Wide choice of tools: a blessing and a burden at the same time
Once the organization has an idea of how the DWO can meet all these preconditions, it is time to look at which tools can help. Finding the right tools is a challenge in itself. There are hundreds of tools that can contribute to the digital work environment. Analyst agency Real Story Group made a valiant attempt to create an overview of all the tools that help employees in a digital work environment. Their Employee Experience Technology Map – or 'EmpEx 200' for short – shows 135 suppliers with 200 tools. This list is certainly not complete – for example, I miss the tools for analytics and personalization – but it does give an idea of the range.
The 135 tools are divided into three categories:
Also read: Digital work environment? Employees first!
Collaboration & Communication with tools for Groupware, Team Chat, Enterprise Content Management/Document Management, Task management and Intranet.
Self-Service with tools for Learning & Development, Travel, Time & Expense Management, Portals & Identity Management and Knowledge management & Search.
HR and other Line-of-Business Applications including 'Core HR', HR Analytics and Finance.
One tool for everything?
The EmpEx 200 clearly shows that a digital work environment can never be managed or realized with one tool. Many organizations think that their web content management system (WCMS), with which they manage the website, is also sufficient for managing the intranet. A DWO is not an 'internal website'. So it is not wise to use your website's content management system with a different template for your DWO. Or people think that MS SharePoint is the tool under a digital work environment. But that is - even with SharePoint - impossible. Or extremely expensive and vulnerable because of the many customizations.
A DWO is a WORK environment, not a 'content bin' with documents, texts and images. A DWO is a collection of tools for supporting HR, finance, marketing & sales, business logistics, e-learning, IT support, payroll administration, searching and knowledge sharing, authorization management, time recording, project management, communication, digital collaboration, internal communication, documentation and news. And that also optimally for all (mobile) devices and preferably accessible anywhere and anytime.
A DWO is a WORKING environment, not a 'content bin' with documents, texts and images.
A successful digital work environment requires an interdisciplinary, organization-wide approach that goes hand in hand with a digital transformation under architecture. A DWO cannot be realized in one go. It is a process of years, with trial and error and moments to learn and to communicate the success.
Take another look at the Real Story Group overview. You may see tools that are already being used within the organization. Tools are often already being used for the core activities of the organization: finance, marketing, HR. But there are also often communication tools or tools for sharing documents. First check whether these tools are suitable for the digital work environment. Do you have the latest version? Is support still well organized? Is everyone satisfied with the tool? Which organizational processes does it support? Who uses it? Are there alternative tools within the organization?
Once you have answers to these types of questions, you can determine which tools you are still missing. You can select these tools – in groups – in nine steps . As I said before: you can’t do everything and certainly not everything at once. To determine which tools you need, the information strategy game can be very helpful . In step 8 of the information strategy game, you determine which resources you need to achieve the goal. And in step 10, you determine which measurement instruments you need to measure success. Start with those tools!
Architecture supports the digital work environment
A DWO can never be successful without a solid greece number architecture. The architecture lays a strategic foundation for the digital work environment and ensures that the DWO always and everywhere works efficiently. Architecture in information management is also not one discipline, but a collection of subdisciplines that all have to be on board to make a DWO a success.
A DWO is a 'presentation layer' in which all tools come together. This presentation layer recognizes the professional, determines what he or she needs, what he or she has access to and offers the desired information, people and tools. A DWO is therefore a connector par excellence. But this connection is only established if the DWO and the connected tools are sufficiently 'open' and accessible. The tools must be interoperable , so have no blockades to exchange information and collaborate. This is an essential requirement in IT architecture for all existing and new tools that are part of the DWO.
The DWO supports organizational processes. The better these processes are described and optimized, the better they can be supported by the DWO. The business architecture facilitates this.