Why Implement a Digital Workplace in 2024?

The increase in remote and hybrid working has accelerated digital transformation across businesses of all sizes and industries. In today’s connected, technology-driven landscape, workplace automation and digital workplaces are emerging as the future of the new way of working.

In this article, we will explore what a digital workplace is, why workplace automation is important, the benefits it brings and a checklist for beginning your journey to a digital workplace.

What is a digital workplace?

A digital workplace refers to the virtual equivalent of a physical office or workspace, where employees perform their tasks using digital tools and technologies. Leveraging innovative digital technologies, such as cloud-based tools like Xerox Workplace Cloud, a digital workplace enables employees to collaborate in real-time from different locations while working on a project. Businesses large and small are adopting digital workplaces to help improve communication, facilitate collaboration between remote teams and enhance productivity.

Benefits of a digital workplace

There are many benefits of adopting workplace automation to create a digital workplace, including:

Greater agility and flexibility in the workplace

Digital workplaces provide your business with the agility and flexibility to quickly respond to changes. The global pandemic proved how quickly things can change and how the ability to adapt is paramount.

Digital technology also can help your business make more informed decisions by analysing data at lightning speed. Meaning you can explore new markets or opportunities quicker to gain a strategic competitive edge.

Increased productivity

Traditional workplaces that rely on a physical office may not be as productive as they could be. In a digital workplace, employees can quickly and easily access the information, tools and teams they need to complete their tasks efficiently.

By digitising workflows, you can remove the reliance on paper-based processes to unlock productivity gains. Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate mundane tasks, can also help your business save time and money on these labour-intensive tasks.

Workplace automation enables employees to work more productively and utilise digital technology to automate repetitive tasks. This can free up time to focus on more creative and business-critical tasks. This can also help your business increase revenue and reduce business operational costs.

Open lines of communication

As your teams become more distributed, and by adopting more remote and hybrid working models, the digital workplace can help to keep your employees connected. Through the use of digital technology, you can enhance the way your teams communicate, stay connected and collaborate - no matter where they are located.

As the new future of work and an expectation from many employees, remote working is here to stay. Businesses that accelerate their digital transformation will be ahead of the curve and could gain a competitive advantage when it comes to recruitment.

Free up resources and reduce costs

By leveraging and embracing digital technologies, you can help your business reduce its costs. Firstly, your teams will become more productive and agile to respond to new opportunities. But beyond those factors, as you move away from paper-based processes and adopt cloud-based technologies your need for on-premise storage reduces which can save your business money.

These cost savings across the business can be redirected to other areas of the business to drive innovation that helps the business grow and become more profitable.

Journey to a digital workplace checklist

To help you get started on your journey to a digital workplace, here is our checklist:

Review your current workplace, its processes, the skill level of employees and your business's ability to adapt to change.
Gain stakeholder buy-in to the transformation to a digital workplace.
Devise a digital workplace roadmap to help you define your goals, timelines and metrics you will use to gain insights into the journey to a digital workplace. The roadmap should also detail clear ownership and governance and the rules that support it.
Find your digital technology partner who can help you transform the key areas of your business to become more agile, flexible and resilient.
Educate employees on the changes and ensure they are trained to use the new systems.
Identify how you will roll out the digital workplace. Will you focus on key processes initially, or roll it out in one project?
Measure the success and insights into productivity gains and cost and time savings.

How we can help

Download our eBook to find out more about workplace automation and how we can help you create a digital workplace to streamline processes and boost productivity in the new year.

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