What is a Digital Workplace?

June 2021 | Insights – From the CEO The digital workplace is the set of digital components (aka hardware, software and services) that one uses to get work done. The digital workplace is comprised of the pieces and parts one uses to:

• Create number, word or graphical documents and presentations;
• Message, communicate and discuss with other people work topics and issues;
• Prepare for, hold, document and follow up on structured meetings and interactions;
• Store, access and share documents you’ve sent or received;
• Identify, track and manage simple, individual tasks to complex projects;
• Search for, access, use and re-use artifacts that contain embedded information and knowledge; and
• Secure, manage and protect all of the digital assets from the above.

Simple, right?! And of course, all of us already have a digital workplace of some sort. Just like we already have a physical workplace of some sort — desk, chair, light, paper, pencils, stapler, coffee maker, copier, storage boxes, hallways, places to meet with others, entrances/exists and bathrooms. Both digital and physical workplaces can be:

• Well or poorly conceived and designed;
• Disjointed, haphazardly connected or comprehensive and integrated;
• Supportive of, or a barrier to, teamwork and collaboration; and
• An enabler of, or impediment to, productive work.

In the ‘digital age’ the digital workplace is like air. We all breathe it and we all take it for granted. For twenty years it seemed like it was the same for everybody, for better or worse – like the air quality in LA in the 60s or 70s. It was just what it was and there was nothing to do about it. But it turned out that there was, in fact, something to do about the air quality in LA back then and there is something to do about the digital workplace quality today.

The question for our clients today isn’t whether or not to implement a digital workplace — they already have one! The question is whether to accept the not-so-great one they have or move to a better one. Just because we’ve all lived for 20+ years with the same haphazard and disconnected, ‘just-barely-good-enough’ digital workplace doesn’t mean we have to KEEP doing that. The question is whether, if they don’t seize this moment, they erode their ability to compete.

 

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Three(ish) Digital Work Ecosystems

The current state for most enterprises is still that the digital workplace is a hodgepodge of ‘apps’. Some provided by the enterprise (email, productivity apps) and many chosen by individuals. There are three offers of an orderly ecosystem to bring order to that app chaos:

• Microsoft is the clear leader in the business world (building on their dominance with email and Office);
• Google has a beachhead in education and non-profits; and
• Force is desperately trying to catch up through acquisitions ($50B on Tableau, MuleSoft and now Slack).

One could make a show of getting paid to do a formal selection. But for Real Estate — with its near universal commitment to Exchange/Outlook and Excel (plus the other Office apps) — the analysis isn’t complicated.

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Contact Us

To learn more about RealFoundations and how we can help you run real estate better, contact us by email or +1 214 292 7000.

 

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About the Author

Chris Shaida is an Enterprise Managing Consultant and Founder of RealFoundations. Mr. Shaida founded RealFoundations to provide a place where like-minded professionals are able focus their deep industry and solution knowledge and passion to help improve the operations of our real estate industry and corporate real estate clients.