Workers with very specific roles, such as retail employees, already have digital workplaces. They’re using line of business systems that have been designed to fulfill a very specific use case.
It is knowledge workers who often struggle the most to take advantage of the digital workplace. They’re using a disparate ecosystem of collaboration, enterprise and line of business systems.
In a recent blog post on his Intranet Pioneer blog, Mark Morell writes that the “digital workplace is for everyone,” not just knowledge workers. We agree, but would argue that it’s especially difficult to define specific use cases for such workers. And in order to drive user adoption and ensure ROI, collaboration tools must address specific needs.
For instance, retail employees can use tablets to keep tabs on product inventory and order more when necessary, Morell notes. But what about knowledge workers? How can the digital workplace be of specific value to their role?
Here’s an example. Imagine that a member of a project team leaves suddenly and a new employee has to fill their role. This individual must get up to speed quickly. In the old days, someone would plop a giant folder in front of them and say, “Read this!”
Today, with the digital workplace, there’s no need to thumb through hundreds (or thousands) of pieces of paper. There’s no manual for how to be a knowledge worker. Instead, a new employee is easily able to search for the official documentation, and then start looking at the unstructured information (aka social) and supporting conversations to understand how and why decisions were made.
Each company has its own method and culture. Even if a new employee is an expert in their field, that individual isn’t likely to know how their new company functions. That’s where technology and corporate intranets can help. And that’s how the digital workplace can make a big impact on knowledge workers.
Source: Intranet Pioneer, November 2013
