Adoption of digital workspace technology is growing at a rapid pace. Digital workspace deployment growth is well over 20% per year, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets.1 As organizations evaluate and choose the platform that will provide critical support to employees and users, making the right decision is imperative.
The business benefits from deploying an effective digital workspace are many. At a basic level, they improve productivity and profits, but there is much more. Improving employee productivity with a simpler environment that is more consistent across all usage models offers excellent ROI and is often the starting point. For some organizations, facilitating the onboarding of employees is essential. Legacy processes can stall employee productivity for up to six months; reducing that time with a digital workspace is critically important.
The modern digital workforce is likely to have remote employees, contract and temporary staff, and a federated organization, and being able to support all of that is another important advantage of a digital workspace. For example, the digital workspace makes it much easier to connect and disconnect contract and temporary employees quickly whenever needed. Finally, a better digital environment is conducive to retaining employees―which is a top management priority―because they are more engaged.
There is a great deal of noise supposedly offering insight into the best way to choose a digital workspace solution. To cut through this clutter and provide you with a perspective that will lead to an optimal decision, this article focuses on the three most important features or capabilities that a digital workspace must include for it to provide the value and business benefits companies expect:
- Unified environment—A fundamental requirement for a useful digital workspace is that it be a comprehensive environment that brings together all data, applications and key tasks and activities in a single location. And ideally, the features delivered should be tailored to the job of each employee. This ensures that the digital environment is simplified and allows employees to focus on doing their work, not on operating the technology. And everything should be delivered seamlessly, regardless of the worker’s device type or work environment. Naturally, that includes mobility. A unified environment that allows employees to choose apps and devices is essential: A recent Economist study found that 78% of respondents agree that allowing workers to choose devices and apps they want to use improves the employee experience.2
- Top-notch security—Initially, many digital workspace installations were driven by the need to substantially increase the defensive posture of every endpoint and ensure that security is deployed comprehensively. Security is still a top-three issue for organizations deploying digital workspaces, and best-in-class offerings are improving data security and utilizing new tools to detect potential threats in addition to supporting comprehensive security.
- Active intelligence—Adding intelligence to the digital workspace provides a vastly better solution. For example, intelligence makes it possible to create unique and specific feeds for each user. Much as in the consumer world, employees can get key data, reports or other information about their own company or key competitors as it emerges. This raises the level of awareness for all staff. Intelligent digital workspaces can also guide workers through tasks and even provide functionality similar to what they experience in their B2C activities. In interactions similar to those with personal digital assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, employees can simply ask the intelligent workspace, “What is my remaining insurance deductible?” That’s far simpler than remembering an HR portal password, logging in, looking for a report and then finding the data. Adding intelligence even allows the workspace platform to learn how each employee goes about work and adapt accordingly, providing data or services to the employee in advance―when it’s needed and without being prompted.
Citrix is a leader in digital workspace technology and a pioneer in next-generation intelligent offerings. The Citrix Intelligent Workspace will be the leading option for many organizations that are serious about maximizing the engagement, productivity and effectiveness of their employees and digital workforce. To learn more about the benefits of Citrix Workspace and the intelligent capabilities from Forrester analyst Andrew Hewitt, check out this Citrix and Forrester webinar.
1 “Digital Workplace Market Worth $35.7 Billion by 2023,” MarketsandMarkets, 2019
2 “The Experience of Work: The Role of Technology in Productivity and Engagement,” The Economist, 2019
