Workplace of the future: a business strategy

Oct 25, 2017

people
IT
automotive
Microsoft

Social intranet, remote work, content collaboration platforms, virtual private assistants … The ‘workplace of the future’ is rife with buzzwords referring to trends and technologies. At its core, however, it is a business strategy that focuses on three axes: the nature of work, employee experience, and technology. Here’s where organizations should start to reap the benefits of the new era of work.

As a business strategy, the goal of the workplace of the future is to boost employee agility and engagement through thoughtfully implemented workplace technologies.

Changing the nature of work by optimizing non-routine jobs and creating a results-driven environment;
Improving the employee experience by boosting engagement through purposeful IT services;
Reimagining workplace technology.

Employee digital dexterity

Companies have a lot to gain by embracing the workplace of the future. The key term here is ‘employee digital dexterity’: the ability and desire of employees to use existing and emerging digital tools for better business outcomes. This boosts their individual performance, stimulates self-development, and – in many cases – allows them to work anywhere, at any time. In this way, digital dexterity drives a collaborative culture, which in turn promotes creativity and innovation, and helps your organization attract and retain talent. This will prove a major differentiator in the years to come.

From heatmap to roadmap

Companies first need to ask themselves which benefits are most important for their business. Is it the ability of employees to work from home? Increased creativity? Or, is it the ability to collaborate more smoothly? Once a list of priorities has been made, these can be mapped against what are known as ‘enabling technologies’, like cloud office, social intranet, file sharing platforms, and so on. This ‘heat map’ is the first step in building a roadmap towards the ‘workplace of the future’.

Employees and safety first

Besides thinking of the workplace of the future as a business strategy that needs to be mapped out and implemented, two other aspects are important as well:

Take an employee-first approach: look through the eyes of your employees and the job they need to get done, and then identify the capabilities and the benefits you want to realize.
Protect your digital assets: Once you start collaborating within or outside the company your data becomes even more essential: make sure you protect and govern it adequately.

Author: Paul Belsack. You can contact Paul on LinkedIn.