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Building the Digital Workplace

Bringing teams together across platforms

Connect apps, people, and processes

Modern intranets are the foundation of the digital workplace

Did you know that app overload accounts for 32 days lost in employee productivity and hundreds of billions of dollars wasted annually? 

The consumerization of the digital workplace has fuelled the demand for more purpose-built apps across different organizational functions. However, the adoption of multiple apps has upended productivity, as employees spend more time wading through digital workspaces than actually getting work done. 

While investment in the digital workplace is crucial to enabling employees to do their best work, the sheer number of apps only adds barriers to cross-functional collaboration. Without a shared digital workspace, communication and teamwork suffer. 

To connect apps, people, and processes, it’s important to equip your teams with a unified platform where they can access information and work collaboratively anywhere and anytime. That’s why modern intranets are the foundation of the digital workplace.

Enable the seamless flow of work across teams

Bringing teams together across tools

Intranet portals, think SharePoint or Confluence, increase transparency, and information accessibility. Teams no longer operate in a vacuum and everyone is now aligned around a single source of truth.

Along with intranet implementation, IT leaders are also looking for integration points across enterprise apps. Beyond information sharing, the key to a successful digital workplace is the seamless flow of work across teams. 

In this guide to building the Digital Workplace: Bringing teams together across tools, you will learn how to optimize your Office 365 and Atlassian products for a unified digital workplace of the future

Digital Workplace Overview

The growing portfolio of workplace apps has transformed the way people work. Today, you can find dedicated tools in every corner of the office. 

Below are the primary digital workplace solutions:

  • Communication: Incorporate messaging tools, company blogs, or chatbots for internal information delivery. 
  • Collaboration: Deploy a project management tool and knowledge-sharing platform for coordinating work across teams, effective document management, and reliable performance measurement.
  • Mobility: Enable remote access of tools away from the office, whether via desktop browser or mobile app. 
  • Business applications: HR platform, CRM, expenses & payroll for efficient talent acquisition and employee management.

At the heart of any digital workplace is team autonomy. With these technological innovations, everyone is given the necessary tools to perform work independently and have the authority to make decisions. For leaders, you can unleash the power of the whole organization and increase employee morale and performance.

But there are always two sides to every coin. Increased team autonomy equals less control over how collaboration is done. Leadership is still indispensable to making the most of these technologies.

Below, we will discuss common challenges in digital workplace transformation and how successful businesses stay ahead with integrated intranet platforms.

Digital Workplace Challenges: Lost Productivity and Siloed Information

The number of communication channels increases with the number of apps, and the information that an employee needs isn’t always accessible.

Because of that, the digital workplace can be held back by disconnected apps and siloed teams.

Synchronize all your business processes via intranet portals

App-Switching Reduces Productivity 

As mentioned in the beginning, app overload costs businesses 32 work days lost in productivity. Per employee. Per year. 

Since many apps are used exclusively within a department, cross-functional collaboration is more complicated than ever.  For instance, it’s not uncommon for enterprises to use both Office 365 for communication and document management, and Atlassian Jira for product development. The benefits of both platforms are apparent. However, as the company grows, gaps can begin to appear between these systems. 

While the software team manages just fine with Jira, they still have to jump back and forth between endless email threads to respond to requests. Or worse, they may lose track of tasks because the project plan is stored on another team space on SharePoint. If someone forgets to notify other members of the new assignments, no one seems to be on track. 

Clearly, you need a better way to navigate this “Wild West” of digital workspaces.

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Digital Walls Create Information Silos 

With all the data available at your fingertips, finding the right information at the right time can be hard.  

Each department has its own systems, and work-related information is scattered everywhere. As reported by The Panopto Workplace, the average US companies lose $47 million annually in productivity due to inefficient knowledge sharing. 

According to the report, 85 percent of employees agree that preserving and sharing unique knowledge in the workplace is critical to increasing productivity. Yet, many organizations overlook the importance of a common information repository. 

Now, let’s find out how you can synchronize all your business processes and manage cross-departmental knowledge via intranet portals.

How intranets help solve digital workplace challenges

At the ground level, an intranet empowers document management, real-time collaboration, knowledge sharing, as well as content creation. More robust platforms like Confluence are capable of project planning and other business services. 

Furthermore, you can integrate a variety of tools to facilitate a truly digital environment. Understanding the strengths of the two most popular intranet platforms Atlassian Confluence and Microsoft SharePoint will give you a general idea of what makes a powerful intranet.

Atlassian Confluence

...is a wiki platform that emphasizes content creating and collaboration, helping teams do their best work. What makes it an ideal software for intranet development is its simple, yet powerful page design capabilities, with real-time notifications that keep everyone engaged on important matters. You can also integrate it with the project management tool Jira, along with over 800 third-party apps in Atlassian Marketplace to extend its functionality.  Easily collaborate with team members with User Profiles For Confluence and Jira, both compatible with Confluence Cloud.

Microsoft SharePoint

...is a popular intranet platform bundled with Microsoft Office Suite. It bests Confluence in document management. Instead of having to download attachments for editing and then reuploading them, SharePoint allows you to work on Microsoft files in real-time, in the cloud (via the popular Office Web Apps). Combined with features like hub sites creation, team chat, project planning, and integration with third-party apps, SharePoint is a preferred intranet solution for many Microsoft users

To deliver on the full promise of modern intranets, successful transformation leaders prioritize tools that support all aspects of work, as explained below:

Try SharePoint Connector for Confluence Cloud for free

Building an common knowledge base

Digital Workplace - Deliver new levels of innovation.

A corporate intranet should focus on managing knowledge as an asset. It is an all-encompassing platform for employees to share new ideas, co-create content, and deliver new levels of innovation. 

Done right, you can exploit your intranet to encourage knowledge sharing and invite employee contributions beyond their traditional domains. Using the Wikipedia-like approach to content creation, as seen in SharePoint, your intranet is where breakthrough ideas coalesce into actionable strategies and plans. 

Beyond enterprise-wide knowledge sharing, you can also expand the intranet into a public knowledge base to support your customers. Confluence, with its documentation capabilities, offers a robust platform for internal and external access to technical product information, for instance, user guides or release notes.

One of the key components of a successful wiki space is the use of metadata, available in both SharePoint and Confluence. By adding metadata to your content, you can easily structure important information and enable others to quickly find it.

      Try Metadata for Confluence Cloud for Free

      Managing and Sharing Documents Across Confluence and SharePoint

      Using Sharepoint your confidential data will be kept securely

      With Microsoft SharePoint, your organization can break free from endless email threads and uncontrolled file sharing. Once uploaded to SharePoint, your documents can be edited and automatically saved in the cloud. No matter when and where your team members access the file, they will always see the most updated version and track changes through the edit trail. 

      Outdated files can create a communication gap that directly affects the workflow. That’s why we developed SharePoint Connector for Confluence. By integrating SharePoint with Confluence’s content editing capabilities, you’ll have a central hub for content creation as well as document management. 

      No more collaborating on a document through confusing email threads and uncontrolled version updates. Having a space to store and collaborate on the same work document is essential to keeping your business running smoothly. 

      Most importantly, all of your confidential data will be kept securely and under control. You can set permission access to the right audience, as well as audit the activity log to manage who has been viewing or editing anything. 

      Integrating Various Communication Channels

      Easily embed a SharePoint site in teams to collaborate on a project.

      One of the core functions of an intranet is to foster peer-to-peer collaboration through both synchronous and asynchronous communication. 

      Simply put, synchronous channels like direct messages are great for brainstorming or when you need an immediate response. But if you anticipate that the conversation will evolve, bring it to a knowledge–sharing platform instead, so other people can jump in and collaborate. A team site on SharePoint is ideal for asynchronous communication, especially if your teams are geographically distributed. 

      The best part? Most intranet platforms allow integration with a third-party messaging app, for example, SharePoint and Teams, to facilitate frictionless communication. You can easily embed a SharePoint site in Teams to collaborate on a project. So, whenever you’re having a discussion, your team members can instantly access the information they need without having to switch between apps.

        From Intranets to Ultra Teams The Ultimate Guide to Building a Confluence Cloud Team Workspace

        Deliver a positive employee experience. Read more in our ebook!

        To unleash the potential of the digital workplace and drive innovation, businesses need to counter app overload and deliver a positive employee experience. There’s no single app that rules them all, the key to successful digital collaboration is integration between apps and platforms that support current workflows.  

        The 2020s will be the decade of autonomy at work and the mainstream adoption of tools that enable us to craft our own unique workplace experience. 

        John T. Anderson, CEO of Smartway2 (source)

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