According to a report, over 77 percent[1] of organizations consider a digital workplace an important organizational priority.
In 2021, the popularity of digital workplaces in organizations will grow at an even faster pace as employees are forced to work remotely because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders are under more pressure to create a consistent and personalized experience for their employees through digital workplace adoption.
But the noise of fragmented digital landscapes and an overwhelming amount of tools and applications can make it difficult to pick the right platform for your company.
We interviewed CEOs and business leaders of companies around the world to help you understand the newest and most important digital workplace trends for 2021.
1. Artificial Intelligence
In 2021, you can expect to see an increasing number of organizations around the world readily leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to streamline existing business applications or improve user experience. The first step towards deploying artificial intelligence is assessing the readiness and maturity of the business applications currently being used by employees.
For instance, you can develop AI-powered chatbots to answer common questions that employees might have about internal business applications which can in turn minimize the learning curve and deliver a better employee experience.
Alex Paretski, Knowledge Manager at Itransition, a Denver-based software development company agrees. According to him, “AI will stay as the key enabler of the digital workplace in the coming year. The greatest benefit of AI as part of the digital workplace is that it makes employees more capable and independent from the physical characteristics of their offices and infrastructures.”
Similarly, Dmytro Okunyev, the Founder at Chanty, says,“With AI being more present, we can finally find new ways to automate even more jobs that require employees to be present in the office. And as more companies join the remote movement, we’ll have more resources on how to have digital workplaces that function even better than traditional offices.”
2. Voice-driven search
With growing technologies like Google Home and Amazon Echo, we will see more voice-driven searches being carried out in the digital workplaces as well.
Employees can find data faster and interact with their business applications in the same way they interact with other personal applications with the help of voice recognition technology.
It is also possible to use a voice-driven search to provide better customer service and deliver a more personalized and frictionless experience to end customers. A voice assistant with voice search optimization is expected to become the new trend in the coming years and implementing it in the right way can help you meet your workplace goals in a more efficient manner.
Alex Paretski says, “The volume of manual work will definitely decrease as digital workplaces offer more smart capabilities based on voice and motion commands.”
3. Support for decentralized structure
In a centralized structure, business decisions are taken by executives in high positions. But many organizations now follow a decentralized system where every employee has a more powerful voice.
If businesses want to successfully undergo digital transformation, scale at a fast pace, and rapidly innovate, then decentralization is the only way to go. With a decentralized structure in your organization, you are able to improve employee engagement, instill a sense of ownership and accountability in employees, and get better results.
As more and more companies adopt the decentralized structure for their internal decision-making purposes, companies will also implement digital workplaces as well in order to maintain the decentralized structure and establish intelligent business models.
4. Bridging the gap between disparate workforces
There are very few companies that are either fully remote or working completely from the same office space. Most companies have a big part of their workforce operating from an office and the rest of the employees work remotely. Some companies may only allow their employees to work from home once in a while.
Digital workplace Platform can help bridge the gap between these disparate workforces by giving employees a seamless platform to work, communicate, and collaborate despite of their location. Moreover, integrating digital workplaces would help globally distributed teams work without disrupting their efficiency or productivity.
Christian Teismann, Senior Vice President & General Manager at Lenovo, says, “As more people work from non-traditional locations (even within a traditional office), it’s critical for employees to have access to tools that can enable productivity while being mobile. In fact, The Capital One 2019 Work Environment Survey found that 61 percent of professionals expect their next employer to offer flexible hours, and 54 percent expect the ability to work remotely. To meet those expectations, business leaders and employees must make smart technology choices that allow for collaboration and seamless work/life integration.”
Powerful trends for a more connected future
While these are just trends that will be predominant throughout the year, the digital workplace priorities for your organization will depend on your digital needs and employee requirements. The digital workplace platform that you choose for your company should be able to fulfill all your requirements and close any digital gaps.
Kissflow is a digital workplace tool that is made for growing companies and it can help you in streamlining business processes, automating workflows, and collaborating with your team members in an easy way.
Ready to give it a try? Sign up for a free trial of Kissflow today and take it on a test spin.
