Businesses must embrace the digital workplace or risk being left behind

Increasingly organisations are adopting mobile, remote and flexible working, capitalising on numerous benefits including higher staff productivity levels. But to achieve these benefits, the right tools and technologies must be in place. Under 35’s can confidently use cloud-based collaborative, file hosting and sharing tools and take a dim view of employers which are unable to provide this. 

According to Tim Waterton, Director of UK Business, M-Files, to satisfy this demand for remote working organisations need to think smarter about implementing the right technologies:

“In the pursuit of a better work-life balance, under 35’s are actively seeking flexible and remote working practices but whether they can find them from their employers is another matter. Not only is it a case of whether an employer offers this, but it’s also how. In theory, it should be simple, intuitive and seamless to access work remotely, but we know this not the case. In fact, a survey we ran ourselves (M-Files) across 250 IT decision-makers revealed that 90 per cent found it at least somewhat challenging to search for and access documents when working remotely.”

“It’s imperative that staff are able to have the same easy access to documents when they're out of the office as they do when at their desks. This will only grow further as digital natives continue to populate the office.

“Unfortunately, our research demonstrates that many organisations just aren’t providing employees with the means to do this. Firms unable to provide the right infrastructure to support remote working risk losing employees to savvier competitors who can deliver this in a straightforward manner.

“To remedy these issues, organisations need to improve the infrastructure that is currently in place. Intelligent information management solutions, for example, can be leveraged to make the management of information much more efficient. Metadata-driven information management solutions allow organisations to simplify how staff access, secure, process and collaborate on documents.”

Waterton continues: “Intelligent information management solutions can enable employees to access and manage business information anywhere using any device, regardless of where that information is stored, in an easier and faster manner. Remote working becomes easier as employees can access information without needing to be connected to the VPN or company network, as well as accessing and changing documents while working offline.” 

“Additionally, this approach can also improve security defences – an effectiveinformation management solution means employees working remotely are less likely to turn to consumer level applications to share information. Because of this, IT departments can retain visibility and control over where business information is and how it is being used, which significantly reduces the risk of data breaches. 

“Millennials and Centennials are often thought to be the driving force behind changing workplace practices – and are often seen to be having unreasonable and unrealistic expectations. This is simply not true. Work is becoming ever increasingly something you 'do' rather than somewhere you 'go'. By enabling employees to access the information they need to do their jobs from anywhere, using any device - in a secure, controlled fashion - companies can ensure that they have the infrastructure in place to support the demands of digital natives,” Waterton concluded.