As the modern workforce continues to evolve, so do the expectations for the digital working environment that we rely on every single day. As we spend more time on our screens, the need for an intuitive, efficient, secure, and connected digital workspace is essential to remain productive and engaged.
From video and chat-based communication to CRM and project management tools, every aspect of your modern working environment must be carefully designed to ensure it is seamlessly integrated, configured correctly, intuitive to use, secure, and a right fit for your business.
This blog explores the top 5 things to consider when planning and designing your digital working environment. Following this approach ensures every detail and requirement is captured within your business to inform your plan of action.
5 Things You Need to Consider When Designing a Modern Working Environment.
1. The Discovery.
Before planning any change to your business, it’s important to work out where your business is currently and where you want it to be, then focus on how you will achieve that. Without the right discovery and approach to gathering requirements, your plan won’t match your business needs and you may end up with an environment that isn’t right and is costly/time-consuming to rectify.
Map out your needs, challenges, and what you want to achieve with your modern workplace. Consider everything from technology, software, and security to network infrastructure, business processes, and business strategy.
Consider the following questions:
- How will a modern workplace help you achieve your strategy?
- Where do your users want to work (remote, hybrid, full-time at the office)?
- Do employees use corporate or personal devices on a BYOD scheme?
- How do they access data, workspaces, and documents?
- Is storing and finding documents difficult?
- Can they collaborate on documents in real-time
2. Common Issues.
– Often, the search for information in a business is like finding a needle in a haystack. According to a report by McKinsey, employees spend an average of 1.8 hours every day searching and gathering information. That’s over 9 hours wasted per week. This highlights one of many issues that businesses can overcome with a modern working environment.
Assess your issues and challenges with surveys and by talking to key stakeholders; most importantly though, speak to your end users and internal IT team. What would make their lives easier and more efficient? For example, the ability to centrally store, organise, and find data and control access with ease.
Consider the following questions:
- What problems can you solve with a modern working environment?
- How is communication managed across the business? Is it easy? Is your network fast enough?
- What tools do teams use to connect? What devices do they use?
- How do you secure user workspaces and devices?
- Is it difficult for IT staff to manage and update devices and user workspaces?
3. The Technology.
The technology design can be tough to get right. It’s important to spend time determining which services and solutions will answer your business problems and provide you with maximum value. You don’t want to be overspending on products and platforms you don’t need, or missing out on technology that could transform processes.
Working with an IT partner can help you identify areas that may be overlooked. They can also help you choose the right solutions for your business and guide you through the design and process of effectively implementing them.
Consider the following questions:
- What will your modern workplace look like?
- What apps and services are vital to every day?
- Do you use any Microsoft Cloud apps/services? If so, which? Are they integrated or disjointed from your other applications?
- How much does your business utilise the cloud already – what on-premises IT needs migrating?
- How secure is your business data in the cloud and on-premises?
4. The Processes.
Think about all the key processes of running your business. Consider everything from sales and marketing processes, project management, and customer service, to finance, HR, and logistics operations. Assess these processes and look for new ways to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve both the customer and employee experience.
For example, using rule-based logic, manual tasks can be automated, helping you achieve key business outcomes faster and without error. Streamline communication, save money, increase efficiency, empowering employees with accountability and the time to focus on what matters most.
Consider the following questions:
- What processes do you use, and which ones do you want to replicate or improve?
- Do you use analytics or AI to improve decision making and automate processes?
- Can you create reports or charts quickly and easily?
- How can you improve the way you forecast?
- Is it easy to see employee availability, and book meetings and rooms?
5. The Cultural Shift.
87% of senior business leaders say digitalisation is a company priority, yet only 40% of organisations have brought digital initiatives to scale. Making the move to a modern working environment requires buy-in from key stakeholders and employees. Without their commitment, there is no enablement for change. A core concept of the modern workplace is flexibility and empowerment. Equipping your employees with the tools to work wherever and whenever they’re most productive is a firm incentive in itself. Committing to a growth mindset of increasing efficiency, security, engagement, and productivity will ensure everyone shares the same vision going forward.
Once you’ve shared your vision and goals with your key stakeholders, mapped your issues and improvements, and designed your digital working environment, it’s time to think about implementation and configuration. Building your modern working environment cannot be achieved overnight, or simply by purchasing new technologies. It can be a complex process that requires having the right people, skills, resources, and understanding of requirements to achieve the intended outcome.
Consider the following questions:
- How will changes be communicated to stakeholders to ensure buy-in?
- Who is going to do the digital transformation and manage it?
- What knowledge do you have and what skill gaps need filling?
- Are you going to outsource the project to a third party, work with an IT partner as an extension of your internal team, or complete the transformation in-house?
- What are the first key steps you will take?
What Next?
So, now you know what you want, it’s time to make it happen.
Once all the above factors have been considered, you can then focus on designing a solution and migration to your new modern working environment, mapping issues to technologies/changes/processes that will overcome them.
Get Started with our 3 Stage Guide to Creating a Modern Workplace
By harnessing the power of modern workplace technology, you can simplify IT management, seamlessly integrate applications, enable better employee collaboration and communication, and boost productivity; all of this securely.
Adopting new technologies can sometimes be a little overwhelming, and it’s often difficult to know where to begin.
We’ve put together a clear guide which takes you through every stage of building your modern working environment, and how to get it right the first time.