So the digital transformation is knocking on the door and you decide to answer it. But you will need a key: a digital workplace strategy that will help you exploit new opportunities and align your resources to support long-term development goals. As scary and vague as it may sound, such a strategy should not be complicated to create. To help you get started, here are some basic concepts to consider:
Recognize Where You Are Now
The first step is to define where your business is now in the process of digital transformation, or in the journey towards a digital workplace. The Digital Workplace Group likes to describe it as an experience of work that is the sum of all the connected devices, software, and services the employees use. But you are free to explore other definitions, too.
At this point, you are invited to check on your workflows: are there any that is more pain than gain? It’s time to fix it then before the digital workplace takes over and mobile apps are introduced.
Once you have assessed what digital tools and services your business is using, don’t forget to weigh in the usage patterns of individuals and teams as well. Get everyone involved already at this point by asking for the opinions on what the digital workplace strategy should entail and what their attitude towards a digital approach is.
Then, look at the business environment. Try to figure out how much your competition has transformed to digital in the workplace. How do you evaluate your main competitor’s digital efforts? What solutions does the market embrace?
See Clearly Where You’re Heading
Now that you have the starting point, it’s time to elaborate the strategy. Remember that it will be used for long-term digital workplace planning purposes. Where do you want to get from here?
You can begin with the answers to some concrete questions, which would eventually form a clear vision: Is there an urgent need to provide the right devices to your employees? Maybe your communication channels need digital refreshment? Business applications to go mobile? A greater support for an ideal teamwork? Or assuring business continuity by digitally securing operations? Let your answers show what direction are you taking, what are the goals to achieve in your digital workplace strategy.
A mission statement will further elaborate on these concepts, with how do you plan to reach your goal and why a digital workplace will be valuable to everyone.
It is commonly advised to draft a roadmap on what steps are needed to execute the strategy, and to outline the priorities, aligned with three tracks: people, process, and technology. This part of your strategy will explain what steps are needed to achieve what you have envisioned and what are the objectives you will use to control the outcome.
When setting the strategy, you should not be driven by current budget constraints (we’ll talk about the do’s and don’t of budgeting later). A well-rounded strategy gives room for budget adjustments of either direction. Resource-wise, the focus should be on the expansion of funding options, by a deep consideration of the business benefits of a digital workplace solution.
Look back for performance control
While crafting your strategy, make sure you give hints on ways you will control performance. This could be an outline of regular revisions of objectives and action points, as well as a complete collection of KPI’s to follow. Communicating these control points early on will again improve transparency, which, in turn, help your employees engage with the digital workplace plan. Furthermore, the sooner a problem or a change in the direction of the overall business strategy is identified, the closer the strategy is to remain realistic – a key component in its success.
