Digitizing Your Workplace – The Why And How

Gone are the days whereby employees have to deal with stacks of papers and folders on their office desks. With the rapid advancement of technology, offices today are increasingly shifting towards a digital workplace – automating administrative tasks and replacing business operations with technology.

Key drivers behind the digital framework

Setting up a digital framework within your organisation helps to streamline your digital strategy approach and understand how to implement your digital tools. Here are 4 key pillars of the digital framework:

Use

Traditional workspaces see employees being holed up in cubicles with limited interaction opportunities outside of their teams and departments. Not only does this minimises networking within the workplace, it limits the exchange of ideas amongst employees. A digital workplace allows employees to interact with each other regardless of geographical location or time zones. Tools such as video conferences and online community boards allows for a seamless exchange of ideas and knowledge sharing across the organisation.

Technology

The plethora of digital tools available in the market can pose a challenge for organisations looking to implement these tools. Instead of selecting what is the "hottest" trend in the market, organisations should choose the right mix of digital tools that will best benefit business operations as well as employees. This will help to accelerate the outcome of digitalisation and streamline internal processes – unnecessary digital tools will merely add on to the costs.

Control

One of the key objectives behind digitalisation is to remove boundaries and create an open communication culture for employees. However, this also calls for appropriate controls and policies to ensure that employees do not go overboard.

Business drivers

Similar to the earlier point on usability and technology, it is imperative to identify which are the organisation’s critical business units and how implementation of digital tools can drive business growth. This helps organisations to understand how and what digital tools can drive business sustainability and growth in the long run.

How to implement?

Strategic alignment – the first step towards setting up a digital framework within your organisation is to understand how it fits into your overall business goals and culture. Regardless of whether your organisation is just setting up its digital strategy or reviewing it, it has to always align with your organisation’s mission and goals.

Collaborative digitisation – digitalisation should not be aimed at benefiting a particular process within the organisation. Instead, it should be targeted at benefiting the organisation as a whole. For example, the Start Digital Pack by Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore is to help SMEs start their business right with foundational and easy-to-deploy digital solutions. These solutions include digital marketing, invoicing, accounting and payroll solutions.

Educate employees – not all employees are receptive to change. As such, it is crucial to educate employees on the benefits of digitalisation and how it affects them. Start by introducing new digital tools and processes in phases and allow for feedback to be shared. This allows employees to slowly adapt to changes within the workplace and provide them with an avenue to voice their opinion as well.

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