Building a Collaborative and Productive Workforce in a Modern Workplace

An organisation’s workforce is its core, so empowering them to be collaborative, to be creative, in simple and secure ways, can help redefine the way we work.

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Why collaboration matters new user experiences. This might be holographic headsets placing scientists on the of Mars or large collaborative When it comes to understanding why collaboration is so screens connecting workers on different sides of the globe. important, you can’t get do much better than turning to Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella. Having taken the helm of one of New sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are using data in the world’s largest companies in 2014, Nadella set out a number new ways, such as helping manufacturers realise predictive of key changes he wanted to make. maintenance in their machinery or giving healthcare professionals more accurate information about their patients. In his recently launched book and New York Times bestseller, The combination of a hybrid infrastructure, mixing on Hit Refresh, Nadella explained his vision of Microsoft and its premise devices with cloud technology, and varying workload culture in more detail, noting: requirements of an organisation means that a flexible and “We are one company, one Microsoft – not a confederation collaborative approach is required. of fiefdoms. Innovation and competition don’t respect our Microsoft modern workplace technologies, such as Microsoft silos, so we have to learn to transcend those barriers. It’s 365, and , offer a degree collaboration our ability to work together that makes our dreams and flexibility an organisation requires to be more productive in believable and, ultimately, achievable.” today’s fastpaced workplace. There are many who are trying to achieve similar ambitions We truly live in an era fuelled by data and powered by the within their own teams, departments, and organisations – to intelligent cloud. It’s time to embrace this and to realise a break down walls that may have existed for years or to help collaborative workforce. different groups of people work more openly with one another.

Nadella is famously doing a very good job at this. A new, The collaboration and productivity challenge collaborative culture realised, with a business on a positive path Today, the UK has a major productivity challenge. Despite towards future growth. His organisation isn’t just striving for economic growth, productivity remains flat. a collaborative culture itself, but is helping others around the Accentuating this, in October 2017, the Office for Budget globe realise a similar vision. Responsibility had to significantly lower its estimates for People are the priority here. An organisation’s workforce is its the productivity of UK workers. The implication being that core, so empowering them to be collaborative, to be creative, in productivity estimates for the last decade or so have been simple and secure ways, can help redefine the way we work. higher than they should have been.

The transformative technologies that have emerged in recent And not only is productivity not improving, but we’re falling years are critical to empowering people – and the ways that further behind other G7 nations. The Office of National Statistics people are getting work done are changing. revealed earlier this year a 16% gap between the UK and the other six G7 nations. New hardware and operating systems and the advancement of cloud technology solutions and adoption, are enabling brand The issue has prompted much debate and headline after

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Productivity is essentially the output of each individual worker.

It’s hard to believe, but, put simply – we don’t get work done effectively or efficiently enough.

headline in the media. The even dedicated did before. People are the core of any business, and an engaged, an article to the ‘Four theories to explain the UK’s productivity productive workforce should have a positive impact on talent woes’. The piece begins with a well-known quote from Novel retention too. Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, “Productivity isn’t So how do you make workers more productive? everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.” By creating a digital workplace, organisations can help foster a For many organisations, however, productivity feels like a macro culture of collaboration and innovation in a digital workplace issue that is discussed at a national or international level. One that engages employees, enables productivity across devices, for the politicians and economists. and improves discoverability of information and people. But productivity matters to each and every business. Why? Ultimately, this means building meaningful connections between workers, partners, businesses and customers. Productivity is essentially the output of each individual worker. It’s hard to believe, but, put simply – we don’t get work done This isn’t a simple task, however. Collaboration takes culture, effectively or efficiently enough. mindset, and of course the right tools. It’s not a case of demanding that people work better together, they need to Clearly, the solution isn’t just to work longer hours. want to do this and to be able to do this naturally. This is about helping workers use resources To overcome the collaboration challenge, organisations must more effectively, to get work done more quickly with fewer create workspaces that cater to the abilities of individuals errors, with a higher quality output. This doesn’t just help a and teams, to drive innovation, without losing sight of business; it helps customers too. business processes. The powerful side effect of this is a more engaged workforce. With such diversity at play, Office 365 is designed to give One that has satisfaction in getting the job done better than it teams a choice in collaboration tools.

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Attracting and empowering the workforce Flexible cloud-based services are ideal. 365 or can be used across multiple devices, While a great deal of work is yet to be done in fully realising allowing workers to use familiar tools to get work done. the diverse workforce, progress is being made. This is true Young digital natives who have They allow people to collaborate on documents, to access across gender, ethnicity, disabilities and more. This has to be a grown up with the internet and data as and when it’s needed, and to keep in touch through good thing. Diversity is of course about equal opportunity, but for Business. fully expect to use also valuing the input of each individual in an organisation too. The hardware has to match up to these experiences too, and business solutions that mirror But with so many different people with a variety of skills, ultra-light, versatile devices like the latest Surface Pro and the their personal lives. perspectives and requirements, it can be a daunting task to wider Surface range are the perfect companion. determine the best way to help them work together. Whether using the to write notes or asking Cortana Consider the multi-generational workforce. With an ageing to schedule a meeting, workers have the power to get things population, the new normal is a UK workforce covering a broad done on their own terms. age range, including Gen Z and Baby Boomers. Young digital natives who have grown up with the internet and smartphones Of course, all of these experiences require reliable and secure fully expect to use business solutions that mirror their personal infrastructure. With , workers can rest assured lives – simple apps and visuals rather than text-heavy input, for they will have anytime, fingertip access to the tools and example. On the other side, there will be workers who had to get information they need. used to technology later in life and who may well find new tools Providing the right tools to meet the needs of the diverse intimidating. The needs of both can be met. workforce is vital in attracting and retaining the best talent, This boils down to delivering more personal computing so mustn’t be overlooked. After all, the London School of experiences. Giving the digital native the slick experience Economics points to technology as one of the three key pillars they’re after, and giving a more reluctant worker tools that to enhancing workforce productivity, alongside management are simple to use and will have a positive impact on their practices and flexible working practices (LSE, 2016). day-to-day activities.

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Bringing together a Modern Workplace Case Study The right technology must be environment to build a collaborative culture University of Bristol provide its students and implemented to get the work done. As Satya Nadella found, building a collaborative culture is teachers with smart, collaborative teaching tools. This means migrating to not easy, but get it right and the rewards can be significant. A great example is the University of Bristol. One of the top 50 universities in cloud-based services and It can be difficult to know where to start. Long-standing the world and home to 23,000 students and staff, the University of Bristol had a large body of people to get working better together. innovative new hardware. processes, expectations and ways of working, not to mention established legacy systems that fit a time gone by. Specifically, senior staff wanted to find new ways to improve teaching capabilities to attract more students. In its research, it became clear the To get everyone pulling in the same direction, there are three university wanted to facilitate remote meetings and communication. key areas that must be addressed. The University of Bristol was looking for a solution to offer remote meetings to their Professional Services staff and remote teaching for medical students. Workers must be educated on the benefits of collaboration Based on previous work with Insight, the University approached them to through a structured training programme. It’s important to support the project. help people on their own journey in order to move the To answer these needs, Insight initially introduced 10 Hubs wider organisation. – with an additional 20 or so added since – for the medical departments and professional services to improve collaboration and a better quality teaching The right technology must be implemented to get the work experience for students. done. This means migrating to cloud-based services and Solution innovative new hardware. The hub solution creates a whole new level of collaboration and knowledge With the first two points addressed, it’s about getting people to sharing, with the ability to work on multiple platforms using just one screen. Medical students can become active participants in the learning process. make things happen. This means breaking years of habit and The implementation has been embraced as part of more agile and smart working in new ways. They can all do this, but will only do it working practises, with other universities in the south west on since following with the right guidance and tools in place. Bristol’s example. Read the full case study è

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The Modern Workplace Solutions Microsoft bring together tools Microsoft bring together tools to help improve collaboration to achieve greater productivity for your business. to help improve collaboration to achieve greater productivity Microsoft Surface Office 365 and Microsoft 365 for your business.

Create, work, and play from wherever works for you. The ultra- Office 365 is the heart of the mobile office, allowing people to light and versatile Surface Pro delivers total mobile productivity. work anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Its all-day battery means you won’t be caught short when Fitting with the lives and preferences of each individual and working on the move – whether visiting a customer, catching a business, Office 365 is available on PC, Mac, iOS, Android and break in a café or making your big presentation. on Windows devices.

Powerful and light physically, it also matches up in experience It has all the familiar, enterprise class tools that people know with full desktop apps and creative tools, including Office 365 to get things done, whether it be Word, Excel, PowerPoint or and Adobe Creative Cloud. Outlook. But it goes beyond this.

The stunning screen offers brilliant colour and razor-sharp OneDrive for Business gives workers huge storage options, resolution, and interacts smoothly and intuitively with new helping them keep documents safely secured and accessible Surface Pen and touch. This means you get to see your latest via the cloud. A huge help, for example, when working in a creative cut in all its glory and experience text in a rich, non- distributed sales team across a country that needs to access pixelated view. the latest information on competitors.

Surface Pro delivers the performance needed to take advantage The new Microsoft Teams app is the heart of communication for of powerful new technologies like AI, machine learning, and the today’s teams. Workers can stay connected via chat, calls, and versatility to work how you want, where you want. meetings either privately or in groups. Built with multiple use cases in mind, Teams can also be integrated with other services, including Hootsuite and GitHub.

For many businesses of any size, it makes more sense to go for a comprehensive package. Earlier this year, Microsoft 365 was launched, bringing together Office 365, Windows 10, and enterprise mobility and security.

The new solution reflects a shift in how Microsoft is designing, building and addressing customers’ needs for a transforming modern workplace.

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Skype for Business enables Microsoft Surface Hub Skype for Business organisations to simplify their infrastructure with one unified Microsoft Surface Hub was built for teamwork and the modern Skype for Business helps organisations connect teams and communicationsSurface Hub helps platform. bring workplace. It helps people share their ideas on a large canvas, customers across the board. The solution allows workers to be with two screen sizes available to fit a business’ environment. more agile in their communication – with access to the service teams together naturally. available wherever and whenever. With intuitive features and design, Surface Hub helps bring teams together naturally. Meetings can run freely in the room With an experience that users love and are familiar with, or with partners elsewhere with Skype for Business. Whether Skype for Business enables organisations to simplify their composing a piece of music or getting a second opinion on a infrastructure with one unified communications platform for health scan, information and ideas just flow. calling, conferencing, video, and sharing. All within Office 365.

Developed with the Surface Hub experience in mind, it has a It’s simple to manage online meetings with advanced calling number of in-built apps – including Skype for Business, Office options, like muting one or all participants and transferring and Whiteboard. With Universal apps for Windows 10, others presenter control. At the same time, HD video for online scale simply to the large screen, ensuring your experience is meetings ensures quality communication. seamless from one device to another. Offering end-to-end security and compliance, as well as Don’t believe us? Forrester Consulting conducted a Total authentication options, it also offers organisations reassurance Economic ImpactTM study and found a potential three-year about the information being shared and discussed via risk-adjusted ROI of 138% for businesses deploying Surface Hub. the platform.

Surface Hub has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Insight can provide onsite demonstrations for Surface Hub and other Microsoft devices. Find out more here.

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Learn more about our Modern Workplace Solutions: uk.insight.com/solve/modern-workplace

About Insight From business and government organisations to healthcare and educational institutions, Insight empowers clients with Intelligent Technology Solutions™ to realise their goals. We provide the guidance and expertise needed to select, implement and manage complex technology solutions to drive business outcomes. Through our world-class people, partnerships, services and delivery solutions, we help businesses run smarter.

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