Guide:

What should your

digital workspace
look like in 2019
Introducing the modern digital
workspace

In today’s business world, they don’t offer

enough value.

“The modern The key aspects of an intranet, collaboration

workspace is
about bringing
communication and
collaboration together
in new ways”
With the advent of the cloud, modern
workplaces have changed. They’re no
longer just an office or a location, their
working hours aren’t always 9 to 5, and
they don’t rely on desktop computers.
The cloud has birthed the digital workspace:
a collective term for not only the tech
that employees use at work, but the
work practices, software and workstyles.
Central to the transformation of traditional
workspaces into digital workspaces is the
modern intranet.
and communication, can be used to create a
digital workspace.
Digital workspaces are the modern space
for your business: bringing together
communication, collaboration and work in a
new way. With tools like instant messaging,
collaborative document editing and
flexible remote access, digital workspaces
bring together all of the apps, tools and
methods employees need to be productive.
Essentially, they get the most out of both
modern technology and workers.
To remain agile, businesses need to pursue
digital transformation or risk being outdated
and inefficient. This eBook explores the
benefits of a digital workspace and how you
can create the perfect digital workspace for
your business.

Traditional intranets relied on employees

seeking information, as they lacked
functionality beyond sharing company news,
self-service tools and storing information.
How a digital workspace can
transform your business

To create a digital workspace, you need to evaluate your current software and
processes. Business knowledge, work practices and culture are all collected within a
digital workspace.

To create your own, you’ll need to prioritise adding features that enhance
collaboration and communication within your business. Here are some modern
features that are essential to your digital workspace.

Instant Inbox
Mobile Access
Messaging Aggregation

App Centralised Personalised

Integrations Hub Content
 Centralised hub for productivity

The centralised hub is an essential digital workspace feature – a place where users
can see company highlights or navigate to an internal phonebook. Messaging apps,
productivity apps, knowledge repositories and more can be made accessible from
one place.

Integrating with third-party apps gives employees the tools they need in a simple
dashboard. The hub doesn’t need to be the same throughout a business – they can
be personalised to suit different lines of business and work styles.

Top Level News

On-boarding

Aggregated Content
App Integrations

Custom Widgets People Hub

Important Applications
Targeted News
Mobile access

Between remote employees and tech-friendly employees, it’s essential to be able

to access your workspace through any device. Mobile and tablet flexibility lets
employees take control of their working, boosting their efficiency and productivity.

In the past, company networks would not be accessible from remote devices,
separating employees from the knowledge and communication they needed.
However, with the secure access that the cloud allows, it’s possible to stay
productive, no matter where you are.
Personalised and targeted
content

Simply having content readily available across any device is not enough. You have
to extend this. Just like in the real-world, users now expect corporate content to be
personalised and relevant. For organisations looking to enhance engagement with
internal communications, creating a centralised digital workspace and targeting
specific content based on job role, department or skillsets will help users surface
only relevant content types.

Top level news,

targeted by job role
or skill sets

Prioritised news
and internal
communications

Call to Actions and

calendar integrations
 App integrations

Information silos are an ongoing issue in most organisations’ information

architectures. Multiple apps and segregated sources of knowledge can cause breaks
in productivity.

Bringing together employees, their tools and their resources is the best way to create
a productive environment. When you’re creating your digital workspace, you should
be able to integrate your business apps smoothly, allowing employees to access
their information from one place.

Links to critical
documents

Integration with
Line-of-Business
Apps

Links to video and

training collateral
Instant messaging

Workers’ expectations of business technology are often set by the tech they
use in their personal lives. Instant messaging is one of the go-to methods of
communication for many people. In a business context, it facilitates a constant flow
of information and updates which improves engagement. It’s also a lot faster than
email.

An internal instant messaging service allows employees to immediately ask

questions to either on-site or remote employees. Firstline employees need a method
of communicating that allows them to move quickly, and instant messaging connects
them to their whole business in an instant.

Document
collaboration

Intant messaging for

real-time collaboration

Video meetings
straight from
conversations

@ mentions for
important messages
Kickstarting your digital
workspace

To make the most of cloud-powered technology and stay agile, your business needs
to pursue digital transformation. However, this doesn’t just mean implementing a
new IT solution.

Proper change management requires a commitment to evolve your entire business.

To create an effective digital workspace, you’ll need to define your objectives, your
implementation plan and how you’ll monitor success. Here are some of the steps you
can take to creating a change management strategy.

Create
Consider your
measureable
end-users
goals

Establish
Create a
metrics for
structured plan
success
Consider your end-users

Take the time to understand your user

base and their pain points

It’s important to take into consideration

TIP 1: that making large-scale changes without
Undertake user consulting end-users can be divisive.
reaserch
Employees won’t use tools which don’t offer
an obvious benefit, or are more difficult to
use than their current alternatives.

Your digital workspace should bridge the

gap between existing workplace technology
and end-user needs.

In order to create something successful,

you’ll need to find out about the people
TIP 2: working in your organisation.
Create detailed user
personas

Fresh example

Conduct user research to better

understand your end-users – how they
like to work and what their most high
value tasks are. From this research, you
TIP 3: can create personas to better target the
Create needs of specific roles within the
departmental use- business.
cases for specific
Holding focus groups can allow
technologies
employees to be vocal about their work
styles and digital needs. There will often
be variation between work styles, even
within the same department, so
collecting this information can be
incredibly illuminating.
Create measurable goals

What are you looking to achieve with

your digital workspace?

TIP 1: The best way to outline this is to identify

Set goals at a problems that currently exist within your
strategic level first. IT network and how a creating a digital
Think about the long workspace will solve them.
term objective.
Not only will this convince employees
throughout your organisation, it’ll help you
understand the success of your solution in
the long term.

If after successful adoption these scenarios

are true, you’ll have evidence for your
success.
TIP 2:
Make sure
your objective is
measurable. SMART
goals are good
here.

Fresh example

The HR department have trouble

communicating business updates
through email – the emails are not often
opened, leading to a lack of visibility of
TIP 3: company success.
Define your metrics
and benchmark your A company-wide social media platform
performance. will create a better culture of
communication by allowing HR to roll
out company news in a more interesting
format. The ability to comment and
share information will increase visibility
and engagement throughout the
organisation.
Establish metrics for success

Utilise usage metrics

To understand how employees are using

their new tools, look at user statistics.
TIP 1:
User metrics will indicate the success of
Define KPIs inline
your platform and how likely adoption is to
with your long-term succeed.
objectives
This will show you the areas where
employees are comfortable as well as the
ones which require more training.

Establishing engagement metric targets will

ensure that employees are comfortable with
new tools before their old ones are removed.
If they’re not given time to get comfortable
TIP 2: this can breed resentment.
Think about what
success actually
looks like. Is it
attainable?

TIP 3:
Be prepared to
implement new Fresh example
tactics if your metrics
are not favourable. Try sending a questionnaire about the
quality of available work tools before
and after you implement new solutions
– anonymous employees are often more
honest about what’s frustrating them.
Create a structured plan

Migrating your entire infrastructure is a

large task – it should be done gradually and
responsibly. In order to safely migrate, any
and all risks will need to be established and
TIP 1: mitigated.
Define a project plan
with clear milestones This can include implementation risks, which
will raise costs, and outcome risks, which will
lower adoption.

Migration plans are essential

Creating a migration plan is essential for

understanding the time and resources
available to you. How many people will you
need, and how long will it take them?

TIP 2: You’ll also need to understand your current

Take the time to architecture and how it can be safely and
understand required compliantly migrated.
resources
This preparation is one of the most time-
consuming and intricate processes in
building a digital workplace, so this is a key
stage to bring in an IT partner to guarantee
that it gets done perfectly.

TIP 3:
Make sure that
you are factoring in
change management
to your programme
A Fresh take on the digital
workspace

Designing, implementing and monitoring a digital workspace can be an enormous

and expensive project to undertake. Setting up the IT environment can take months,
costing your organisation time and money. Establishing new work practices and
changing company culture also require considerable time and effort.

Fresh is the solution that fast-tracks this process. Built on Office 365, Fresh was
developed by Content and Code to offer the ultimate digital workspace. The prebuilt
foundation can be customised in any way to suit your business so you can achieve
maximum ROI for your investment. From the planning phase through to the post-
adoption monitoring, Content and Code can provide the support your business needs
to achieve a truly modern workspace.

Demo Fresh
Powered by Office 365

SharePoint

SharePoint provides the intranet and

document management platform at the core
of Fresh.

With simple team sites, it’s easy to share

information throughout your organization
on any device. The digital workspace that
Fresh provides enables simple document co-
authoring, reporting, workflows and forms
without compromising your internal security.

Fresh takes the functionality of SharePoint

and tailors it to your business needs and
your users, creating a unique and powerful
digital workplace.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft’s communications hub Teams is

ideal for improving collaboration within your
organisation.

Whether it’s with private instant messaging

or online conferencing, employees can
communicate in the way that’s best for
them. If they’re a frontline worker, they’ve got
access to the whole organisation when they
need it.

If they’re a remote worker, video calling

can get them up to speed. Integrated with
SharePoint in Fresh, Teams becomes the
beating heart of your organization.
Powered by Office 365

Delve

The key to good information architecture,

Delve helps you find the information you
need from throughout the Office 365
platform.

It’s powered by Office Graph, the database

that collects information about users to
understand what they want.

Fresh takes that functionality and applies it

to your digital workspace. It offers intelligent
search function that can find whatever a user
needs throughout their day, be it another
person or a document.

Yammer

Improving upon the social aspects of the

traditional intranet, Yammer is an internal
social networking tool that can bring workers
together.

It encourages sharing knowledge and

new ideas, something that democratizes
employee spaces.

Yammer is an integral part of Fresh – it

promotes communication and collaboration,
making your digital workspace a more
communal environment.
The digital workspace of
the future

Every business is pursuing their own digital transformation – embracing new

technology is essential if you want to remain competitive. But digital workspaces can
offer more than just a competitive advantage.

They’re the core of communication within a business, helping employees learn and
share their knowledge. They make collaboration possible on a level it has never
been, with live editing and simple document sharing.

To embrace the digital workspace in 2019, Fresh is the flexible, mobile responsive
solution to your business needs, and Content and Code can help make the most of it.

To find out more about what Fresh can do to give your business the digital
workspace of the future, get in touch today.

GET FRESH

freshintranet.com | fresh@contentandcode.com | 020 7101 0930

Fresh_Intranet | Fresh | Content Hub

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