Highlighting and reacting to operational inefficiencies has been a part of the business world for thousands of years. It has always been done with the same ultimate aim – to make an organisation agile and more resilient, while spending less money on it.
This has never been as important than in times of economic uncertainty, in the like of which we currently find ourselves. As businesses look for ways to save money and become more efficient as an organisation, adaptive digital workplaces are emerging as a way of cutting costs by means of strategic innovation during the cost-of-living crisis, with the additional benefit of making the working day simpler for employees, making them doubly effective.
An adaptive digital workplace is exactly what its name suggests, only it is smarter and it also goes the extra yard.
Covid-19 understandably gave a lot of businesses a push towards digital, but in many cases it was a kneejerk reaction which wasn’t thoroughly thought through. Companies simply wanted their employees to keep on working, and the overloaded patchworks of apps, additional processes and information which they invested in and that they implemented allowed them to do this.
As such, the digital landscape rapidly became a well-intentioned jumble of apps and software which were not needed by every employee in the businesses, but which were still costing money regardless and which were open to data breaches and risks. The effect on the employees themselves was stark too, as all of these apps required login details and a working knowledge of how to use them. The sheer weight of information being presented to them caused delays in decision-making which might also have far-reaching consequences. Onboarding new colleagues became a potential minefield as all control of app use and storage was lost.
Statistics back up the idea of an employee’s head being filled with more and more information they might not necessarily need. In 2023, businesses use an average of 89 different apps. In 2015, they used 58. Almost a third of the apps that they will now use are duplicates or add no value, even though money is being spent on them. Similarly, another recent study has found that employees toggle between apps and websites around 1,200 times per single working day. That’s an awful lot of clicks.
There needs to be greater simplicity, for the sake of employees and the sake of the company’s balance sheet. It comes in the form of the digital workspace.
The digital workspace is a SaaS platform that brings fluidity to work whether that’s at home or in the office. They consolidate tools, so each individual employee is only given access to the apps and data that they need to do their job and nothing more.
This sets them apart from the virtual desktop, which just copies the on-premise installation and simply recrates the issue of employees being overwhelmed by apps and information.
A single login grants the employee access to their own bespoke working landscape where all their apps are instantly available without having to search through disparate areas of shared drives. The time that they would otherwise have spent rooting around networks and switching between apps is given back to the employee, as they typically find themselves with an additional hour each day to complete their daily tasks.
A report by Forbes highlighted 17 per cent of a day’s time saved with anytime, anywhere access to apps. Meanwhile, when Cisco conducted a survey of workers to find out what they needed to improve the hybrid working experience, a huge 96 per cent of respondents requested intelligent workplace technology – which is exactly what the adaptive digital workspace is.
They help companies retain their most valuable assets: their people. By bringing simplicity, they enhance greater collaboration and help colleagues at all levels structure their working days to suit them. They show them that their employer has the optimism to give them what they need to do their job with the minimum of fuss.
There have been many economic crises over the years and though life feels tough at the moment, help is there to get businesses through it. The adaptive digital workplace is just one aspect which can help your business emerge leaner and stronger when we collectively turn the corner into a future that is more economically certain.