What is slowing down your modern workplace efficiency?

The digital era has brought about opportunities for British firms – but also challenges. In short, the ways we work are changing, and firms that are too slow to change struggle to recruit the best talent, attract new customers, and even retain existing customers.

One of the biggest barriers to modern workplace efficiency is outdated infrastructure and processes slowing down users and having a negative impact on the entire business.

Instead, the best, most agile modern workplaces have moved away from legacy technology and manual processes, paper-based record keeping, and over-reliance on in-person meetings. They embrace customers’ demands, users’ expectations, and the digital workplace solutions that enable that activity.

What is your definition of modern workplace?

Companies have very different definitions of modernisation and digitalisation. Whether it’s referred to as remote office, virtual, hybrid, digital transformation or any of the other common catchphrases, the inescapable fact is that working shifts have changed to varying degrees.

Whatever the jargon, the key is to utilise modern workplace technology to provide optimal planning and execution to keep customers coming back for more.

A modern workplace technology stack is built around office applications, telephony, device management, apps, document management and data storage.

Reducing bottlenecks in modern workplace efficiency

Moving away from legacy technology, processes and mindset requires the whole organisation to buy in. Breaking down silos is one of the crucial parts of creating a modern workplace culture. This is achieved by integrating departments, increasing leadership collaboration, providing training and development paths for hard-working staff, and building structured, achievable incentives for employees to aspire to.

Departments can be seamlessly integrated by adopting the right cloud-based software. Leadership collaboration can be achieved in so many more ways than monthly board meetings. Training and incentives can work hand-in-hand with the company’s overall objectives as well as those of individual staff members.

Technology is key to facilitating this culture shift. It is underpinned by modern applications, collaboration tools, and building business intelligence through the collection and smart use of data.

IT’s role in creating a modern workplace

The role of IT is changing. For Inc.com, the modern IT department needs to be strategy-orientated, collaborative and aware.

In practice, this means providing users with the tools they need to do their job. A wide range of SaaS-based technologies are available to help power the modern workplace, but selecting the right ones can be a challenge. Surveying users and mapping capabilities is a great way to assess value, overlaps, and gaps to get a holistic view of how they combine to create a seamless, secure workplace.

This avoids the situation in which users go in search of their own tools (a.k.a. “shadow IT”) if the right ones are not provided by the business. Providing these tools without forcing users to find their own not only reduces bottlenecks for users as a result of gaps in their tools portfolio, but also reduces the risk for IT in terms of potential security breaches.

In short, effective modern workplaces are comprised of four key transformation areas:

• Getting the right tools in place for your people.
• Enabling them to work better together.
• The ability to make better decisions faster.
• Using data to make better business decisions.

Building your organisation to achieve these reduces bottlenecks and sets you up for building the most effective working environment.

Find out how to optimise your modern workplace today!