How to successfully launch your Digital Workplace?

For companies that have already completed their digital transformation, the implementation of a Digital workplace is the logical next step and requires little effort on the part of employees, who are already used to working with various online tools.

However, for organizations using more traditional hardware and tools, the transition to the digital workplace cannot happen overnight. Indeed, it is not simply a question of adopting a new tool, but of changing the culture and work habits of employees.

To succeed, you must place the user at the heart of your digital workplace project, since they are the first concerned, and implement a change management strategy that promotes new uses and takes into account their impact on the current organization.

Follow these 8 tips to successfully launch your digital workplace.

Understand

The digital workplace changes daily work habits, facilitates collaboration, strengthens employee engagement and improves their productivity.

To ensure that they fully embrace this change, it is essential to understand their needs as well as their fears. Will they be able to easily access their documents and tools no matter where they are? Will they be able to communicate easily with their team? Is the data secure? Do they have to use a dedicated computer? Does each department have access to all the tools they need? Etc.

Frame

For a successful launch, you need to have a clear vision of what your digital workplace should look like:

• its appearance,
• its operation,
• the organization of the content,
• the integration of existing applications.

You should also define how it fits into your internal communication strategy and respects your values. Finally, consider the elements that it must integrate in order for it to be useful and beneficial to all employees, but also to your customers, suppliers and partners.

Having a global vision allows you to take into account the needs of each department, and thus ensure that this new digital workspace will be used by everyone.

Involve

From the start, it is recommended to involve your employees, all departments combined, in the development of the ideal digital workplace. On the one hand, this will allow them to become familiar with their future digital work environment at an early age, and on the other hand, they will be able to submit their ideas and contribute to shaping this new tool so that it best meets their needs.

Involving employees in the project is an excellent way to engage them, motivate them and transform them into digital workplace ambassadors among the most reluctant employees.

Are you looking for a way to encourage and convince teams to take an interest in the project? Why not launch a competition to find the name of your future digital workplace?

Communicate

When a company is preparing to implement a change of this magnitude, it is essential to communicate well with employees and to explain to them the reasons and benefits of this project.

To do this, do not hesitate to be creative and original by using teasers to reveal a few elements in order to arouse the curiosity and interest of your employees, but also to reassure them.

Inform them about the different stages of launching this new work environment, what is in progress, make them aware of the impact this will have on the way they work and encourage feedback.

Celebrate the launch of your digital workplace, then continue to promote it by regularly organizing various communication operations: demonstrations of the tool, breakfast to present the latest feature, promotional videos, contests, etc.

Former

While a majority of your employees are already familiar with digital tools and other collaborative platforms, some may have little or no experience in this field. It is therefore essential to set up training courses to reassure, encourage and facilitate the use of the digital workplace by as many people as possible.

There are various forms of training: webinars, e-learning, face-to-face training, tutoring, etc. This step must be mandatory for newcomers.

Accompany

In principle, change is not well perceived, even if it is necessary. To ensure that the implementation of a digital workplace will be well accepted within your company, you must set up a change management. By supporting your employees throughout this change, you will anticipate their resistance and you will succeed in convincing them of the merits of adopting a digital workplace.

Measure

Do you want to know if the launch of your digital workplace is a success? To measure your success, it is essential to set up indicators (KPIs). Thus, you can assess the level of adherence and commitment of your employees, and analyze how they take ownership of your digital workplace. You will be able to identify which tools are used the most and which are less used, from which device they connect, how often, etc. In this way, you will be able to optimize uses.

Listen

To ensure that all of your employees across the various departments are satisfied with your digital workplace, it is important to regularly collect feedback and feedback from your employees. To do this, conduct surveys, provide an idea box and/or organize meetings dedicated to improving your collaborative solution.

This way, you can constantly develop and improve your digital work environment so that it always matches the evolving needs of your teams.