ADAPTIVE DIGITAL WORKPLACES
Bringing efficiency through adaptive digital workplaces
Adaptive digital workplaces can help to make life simpler for employees and therefore more efficient, which can help the bottom line, as Erik Nicolai, co-founder and CEO, Workspace 365, explains.
Statistics back up the idea of an employee’s head being filled with more and more information they might not necessarily need. In 2023, businesses use an average of 89 apps. In 2015, they used 58. Almost a third of the apps now used are duplicates or add no value. Another recent study has found employees toggle between apps and websites about 1,200 times per single working day. There needs to be greater simplicity, for the sake of employees and the company’s balance sheet. It comes in the form of the digital workspace. The digital workspace is a SaaS platform that brings fluidity to work whether at home or the office. They consolidate tools, so each employee is only given access to the apps and data that they need to do their job. This sets them apart from the virtual desktop, which just copies the on-premise installation and recreates the issue of employees being overwhelmed by apps and information. A single login grants the employee access to their own bespoke working landscape where their apps are instantly available without having to search through disparate areas of shared drives. The time that they would otherwise have spent rooting around networks and switching between apps is given back to them, typically gaining an additional hour each day. A report by Forbes highlighted that 17% of a day’s time saved with anytime, anywhere access to apps. Meanwhile, when Cisco surveyed workers to find out what they needed to improve the hybrid working experience, 96% of respondents requested intelligent workplace technology – which is what the adaptive digital workspace is. They help companies retain their most valuable assets: people. By bringing simplicity, they enhance greater collaboration and help colleagues structure their working days. There have been many economic crises over the years and though life feels tough now, help is there to get businesses through it. The adaptive digital workplace can help a business emerge leaner and stronger when the economy recovers.
Highlighting and reacting to operational inefficiencies has been a part of the business world for thousands of years. It has always been done with the same aim – to make an organisation agile and more resilient, while spending less money on it. This has never been as important than in times of economic uncertainty, the like of which we currently find ourselves. As businesses look for ways to save money and become more efficient, adaptive digital workplaces are emerging as a way of cutting costs by means of strategic innovation, with the additional benefit of making the working day simpler for employees, making them doubly effective. An adaptive digital workplace is exactly what its name suggests, only it is smarter and goes the extra yard. COVID-19 gave a lot of businesses a push towards digital, but in many cases it was a kneejerk reaction which wasn’t thoroughly thought through. Companies simply wanted their employees
Erik Nicolai co-founder and CEO Workspace 365
to keep on working, and the overloaded patchworks of apps, additional processes and information which they invested in and implemented allowed them to do this.
As such, the digital landscape rapidly became a well-intentioned jumble of apps and software that were not needed by every employee, but which were costing money and open to data breaches and risks. The effect on employees was stark too, as all the apps required login details and a working knowledge of how to use them. The sheer weight of information being presented to them caused delays in decision-making, which might also have far-reaching consequences.
workspace365.net
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