Modern Workplace Technology – Enabling Businesses to Navigate the New Normal

Enabling your employees to connect and collaborate in the “new normal” requires company-wide commitment, a forward-looking mindset, and trust from the C-Suite and beyond. It also requires strategically orchestrated modern workplace technology to enable employees and executives to do their best work⁠—remotely or in the office⁠—without feeling isolated, unprepared, or out of the loop.

We’ve all heard, read, and thought a lot about the new normal over the past couple of years. It’s “The Great Rethink,” as Forbes describes it, of how work, society, and many other life experiences evolved during the pandemic. The confines of office buildings and familiar workplaces have given way to remote, hybrid, and distributed work arrangements. Many professionals and executives have no intention of returning to previous workplace arrangements. Colleagues from across the globe now seem as accessible as those geographically closer.

Modern Workplace Trends

A McKinsey study indicates that about 20-25% of workforces can enable remote work for three to five days a week indefinitely, a significant increase compared to pre-pandemic remote work rates. 30% of executives surveyed said they expect to reduce their firms’ office footprints. As much as 90% of professional work is taking place remotely. 

A Microsoft Modern Workplace study found that remote work has led to fewer, shorter meetings and increased online messaging and SMS texts. It found that less than 5% of Americans worked from home for three or more days pre-COVID, while 42% worked remotely during COVID. 35% say they can do their jobs with 100% effectiveness. 

Modern workplace benefits for telecommuters include quality time with family, fewer distractions from colleagues, and more focus on employee health and wellbeing. Physical offices are becoming venues for special events instead of being the everyday norm. 

Let’s explore the modern workplace technology that enables increased collaboration and communication throughout distributed workplaces.

Clinging to the Traditional Workplace vs. Embracing the Modern Workplace 

Businesses resisting the adoption of policies and platforms that make working remotely possible are losing talent to forward-thinking organizations that embrace distributed and hybrid workplaces. The McKinsey study mentioned above found that 87% of organizations hiring remote employees let them work remotely beyond their city and state limits. 

Some of the leading reasons employees are leaving their current employer during the recent “Great Resignation” do so because: 

• Their previous job created a poor work-life balance
• They wanted to seize opportunities to work remotely
• They didn’t feel valued by their manager or organization 
• They had been dealing with an unmanageable workload

Competing for talent in the digital age has changed drastically in the new normal. Many companies that aren’t willing to invest in modern, flexible work arrangements are experiencing a “brain drain” that shows no signs of stopping any time soon. 

The 3 Cs of Successful Modern Workplaces – Communication, Collaboration, and Connection

Communication

Choosing a modern workplace technology platform should prioritize internal and external communication at all levels of the organization, including executive leadership. Internal communications cover various topics like strategic business initiatives andsuccess stories. The tone of these internal communications is evolving from formal corporate-speak to brand-aligned messaging. Microsoft 365 applications like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, and Yammer enable communications that bridge physical space and time. 

Companies should, however, respect employees who choose to disconnect after hours while working remotely. In countries like Canada and France, it isn’t just a good policy to allow employees to disconnect in the evenings and on weekends—it’s the law.

Collaboration

When face-to-face meetings aren’t possible, and phone calls lack critical engagement and document sharing, platforms like Microsoft Teams are an ideal alternative. Empower your colleagues to switch between voice and video conference calls, instant messaging, real-time document collaboration, whiteboarding, and filesharing. Online conferences can be enhanced with branded or themed backgrounds, polls, and background noise cancellation. 

Online collaboration makes it easy for colleagues and their business partners to create, edit, and approve complex documents like contracts, proposals, and research reports. 

Connection

Digital connection to the internet and personal connections to colleagues, customers, partners, and suppliers are as important as ever in the modern workplace, if not more so. One critical modern workplace benefit is flexibility. From the flexibility to hold conversations across desktop and mobile devices to flexibility with work schedules, especially for remote teams enables many workers to get much needed balance and foster productivity. 

Aligning Technology Capabilities with Critical Business Objectives

The interoperability of cloud-based productivity suites like Microsoft 365 and other critical business applications like UCC, ERP, and CRM has empowered business leaders to focus more on user and customer experiences and open platforms. Best-in-class businesses are less concerned with implementations and more interested in how innovation can move the modern digital workplace forward.

Consider partnering with a proven managed technology services provider with deep expertise in managing technology deployments, integrations, and digital transformations. It can enable your business to stay focussed on your core competencies, communicate with your distributed teams, and ensure your workers are equipped to meet their individual and team-based KPIs. Further, contracting the management of your collaboration and productivity suites can minimize risks like security vulnerabilities, missed business opportunities, and overlapping, siloed business applications.  

Are you ready to transform your business with modern workplace technology? Yorktel has the expertise, experience, and digital platforms to accelerate your digital transformation journey. Contact us today to get started.