The Evolution of the Modern Workplace

A great many things have evolved in businesses and organisations, and the modern workplace is no different. The work environment we have today operates in a whole different way than how it was years or decades prior.

Digital transformation has already been changing the way we work and how we produce the best outcomes. It gave us the greatest of opportunities to change for the better, but how did we get here? And can each organisation adapt?

What Digital Transformation Means for the Workplace Today

Simply put, digital transformation is a complete rethinking of how organisations utilise their resources to change performance from the bottom up. It’s not about introducing new tech and hoping it sticks, but using that same tech to change the organisation’s entire approach.

And it’s already happening as we speak. Teams collaborating across continents, exchanging information through various digital channels, and maintaining productivity regardless of their location are just a few examples of this phenomenon. It’s a whole different way of doing the same work, but with much better results.

It shattered many traditional barriers in the workplace while also creating new possibilities. Isolated departments are now a major contributor, thanks to cross-functional collaborations. Information silos are eliminated, allowing for more insights and faster decisions, thanks to integrated systems.

How Should Modern Teams Work?

Flexibility and efficiency are the hallmarks of a successful team. To achieve that, integrated communication tools are always present to eliminate the difficulty of switching to different applications all the time. Video conferences should transition seamlessly to other tools, like document editing, so that a creative vision flows quickly into planning and execution.

There’s also security that should be built into every interaction. A team that has advanced threat protection, data encryption, and comprehensive compliance features is leaps beyond another team that can only have one or the other. Having these built in, lets team members collaborate confidently, knowing their information remains protected.

But the most important part is how quickly a modern team should adapt to new challenges. In times when remote work is unavoidable, a modern team can continue the work while transitioning without any loss in productivity. Even if a collaboration requires multiple departments, an integrated platform of tools will make it flow like water.

The Platform That Makes It All Possible

Microsoft’s Modern Workplace Solutions is the best example of this transformation. Instead of painstakingly cobbling together disparate tools, a seamless integration of different tools has been compiled into a single suite that teams can easily use.

This same suite addresses the 3 critical areas that define modern work: security, effectiveness, and efficiency. For each area, there are tools that Microsoft has for every organisation.

Business applications, like the Modern Workplace, provide secure, integrated tools for communication and collaboration. Office 365 and Teams, on the other hand, let people work effectively regardless of location. And then there’s Azure’s cloud computing platform and mobile applications that ensure efficiency is a phenomenon anywhere, regardless of the device.

Data and AI are, of course, part of the big picture too. Viva Insights uses AI to help the team understand how they’re working with and improve their focus, while Power BI delivers data analytics through clear and more interactive ways.

Put all these tools in separately and they can be a mess, but together in one accessible place, and they’re all a team will ever need to deliver better results.

The Bottom Line

The modern workplace we have today used to be unthinkable, even by modern standards. But now that it’s here, it’s up to each organisation to decide if they want to adapt or not. And it’s not that hard to decide which offers a better outcome. All it takes is a small peek into the modern workplace, and decisions easily sway in one direction.