Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, there have been dramatic changes in digital workplace trends. Most notably a shift toward hybrid and remote work. In fact, a recent poll by Forrester found that 50% of organisations expect most of their staff to remain hybrid workers permanently even after the pandemic is over.
In effect, for any company to remain competitive and future-ready, it will need to have the right tech in place to facilitate flexible working options. The pandemic may have forced employees everywhere to leave central office locations and work remotely, but flexible working is clearly now a permanent shift in the workforce across the globe. Given the choice, many employees prefer not to go back to the office.
Digital workplace trends
Dubbed ‘the new ways of working,’ let’s take a look at some of the emerging digital workplace trends already dominating in 2022:
1. Intranets are a must
Secure, accessible, and most of all: well organised. Company intranets are so much more than an internal face: it’s where all the company documents are easily accessible, where internal communications and updates can be centralised and where your people can always find the right answers and the support they need to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Your company intranet is essentially a ‘virtual HQ.’
2. Intranet integration into Microsoft Teams
With so many MS Teams meetings, it makes sense that Next-Gen intranets are integrating seamlessly into Microsoft Teams. So now you can integrate your staff intranet, your two-way employee comms channel, and a place for creating and sharing tailored, targeted content all in one familiar location: inside MS Teams.
3. Third-party app integration within Microsoft Teams
Taking the ‘all-in-Teams’ trend one step further, studies show that employees prefer to access all their company apps and productivity tools in one place. Even more important, reduced context switching saves time and drastically improves employee focus and productivity. That’s why the most advanced digital workplaces of 2022, like Valo Connect, already include integration of proprietary apps and many different third-party tools all easily accessible within Microsoft Teams.
4. Analytics to improve comms & productivity
One of the biggest and most surprising areas for growth in the digital workplace is analytics. As more companies embrace hybrid working, the role of internal communications has become increasingly important.
With fewer face-to-face company meetings and overloaded email inboxes, internal comms are now pushing out company announcements on the intranet, sometimes daily. They’re also increasingly relying on data to act as a feedback mechanism to identify whether employees have received the comms, read them and how they felt about them.
Analytics will also play a big role in identifying intranet site usage, to show who is using the different features, to track employee productivity, and to help identify blockers and bottlenecks across the organisation.
The future is remote, hybrid, and in-person
A flexible, extensible digital workplace will be integral for building a strong and unified workplace culture. It can help provide everyone in your company with the same great onboarding experience and promote the company’s shared values and interests.
A solid intranet is the glue that binds a company of people together. From field workers to remote workers, employees in different branches to those working from your office headquarters: the right intranet means they can all access the same, up-to-date company information quickly and equally. It helps unify your employees to all work towards the same goals, wherever they are located, and to help carry your company into the future.
Contact us to discuss ways to make your business be future-ready.
