Workplaces and collaborations are evolving with the ever-changing technology. There is a massive growth in remote digital workplaces as employees shift a model where they can work from anywhere. As a business owner or manager, it is time to adjust to changes if you are to attract and retain talents. It is the best time to devise strategies to engage your employee and boost collaborations in-office or in a distributed workplace. Well, we have compiled this guide covering enterprise collaboration in a digital workplace to help you make the transition.
Establish if Your Company is Ready for Enterprise Collaboration
Before you decide on implementing enterprise collaboration, establish if your company is ready for the change. For starters, look into the culture of your business, the attitude and behaviour of your employees.
According to research, it has been found that two cultural challenges tend to make enterprise collaboration difficult; When the executives lack commitment and if the norms and values of a workplace make adopting change difficult. As a leader, ensure enterprise collaboration is effective by showing commitment. You should also trust your employees and provide the necessary resources to spur the shift. Your workplace norms and values should be supple enough to accommodate the change.
Again, consider your employee’s attitude and behaviour towards change. If the employees are open to learning and adapting new practices, your company is ready for enterprise collaboration.
Set Clear Goals
Enterprise collaboration is doomed to fail if your business lacks direction in its processes and projects. It is also bound to fail if there is poor work management! As a rule of thumb, have a proper reason for why you need to implement enterprise collaboration. For example, which specific gap is it meant to close? Look at the benefits that it is impacting your employees and your business.
You can then set goals and have a solid plan on how your company will carry its processes and work. Encourage everyone to stick to the goals and the procedures. Moreover, ensure that everyone involved in the enterprise collaboration is held accountable to boost discipline and trust.
Invest in the Right Collaboration Tools
Your enterprise will need to invest in the right technological tools to enhance collaboration, especially in a remote workplace. Use tools that facilitate top draw and quick conversation in your team. Make it easy for them to share knowledge, information files, and resources.
Remember, cybercrime is on the rise and it is growing to one of the biggest liabilities in a business. In this regard, invest in a secure file sharing tool for enterprises to help your team collaborate while protecting your data. The right collaboration tools should make work easier, albeit while maintaining data privacy and confidentiality. The beauty is that there are many digital workplace collaboration tools to help you, from project management software, to-do-list apps, video conference tools, instant messaging apps and more.
Train your Team
The idea of enterprise collaboration will not make sense to your employees unless you educate them. With knowledge of enterprise collaboration, your team will trust the process. They will focus on work other than spend time questioning the reason for the initiative. Let them be conversant with what enterprise collaboration is, why you are implementing digital collaboration, and its importance to the company.
Elaborate how enterprise collaboration will ease their work, save time and increase productivity. Let the employees know that the collaboration will benefit them. This will impart a positive attitude towards the new change. Moreover, make sure that the employees are competent in using the collaborative tools by training them on the required technical expertise.
Evaluate your Enterprise Collaboration Strategy
You will need to evaluate your enterprise collaboration strategy from time to time to ensure that it is meeting your goals. For example, if your goal for setting up enterprise collaboration was to boost effective communication among your remote employees or say to increase productivity, you need to measure the ROIs. Find out if the communication gap has been closed or if there is an increase in productivity.
If the enterprise collaboration strategy you have put in place is not yielding any success, it means that you will have to go back to the drawing board and restrategize. If it is working, don’t stop at that. Keep making improvements!
Final word
As a business owner or leader, it is now best to consider enterprise collaboration for your company. It will boost productivity in your company as employees can share ideas, knowledge and team up in projects regardless of their physical location. We hope this guide will help lay the foundations for your success in enterprise collaboration.
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