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pe

G00263953

Nexus Forces Fuel the Digital Workplace

FOUNDATIONAL Refreshed: 24 February 2015 | Published: 25 April 2014

Analyst(s): Jeffrey Mann, Matthew W. Cain, Chris Howard

The Nexus of Forces both enables and compels the necessity for a more
social, mobile, accessible and data-driven workplace. IT leaders can use
these combined forces to drive the digital workplace, which promotes
workplace agility, effectiveness and engagement.

Gartner foundational research is reviewed periodically for accuracy. This document was last reviewed
on 24 February 2015.

Key Findings
■ The digital workplace is an implementation strategy for the Nexus of Forces.
■ The digital workplace enables new, more effective ways of working; raises employee
engagement and agility; and exploits consumer-oriented styles and technologies.
■ Done well, the digital workplace results in a more social, mobile, accessible and data-driven
work environment.
■ Employees are likely to be more engaged when the work environment more closely mirrors a
consumerlike computing environment.

Recommendations
■ IT leaders should promote workforce effectiveness by strategically responding to a series of
interconnected societal trends, such as digital lifestyles, changing work models, data intensity,
and a willingness to collaborate and share.
■ Connect digital workplace efforts to existing activities, wherever possible. Executive
management, HR, corporate communications or individual line-of-business managers may have
efforts underway that synchronize nicely with the digital workplace.

Table of Contents

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Strategic Planning Assumptions............................................................................................................. 2

Analysis.................................................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 2
The Digital Workplace and the Nexus of Forces................................................................................ 3
Digital Workplace Trends and the Nexus of Forces........................................................................... 4
Consumerization.........................................................................................................................4
Demographic Shifts.................................................................................................................... 4
Citizen IT.................................................................................................................................... 5
The Changing Nature of Work.....................................................................................................5
HR-Led Engagement Initiatives...................................................................................................5
Gartner Recommended Reading............................................................................................................ 5

List of Figures

Figure 1. Pillars of the Digital Workplace................................................................................................. 3

Strategic Planning Assumptions

By 2018, 25% of large organizations will have an explicit strategy to make the corporate computing
environment similar to a consumer computing experience.

By 2018, 25% of the world's top organizations will use customer-oriented digital marketing to
improve employee engagement.

Analysis
Introduction
The Nexus of Forces is a wide-ranging concept, exploring how the intersection of developments in
social, mobile, cloud and information creates new business opportunities. The digital workplace is a
strategy designed to deliver a more consumer-like computing environment, thereby promoting
workplace effectiveness and helping organizations keep pace with changing workforce dynamics.
This report explores the relationship between the Nexus of Forces and the digital workplace. We
suggest that the digital workplace can be thought of as the strategic blueprint for applying the
nexus forces in the workplace.

The Nexus of Forces not only underpins the digital workplace, but actually escalates the necessity
for them. The Nexus of Forces provides rich opportunities for transforming how businesses operate,
but organizations cannot make the shift to digital business without an engaged workplace.

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Employees that thoroughly integrate nexus forces into their consumer lifestyles demand similar
digital opportunities in the workplace. Increasing spontaneous and sustained contributions from
self-directed crowds of individual employees is a significant part of the digital workplace, as is
enriching relationships with customers and partners.

In addition to helping apply nexus forces strategically, the digital workplace helps IT leaders
respond to a series of interconnected societal trends, such as digital lifestyles, changing work
models, data intensity, and a willingness to share and collaborate.

The Digital Workplace and the Nexus of Forces

The digital workplace rests on four pillars, two of which — mobile and social — correspond directly
to nexus forces (see Figure 1). The digital workplace, however, interprets the cloud and information
forces in a slightly different way.

Figure 1. Pillars of the Digital Workplace

DW = digital workplace

Source: Gartner (April 2014)

Within the digital workplace context, the cloud force corresponds to "accessibility." A large library of
cloud workloads is typically accessible from anywhere and from most devices. The cloud also
enables improved user experience designs (an important part of any engagement initiative). It allows
designers to make continuous, iterative improvements. Lastly, the cloud enables engagement at
enormous (and elastic) scale, in addition to the decoupling of devices and data.

The "information" part of the nexus corresponds to the digital workplace's "data-driven" pillar.
Effective use of information impacts the digital workplace in two ways:

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1. Employees must be significantly engaged to continuously create and share relevant information.
2. Employees need to have contextual access to — and the means to explore and understand —
data in ways that augment decision making.

Using analytics and filtering mechanisms to suggest related information or people, or to improve the
user experience of IT systems, increases the exploitation of information.

Digital Workplace Trends and the Nexus of Forces

Gartner has identified five workforce trends that contribute to the need for a digital workplace. In
each trend, the nexus forces play a large role:

1. Consumerization
2. Demographic shifts
3. Citizen IT
4. The changing nature of work
5. HR-led engagement programs

Consumerization
Consumers were quick to embrace mobile devices, social networks and sharing apps, so it didn't
take long before their behavior spilled over into their work routines. The combination of mobile,
cloud and social forced the consumerization issue onto the enterprise agenda.

Specifically, cloud infrastructure was responsible for many of these consumer services. Mobile
made consumerization impossible to ignore — as employees demanded to be able to use their
personal devices to access corporate services, starting with email. Social is a prime example of a
technology that started in the consumer market and quickly transferred into the enterprise domain.
More recently, business consumer applications such as Dropbox have created demand for
enterprise file sync-and-share services.

Demographic Shifts
People that have recently entered the workforce (and those that are soon to) have different
expectations about how they utilize technology, in comparison with the baby boomer and millennial
generations. Many of these expectations derive directly from the Nexus of Forces. These
demographics demand the mobility and social interactions inherent in most mobile applications.
Rather than wanting to merely experiment, many of the people in these demographics find an
environment that lacks mobility or social capabilities unproductive. They tend to adopt a more
relaxed attitude toward privacy and shared information, so adoption of cloud and social tools is
much less of a challenge than with other demographics.

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Citizen IT
The combination of the Nexus of Forces makes individual users more capable of using technology
and more empowered to do so without garnering formal IT support. Projects that would have
required formal project management a few years ago can now (sometimes) be completed with fewer
resources and time by exploiting cloud-based consumer, prosumer (professional consumer) and
business-oriented applications.

The growth of "citizen IT" — where employees take charge of technical resources — is a side effect
of this empowerment of individuals. Consumerization and digital literacy make it natural for
employees to procure and utilize technical resources without IT guidance. There is little, if any,
notion of bypassing the IT department. It is difficult for employees to see how using their own
devices with free or low-cost services, based on the Nexus of Forces, is anything other than logical.

The Changing Nature of Work

In most economies there is a strong shift away from task orientation to flexible and autonomous
work patterns — known as nonroutine work. With nonroutine work, employees are expected to
demonstrate innovation, take the initiative to solve issues and improve business performance with
less detailed or less direct supervision. Mobile tools, social networks and easy access to data, all
contribute to creating a more flexible and effective workforce. At the same time, enterprises are
increasingly relying on partners and freelancers for work contributions. The nexus forces help
promote work efficiency across these contractor relationships.

HR-Led Engagement Initiatives

In some cases, the HR department may be leading a program that seeks to promote employee
engagement by focusing on employee-manager relationships, workplace culture, autonomous
decision making, work-life balance and personal growth opportunities. These measures have been
viewed as being effective in increasing trust and engagement (see "Maverick* Research: Socially
Centered Leadership").

Such efforts are synergistic with an IT-led digital workplace — and consequently the Nexus of
Forces — because a movement toward a more mobile, social, accessible and data-driven work
environment generally boosts an employee's ability to share, lead, network and contribute.

Wherever possible, connect digital workplace efforts to existing activities. Executive management,
HR, corporate communications or individual line-of-business managers may have efforts underway
that synchronize nicely with the digital workplace.

Gartner Recommended Reading

Some documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.

"Create a Digital Workplace to Respond to Critical Changes in the Workforce"

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"Maverick* Research: Pivoting From Silicon Systems to Human Systems — The New IT Charter"

"The Nexus of Forces Changes Everything: Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2012 Keynote"

"Maverick* Research: Socially Centered Leadership"

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