees excited about using.

That means considering your employees' experience before anything else. If you're interested in finding out exactly how to do that, take a look at our recent blog.

2. It's early days, but there are some big mistakes being made

Interestingly, even though the digital workplace is a relatively new concept, 77% of organisations view the digital workplace as important. However with that in mind, only 14% of those surveyed have a mature digital workplace.

What does that mean?

Basically, we know that digital workplaces are key, but it's early days, and we're still making some pretty fundamental mistakes. This is underpinned by the fact that one of the top three challenges in a digital workplace is establishing strategic direction.

Business owners are excited about the idea of digitising their processes, and are quick to jump on the latest digital bandwagon. The downside of this, is the subsequent fragmentation that occurs, when all of a sudden a workplace is required to dip their toes in a multitude of different apps in a bid to 'keep up' with digital trends.

You don't have to ask PIQNIC twice why having all your work in one place is beneficial. If you're unsure, take a look at our blog on single-use apps in business.

3. Get a hold of your knowledge management

There's an important connection to be made between 37% of people identifying knowledge management in a digital workplace as a priority, and the need for having all of the information required to do your job, instantaneously at your fingertips.

Why is this such a priority? Well, you need only look to your day to day processes and consider how often you find yourself looking for the right information.

That means the time spent searching through email threads to find the right attachment, going 10 folders deep into your shared drive to locate a single document, or opening up an entirely separate app to share a presentation with a prospective client.

All of this adds up, and can become a significant blocker to the productivity of your employees and the growth of your business.

It's because of this point in particular that PIQNIC is steadily proving itself as a leader in business grade collaboration platforms. All of your information is in one, easy to access space, designed specifically to encourage collaborative projects between both internal and external teams.

Intrigued? Have quick read of the benefits, here.

4. Shift your attention to document management

Would you be surprised to find that of all the tools available in the digital workplace, apart from email (which if you ask us has it's own downfalls), no tool has 20% of organisations declaring it works well?

That's astounding. Especially considering that one of the major gripes is the need for a focus on document management, after all, information is at the heart of all things digital.

We put a lot of time in researching while developing PIQNIC, to find that the typical method for organising digital documents (think layers of Google Docs, OneDrive or other folder based  systems) promised to master your information challenges, yet failed to deliver.

What can we learn from this?

Focus on finding a tool that helps you to manage your documents in a smarter way. This means having the ability to find information based on what it is, not where is it. Folder based systems simply work. 

For information on this, check out our blog where we unpack the secrets of using metadata.

Want a leg up in mastering the digital workplace?

PIQNIC is here to help. We're experts in this field and we'd welcome the opportunity to offer any guidance or answer any questions you may have regarding the digital workplace.

Get in touch!