Digitalisation and millenials are a match made in heaven. Many of the things that millennials value the most can be delivered by digital. Why does this matter to business? Research estimates that close on 50% of employees will be millennials in 2020.
A digital workplace empowers your employees, suppliers and customers to communicate and collaborate seamlessly, regardless of geographical location. According to Gartner VP analyst Matt Cain: "The end result of a successful digital workplace is greater customer-centricity, more employee-led innovation, accelerated process outcomes, higher employee retention and greater appeal to prospective employees." Cain was quoted in a Gartner article on The recipe for a digital workplace.
A desire for improved collaboration and teamwork is one just characteristic of a millennial generation. Millennials also want the flexibility to work from anywhere, and are quick to embrace the latest technology.
Fortunately for this new generation of employee, the workplace is also evolving. It's no longer confined to a desktop PC on a desk in an office between the hours of 8am and 5pm. A digital workplace allows people to connect, communicate and collaborate in an efficient way and across the organisation. The workplace is mobile, it's accessible from any device and it's accessible anywhere, anytime.
As much as millennial employees don't want to be chained to a desk, their motivation and productivity are heavily influenced by the technology provided in the digital workplace. Yannick Tabanon, CEO of Atos SA, says: "User experience is everything for employees who want to connect to the workplace irrespective of device or location."
It also means IT is no longer solely the responsibility of the IT department. All departments across a business, from finance to HR to marketing, are being digitally transformed and employees are empowered to resolve some of their own issues, while other IT functions can be automated and preventive maintenance is able to stop certain incidents from occurring.
"The challenge is to find a balance between freedom and control, creating an agile, secure and affordable digital workplace in which employees can thrive," says Tabanon.
"Cloud delivery offers instant control over accounts and secure mobile access to all of the organisation's business applications and services. In addition, pay-as-you-use models mean enterprises only pay for what they need. Sophisticated access control keeps users and company assets safe."
The digital workplace is built around specific employee requirements. Collaborative teamwork is enabled with a focus on social networking, and social tools are increasingly being adopted, or adapted, for business use. The latest versions of updated documents are available to everyone instantly and everyone has access to the information they need at all times.
Using social networking tools encourages users, regardless of location, to collaborate and share ideas, creating a spirit of innovation across the organisation.
Benefits of the digital workplace:
* No more siloed information or teams that work in isolation;
* Improved collaboration and sharing;
* Anytime, anywhere and any device access to the workplace;
* Improved innovation;
* Greater productivity; and
* Better customer service.
In summary, the digital workplace is well connected, device- and location-agnostic, automation- and analytics-focused and aimed at enhancing the end-user experience, according to the ISG ProviderLens Digital Workplace Services Report, which can be downloaded here.
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