April 21, 2020

What is Digital Working And The Benefits

A young boy wearing a white VR headset

Workplace is no longer a physical space for the concept of Digital Working. Mobility and flexibility are now the heart of working digitally. 

 

Have you heard the term "Digital Nomads"? It is a term for an employee who works remotely, using their digital device/s at any given time and moves from one place to another frequently. If you do this, then you are a digital nomad.

 

Although the terms of digital nomad and digital worker are synonyms, there are argumentations. A digital nomad is most like described as a lifestyle – move from city to another frequently. While a digital worker is more referred to someone who is an employee for a specific company but is permitted to complete their jobs from anywhere OR from where they live, without having to commute to the office or where the company is located,  but is able to access all of the company data using the devices they, or the company has provided.

 

A digital worker typically has permanent residence somewhere. There are, of course, like many degrees of separation. They usually set up a home office and have the principle of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) that approaches to the Digital Working. They can decide where to work, but no physical presence of where they work.

The implementation of digital working allows success of flexible work. It also allows companies to expand and globalise their operations with new methods of collaboration.  By working digitally, you can gain satisfaction and motivation is increased. It is a work that takes place where you feel comfortable and is productive. By streamlining operations and removing standard roadblocks, digital workplaces help teams operate at peak capacity.

 

In turn, it will free up more manpower for new initiatives and makes it possible for businesses to grow more rapidly than ever before.

In digital working, we must aware of the importance of employee collaboration and digital collaboration tools.

 

·     Employee collaboration maintains direct communication with team members and helps to gain insights and can resolve problems quickly.

 

·     Digital collaboration tools provide a visible space for employees to work together as well as improve team member’s communication skills. It also minimises the chance of team members to missing important information or update on the projects/tasks, and ensure that they work on a project on the same page.

 

To successfully implementing a digital working system, business leads need to build a digital culture in their organisation to replace technology that creates difficulties. They also need to show their employees how a digital working can help them improve their work efficiency and their productivity, as well as encourage employees in team collaboration.

 

The business leads will also need to be ready to face some challenges:

 

·     Data Security and Applications/Platforms

 

Part of digital working challenges in implementing a digital working is data security and application/platform. As much as you want to make it easy for your employees to access important company data using their own devices, you will also need to maintain data privacy that follows the necessary specific compliances. Therefore, you must choose or use an application or a platform that can directly comply with all important data security guidelines.

 

·     Application Integration

 

It is crucial to ensure only integrating important applications, focusing on user-friendliness and not confusing employees about which applications to use for what purpose as one of the goals of digital workplace is to make it easier for employees to manage their work, not complicate it.

 

·     Productivity Issues

 

It is normal to see a slight decrease in productivity in the first few weeks after implementing a new digital workplace, as it usually takes time for employee to get used to the new applications.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/xjSkI_seiZY

However, once business leads could overcome the challenges mentioned above, they could see the benefits from digital working after implementing it. Below are some of the benefits of digital working you can achieve and will lead to why digital working is important for businesses/companies:

 

·      Operational Cost Savings

 

This comes first when a business/company is implementing a digital working. This will become a significant cost savings on office rental, furniture, etc. Also, it will not need an IT team to manage a company server.

 

·      Flexibility and Agility

 

For employees, digital working allows them to work from anywhere (home, a coffee shot or a co-working space) to be productive and collaborate with team members. This is called a work-life balance.

 

For business, serve up a strategic and change of growth workforce.

 

·     Higher Productivity and Creativity

 

By using the right digital tools and automating tasks through a digital workplace will leads to higher productivity, as employees can use their idle times to come up with innovative ideas, inspiring creativity  and problem-solving. This digital working will also make employees feel motivated to do their best.

 

·     Empowered Company Values

 

Focusing on employees engagement and empowerment. Through a better communication and knowledge sharing, employees will be more likely to contribute positively.

 

·     Talent Attraction

 

A company brand and competitive salary surely are good attraction for talents to choose a job. But why digital workplace will attract talents? Because it will show talents a commitment to a people-first workplace culture and allows employees to work flexibly, to having a chance for them to be more creative.

 

·      Revenue Increasement

 

If your employees are able to work from anywhere, they are more likely to be more productive, efficient and better at their job. And what it means for your business? More revenue!

 

When digital working is implemented correctly and efficiently, it will bring more benefits and revenue to your business.

 

·     Improved Clients Experience

 

Employees who are happy, motivated, have a good work-life balance and understand the company goals will surely provide a high level of customer experience.

 

CONCLUSION

 

The importance of digital workspace and why does a company/business need it?

It allows easier access to virtual meetings and removes time barriers, location, devices and network connections. It allows employees to have better work-life balance while increasing productivity and agility for the company. It also can help employees to streamline workflows and improve their communication, at least.

 

Understanding strategy and implementing best practises of digital workspace are essential to create an effective digital workspace for your employees to enable them to produce a high productivity and creativity, which will lead to revenue increasement.

Learn how to build your ideal digital workspace with us. Contact us now!