Digital Workplace Essentials to Optimize Workflows

The digital workplace is a concept that has been around for a while but entered a different phase after the pandemic. Nowadays, over 70% of all organizations believe a quality digital workplace is essential to them. 

The digital workplace refers to all technologies designed to enhance work and collaboration within an organization. Such technology includes email, video conferencing, project management software, cloud, and social media platforms.

Optimizing the digital workplace is imperative if you want to achieve seamless and efficient collaboration within and outside of your company. Unfortunately, most organizations have an immature or unoptimized digital workplace. 

Surveys have shown that only 26% of organizations have a ‘mature’ digital workplace. This indicates that many companies have room to optimize their workflows. 

In this post, we’ll look at some of the best digital workplace essentials you should consider.

Collaboration Tools

Collaboration is key to achieving cohesion and streamlined communication. Tools used to facilitate collaboration become extremely useful when working remotely as the need for quality communication increases significantly. 

In 2021, nearly 80% of workers used collaboration tools for work. 

Microsoft Teams and Slack are two popular tools used to streamline corporate communication. These tools offer features exclusively meant to enhance productivity, such as real-time communication, video chats, and file sharing. 

Zoom is also among the essentials when it comes to communication. It’s a video conferencing tool that has become increasingly popular for virtual meetings and webinars. Zoom offers features like screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, and breakout rooms, making it a versatile tool for remote teams.

Cloud Storage

File storage is another facet of digital workspaces. It’s common for remote workers to find themselves juggling multiple devices, email attachments, and USB sticks to keep their files organized.

But what happens when you lose track of an important file, or worse, it falls into the wrong hands? Cloud storage provides multiple solutions to such problems. 

Storing your files in a cloud allows your team to access them from any device easily. Plus, cloud storage providers typically have robust security measures in place to protect your data from cyber threats.

But more importantly, using the cloud to store your documents allows for real-time collaboration, which optimizes workflow.

This means you can work together on projects, review and edit documents simultaneously, and give feedback without waiting for files to be sent back and forth.

Some of the most popular cloud storage tools worth looking at are Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive.

Task Management

Task management tools ensure organized task prioritization, collaboration, effective time management, transparency, and accountability. Yet, a survey by Wellington showed that only 23% of organizations are using such tools.

But task management tools fall under the category of top tools that every remote team should use. 

If a remote or hybrid work environment is native to your business, we urge you to prioritize introducing task management tools first of all.

Not only will such tools optimize your workflows, but they’ll help you stay productive by minimizing the chance of miscommunications. 

Jira is one favoured by many collaboration tool that offers a free plan for small teams. Its simple and straightforward functionality is perfectly enough to fully organize and “debug” your task management.

Asana is one more great example of a task management platform. It’s a web and mobile app designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. It provides a centralized platform where team members can create and assign tasks, set due dates, and track progress toward project goals. 

Asana also offers features like project timelines, team calendars, and task dependencies, making it an ideal choice for complex projects with multiple team members.

If you don’t fancy Asana, check out Trello. It’s another popular task management tool with a visually interactive approach to organizing tasks. Trello allows users to create cards for individual tasks and move them between columns representing different workflow stages. 

It’s a great option for teams that prefer a more visual, kanban-style approach to task management. Trello also offers features like checklists, due dates, and team collaboration, making it a versatile choice for various workflows.

Video Conferencing

We all know how tough it can be to work remotely and communicate effectively with colleagues and clients miles apart. Traditional communication methods like emails and phone calls can sometimes feel like they’re not enough, right?

Video conferencing tools have become popular, especially after the pandemic. They’ve allowed people to join company meetings with much success. As a team member, you can join video conferencing sessions whether you’re training or simply updating the team about project status. 

For instance, about 86% of companies today conduct recruiting interviews online. And interviews are just one form of workload that can be streamlined through video conferencing tools. 

Platforms like Zoom and Google Meet are essentials that optimize workflows and make remote communication productive. They come loaded with features like screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, and chat options that make it easy for teams to collaborate and communicate in real time.

One feature that you might find useful is the record feature. You can record meetings and play them back later, so you never have to worry about missing important information or decisions made during a meeting. 

They’re also super user-friendly and reliable, making it easy to see why they’re such popular choices for businesses of all sizes. 

Slack has also added a video conferencing feature, so you can hop on a quick call with your colleague with one click.

Security

The digital workspace involves facilitating work and communication through digital platforms. And as technology has it, most digital platforms connect to the internet and transmit data in one form or the other. Unfortunately, in doing so, this attracts the attention of cybercriminals. 

Organizations, especially those using remote work and hybrid work models, have become the target of most cybercriminals. According to one survey, major cyber threats were on the rise, with about 45% of companies citing a security vulnerability in the past 12 months. 

However, many companies seem to take this threat lightly, as another survey also found that 44% of companies do not provide security training on the threats of working from home.

The consequences of a successful cyberattack attempt are catastrophic for the business and its customers, who may suffer from identity theft and fraud. Also, the business’s reputation could be irreparably damaged, resulting in customer turnover and revenue loss. 

You start by implementing robust security measures. Some of the most popular security measures that you should consider include using strong passwords for your company emails and accounts.

Ensure that all of you use strong passwords that are hard to guess. Follow this up by enabling two-factor authentication wherever possible to add an extra layer of security.

Another way to boost your security in your digital workplace is by using a VPN. When you use a VPN for your operating system, i.e. Mac, your internet connection is encrypted, meaning your data is scrambled and unreadable to anyone trying to spy on your internet activity. This is especially important when you’re using public Wi-Fi, which is often unsecured and easy for hackers to exploit.

Educating yourself and your fellow colleagues is also a great security practice. This is especially important as 82% of all data breaches have a degree of human error attached to them. Doing this will help you. 

All in all, suitable security measures can help you optimize your workflow and keep your business running smoothly, no matter the challenges.

Conclusion

Digital workplace essentials are no longer optional but necessary for organizations to thrive in the modern business landscape. 

They come clutch in helping you optimize your workflow, increase productivity, and enhance communication. These five digital workplace essentials are guaranteed to reduce workload and improve efficiency. 

Additionally, you should consider using approval workflow automation tools to review and approve requests or documents. Here’s our article covering five reasons why your team needs approval workflow automation.