The Importance of Digital Workplace Transformation for Company

The pandemic may have sped up the adoption of digital tools in our professional lives, but many companies were already making the shift. As we adjust to a “new normal” of remote or hybrid work, these tools will continue to be integral for us in our day-to-day jobs. From submitting deliverables to collaborating on projects and sharing knowledge, most of our work is now happening online rather than in person. Technology has become an essential part of business and continues to shape our working lives.

Organizations have adopted various pieces of technology in an ad-hoc way to meet individual needs, but this has caused fragmentation and difficulty in collaborating. Different kinds of tasks take place in different apps or tools, without any connections between them. According to IDC, the average knowledge worker is wasting two and a half hours each day because of this complex landscape of disconnected productivity applications – costing them around $20k annually in lost productivity. This lack of efficiency is a huge burden for employees and organizations alike.

Organizations that sought intranet solutions to unify their companies online had the right idea. Your company is about to embark on a digital transformation journey, and it has the potential to unite its employees around goals and values in a way that puts the old-fashioned way of in-person working to shame.

A journey from ’90s tech to modern productivity through digital transformation

In the case of a basic intranet, what can companies hope to accomplish next? And more importantly, why might a basic intranet not be enough?

The idea of a corporate intranet has been around for decades, but many intranet solutions haven’t evolved much in that time. The intranet template provides corporate information, updates, and links to external resources. As a one-way data channel that cannot facilitate collaboration, it’s more like a corporate FAQ than a central destination.

Once a company reaches the next level in its digital transformation journey, it can implement a modern intranet. This builds on the social intranet concept and actually resolves the issue of true engagement. It serves as a centralized hub for all collaboration and knowledge sharing, combining multiple apps into one central platform and offering seamless integrations that capture ideas instantly and harness them to deliver better results.

The modern intranet provides an innovative way of collaborating, combining automated processes with app integrations, content publishing, streamlined workflow, and a mobile-first attitude. It is one of the first methods to bridge the gap between virtual and on-site teams; though it’s still possible to improve this model further.

Any forward-thinking organization should strive to replicate the physical workplace as a digital platform. It’s no wonder this solution is called a “digital workplace.”

In a digital workplace, departments and projects get their own “rooms;” knowledge is centralized; experts are more searchable, as are policies, files, and everything else that brings value to your organization. A company’s intranet needs to provide employees with relevant and helpful information, services, and interactions as they work, according to Gartner®1.

A digital workplace is designed to meet the specific needs of your company, so employees are engaged by your company’s values and goals. Employees who are engaged are less likely to quit and are more likely to accomplish their goals (in a shorter amount of time). It’s a powerful productivity tool and a culture tool.

Productivity could be better at businesses and at home due to the fragmented topology of apps, emails, and personal hoards of vital papers. The digital transformation journey is happening to most businesses whether they recognize it or not – the only thing we can truly control is how we strategize this trip to discover the true benefits it can provide.

Obtain the tools you need to plan your own digital transformation.