Workforces have always needed to communicate and collaborate. Businesses can’t function unless employees are on the same wavelength and working together towards a common goal. However, what’s changed in recent years is where this work takes place. It used to be restricted to a company’s office — a physical workspace where landlines and computers were located. But thanks to modern technology employees can now work from anywhere.

The traditional concept of work — being shoehorned to a desk during ‘office hours’ — is also becoming obsolete. Even the term ‘office’ itself has started to evolve: an office can be a digital as well as a physical space. Consequently, employees have started working in remarkable and unprecedented ways using seamless, integrated, virtual environments that connect them like never before.

The digital revolution

A digital workplace is where all channels of communication and business applications come together in one convenient location. Forward-thinking organisations, for example, use unified communications to combine emails, phones, instant messaging, file sharing, and virtual meeting applications via a single interface. This has broken down barriers, increased productivity, and made employees’ lives much simpler.

All these technologies operate in the cloud. This means there’s very little hardware, security is second to none, and access is available 24/7 in any location with an Internet connection. Your employees are therefore transformed into a ‘digital workforce’ — a highly efficient and productive team that works more efficiently than those in a traditional office setting.

Boost productivity

This modern set up is better equipped to deliver your business goals and improve your bottom line. Why? Because your team is always connected via their mobiles, tablets, and laptops; therefore they can talk to each other, message each other, use software, share information, analyse data, exchange ideas, and solve problems together more efficiently.

Digital offices are also more transparent. Plus there’s a greater sense of community and common purpose. Making work simpler raises productivity, boosts morale, keeps employee satisfaction high, and helps you to recruit and retain the best people.

There are also significant cost savings. A digital office requires little expenditure on hardware and there’s no physical infrastructure to maintain. Your service provider will update your software and keep your data safe and secure for you. This means there’s more time to focus on customers, partners, and growing your business.

Stay safe and secure

Although digital working environments contain precious data and numerous applications, they’re actually more secure than physical offices. This is because the cloud is a highly secure setting that’s far safer than maintaining hardware in your office.

With traditional security measures like passwords gradually becoming out-dated, digital workforces can also protect your network via tokens, multifactor authentication systems, and even biometric scanners. Meanwhile, robust analytics can identify weak spots and micro-segmented networks can quarantine cyber threats.

Don’t worry if this sounds rather complicated. Security is handled for you in a digital workplace. Third party cloud providers will encrypt your communications and conduct critical security updates automatically.

Future-proof your business

Change is inevitable in business and there’s no way to slow it down. The next step, of course, is the proliferation of 5G. But this is just the start. The business world rapidly transitioned from dealing in megabits to gigabits and our ability to transfer data at high speeds is rising exponentially.

The Internet of the future will support technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, 4K streaming, and increased automation. The next step will be 8K and then, as we move towards the middle of the decade, 10G will eventually dominate. This will shorten response times to milliseconds, remove lag times, and facilitate even greater connectivity.

These technologies will change the way we live and therefore change the way we work too. Therefore it makes sense to prepare your business for the future by transitioning to a digital workforce now. Stand still and your business will surely go backwards.

Take the digital plunge

Today’s business world moves so fast that employees increasingly need ways to work more efficiently. Customers are becoming more demanding too and expect cutting edge customer relationship management tools. Transitioning to a digital workforce is therefore the best way to meet everyone’s needs.

But it’s not just about preparing for the future. There are real and tangible benefits to help your business now. Going digital will increase productivity, cut costs, and connect your team 24/7 regardless of geography. You’ll effectively create a flexible and dynamic business that never sleeps; therefore the benefits far outweigh the costs.

What’s more, making this necessary transition is easier than you think. If your staff email from their smartphones, share files electronically, and use video conferencing applications then you’re half way there already — and contacting an expert can help you do the rest. So why rely on half measures when there’s a whole new future to embrace?