Digital workplace: Efficiency and productivity in the office, home office, and on the go
Updated: May 27, 2024 | Reading time: 6 minutes
This text is machine translated.
Modern collaboration from any location has become the norm. The focus is no longer on where, but how teamwork is carried out. Fixed working hours and the traditional office workplace are not dynamic enough for today's business requirements. Hybrid working models make companies in all industries flexible, efficient, and resilient. And hybrid working is necessary to attract and retain skilled workers (employee experience and work-life balance).
But how can managers create optimal conditions? How can companies realize the advantages of hybrid working models? The digital workplace—also known as the digital workspace or modern workplace—plays a central role in the implementation of hybrid work. It is the key to the digitalization of work processes, increased efficiency, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
What is a digital workplace?
Digital collaboration has changed external and internal communication in companies. Today, teams need to communicate in an agile and networked manner. Remote communication between employees, business partners, and customers has increased significantly. Information is exchanged via online channels and UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) platforms as standard. To do this, companies need a communication and collaboration infrastructure that their employees can use regardless of location and with all relevant devices such as PCs, laptops, and smartphones.
The digital workplace stands for productive, mobile, and secure working based on new technologies and digital tools. It is a fully digitized, location-independent work platform that supports modern business processes.
The digital workplace shifts workflows holistically into the virtual space. Employees use the workspace to access applications, services, tools, and data that enable networked collaboration. The goal is to make all necessary information available anytime, anywhere, and quickly. This allows teams to switch between different locations and schedules.
Companies that want to remain successful in the future must align their corporate culture with innovation and sustainability. Every employee contributes to value creation. This makes it all the more important to create optimal conditions for everyone. This allows every link in the chain to give their best.
The digital workspace brings together many of the requirements of modern companies:
Employees and teams value a personal, distraction-free workplace with high integration for smart, mobile working. The practical solution is to bundle communication into a platform that offers all the necessary functions and is accepted by all employees. The digital work environment reduces context switching by jumping back and forth between different tools. Online translations and live transcription of meetings, AI assistance functions, and automatic meeting summaries save valuable time.
In specialist departments, rapid knowledge exchange, joint editing and sharing of documents, and access to work results are relevant.
Marketing and sales depend on the high availability of market and customer data. Multi-channel campaigns and information gathering from social media channels are also becoming increasingly important.
IT departments strive for a reliable, secure, and maintenance-friendly IT infrastructure.
Management wants to increase productivity and efficiency while reducing costs, shortening innovation cycles, ensuring investment security, and improving competitiveness.
The digital workplace is a holistic concept that requires implementation strategies in many areas. Only in this way can it connect content, tools, and organization across departments.
It starts with the working environment (room and desk), continues with personal work equipment (PC, notebook, convertible, and smartphone) and technology (cloud-based hub for interdisciplinary teamwork), and ends with people (onboarding and increasing user acceptance through training). Looking at the big picture, the digital workplace is therefore not only a requirement for rooms, hardware, and software, but also for the design of business processes and the entire organization.
Many companies have achieved basic remote capability and digitized parts of the personal workplace. However, technology availability is often not yet advanced enough for all workplaces that can be digitized to be set up digitally.
Every company follows its own digital workplace approach. Find out in an ongoing process which form and type of hybrid working models are best suited to your company. Identify the stumbling blocks and define your workplace goals. Not everything has to be online and not everything has to take place in the office. Determine the specific equipment requirements for cameras, microphones, headsets, and conference room solutions.
Employee productivity and employee experience are important success factors in hybrid work scenarios. Hybrid teams are heavily dependent on technology in the digital workplace. Those who use the right mobile devices can work productively and goal-oriented anywhere thanks to the digital workplace. To achieve the right results, employees need good tools that suit their preferred place of work: office, home office, or mobile. Devices that are flexible and easy to manage are in demand. Equipped with fast Wi-Fi and 5G, nothing stands in the way of working anytime, anywhere.
The choice of technology is primarily based on the requirements of the company. The needs and comfort of employees also play a role. Mobile users often prefer compact, energy-efficient notebooks that are lightweight and have a long battery life. Performance-oriented notebooks offer demanding users high performance for complex processes.
It is also important to consider durability and service concepts so that teams can stay in touch and IT teams are relieved of some of the burden. Conrad offers suitable device classes in various equipment and performance categories for this purpose.
Note: Boost your employees' digital skills and motivation. Offer training courses to help them do this.
Peripherals and accessories are often overlooked when it comes to hardware for the digital workplace. Efficiency often suffers because there are no business-grade headsets and video cameras to optimally transmit image and sound in both directions. A high-quality headset dampens ambient noise and can be worn comfortably for hours. Or mobile computers cannot play to their strengths because they lack a docking station or a second screen. Don't forget seemingly minor details such as connection cables for external monitors and privacy screens for commuters on buses and trains. A sturdy bag is also essential, allowing users to safely store and transport their notebooks and accessories.
Hybrid video meetings, chats, virtual rooms, virtual whiteboards, and events: Companies have diverse requirements that are constantly changing. Are you frustrated by the inefficiency of hybrid communication and collaboration in your company? Then it's time to optimize your processes with the right cloud platform.
With Microsoft 365 as their office solution, many companies already have a good starting point for the digital workplace. Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and similar platforms increase the intensity of contact in the digital workspace and improve the flow of information during collaboration. They bundle corporate communications on one platform and create an ecosystem for global collaboration. Companies are free to choose where and how the exchange takes place and which devices are used for it.
The platform offers the ability to collaborate in real time, share files, share screen content, and exchange comments. Employees can seamlessly switch between phone, video, and chat, send files, share content, and schedule meetings. Virtual backgrounds transform any location into an office. Communication with service providers, suppliers, customers, and applicants also takes place via the platform. Access control and encryption ensure that only authorized persons can access the cloud service.
Tip: Common business applications can be integrated into the platforms. This eliminates the need to switch between different applications in the digital work environment.
Rethinking conference rooms in the age of hybrid work
Digitalization and hybrid working models are leading to a functional transformation of the office: in addition to desk-sharing concepts for concentrated work, small and large meeting rooms are becoming the focus as places for collaborative work. Whether it's a meeting, video conference, presentation, brainstorming session, or webinar, design your meeting rooms for hybrid work and give your employees the choice. New room concepts are becoming increasingly important for creative exchange and personal encounters. In addition, there are lounge areas for relaxed brainstorming and socializing.
For collaborative processes, companies need team-oriented rooms equipped with modern video and audio technology. Effective collaborative processes increase productivity and team satisfaction – whether through the quick start of a hybrid meeting, wireless screen sharing, or real-time comments on a digital whiteboard. Inefficient meetings, on the other hand, cost time and money.
When switching to hybrid video conference rooms, make sure that the hardware and software solution is tailored to the intended use. And don't forget a reservation system that teams can use to organize conference room occupancy.