What Should Your Modern Workplace Strategy Include?

You may have noticed that the workplace has changed quite drastically in recent years. Emerging technologies, automation and changing expectations from both employees and customers have transformed how businesses operate day to day. Whether through necessity or innovation, organisations have embraced more flexible, hybrid and cloud-enabled ways of working.

These days, most employees expect their working experience to be the same no matter where or which device they work from. To make this possible, a modern workplace needs reliable infrastructure that enables both remote and onsite work, as well as everything in between.

Traditional Workplaces vs. Modern Workplaces

Traditional workplaces are designed around physical presence. Employees work standard hours, typically from the same desk, using desktop computers connected to on-premise infrastructure. Communication is mostly face to face, supported by email and phones. Internal IT teams manage everything from system maintenance to cyber security, with operations largely built around the needs of a centralised workforce.

Modern workplaces look very different. Work happens across multiple locations and time zones, often using a mix of secure personal and business-owned devices. Core systems are hosted on the cloud, enabling people to access the files and applications they need wherever they are. A modern workplace adapts to its users whenever, wherever and however they work, not the other way around.

The Key Components of a Modern Workplace Strategy

End User Computing (EUC)

End User Computing is all about integrating users into their IT environment and ensuring employees can be fully productive, not held back by outdated systems, clunky software and counterintuitive processes. It includes physical devices, virtual desktops, cloud-based applications and centrally managed identity and access controls (IAM). Microsoft’s suite of apps for businesses is widely used in EUC implementations.

In a modern workplace strategy, it’s important to make sure that employees are able to get the most out of the resources available, which may include hosting discussion groups with key employees and your chosen service provider during the planning stage, as well as offering user training and continued software updates. It’s also important to consider user personas for different staff and any accessibility considerations the organisation needs to implement in order to be inclusive for everybody.

Cloud Computing

Offering computational power previously reserved only for enterprise-level organisations, the cloud plays a significant role in any modern workplace strategy. Using the public cloud removes the burden of constant equipment upkeep, offering better affordability and elastic resources that can be scaled up or down depending on your data processing demands.

Most public cloud providers such as Azure and AWS provide pay-as-you-go features (think of it as a subscription service for your business-critical IT needs) and are built to support the increasing velocity of software and security updates using timed deployment slots with none-to-minimal disruption. For organisations requiring responsiveness and dealing with budget restrictions, the flexibility of the cloud is a huge advantage.

Cyber Security

In the modern workplace – due to offsite data centres, public cloud environments and the need for remote access from any device and any location – a secure environment is much more fluid and harder to manage. Implementing a strong modern workplace strategy therefore requires organisations to transform their cyber security offering, ensuring resources are invested appropriately and are in-line with actual organisational risk.

Organisations may also consider outsourcing some or all of their new and complex cyber security needs. After all, doing so often provides access to wider skillsets and better tools than are within reach in-house. External providers can offer access to threat detection, alert analysis and advanced threat handling than most in-house IT teams are likely to be able to manage on their own, at least not alongside their other responsibilities.

The Benefits of a Modern Workplace Strategy

The modern workplace is about transforming internal systems and processes to make them more user-friendly and efficient. It allows organisations to future-proof and architect infrastructure that directly responds to the business goals of the company. It also focuses heavily on improving end-user experience and employee engagement.

Upon implementing modern workplace strategy, most organisations will benefit from:

• Faster, more reliable communications
• Improved productivity and workflow automation
• Flexible working models that support staff wellbeing
• Greater scalability across systems, infrastructure and teams
• Reduced IT overhead and better return on investment
• Stronger collaboration between departments and locations
• Improved cyber security posture
• Higher employee engagement

Implement an Effective Modern Workplace Strategy with Littlefish

In order to implement a modern workplace strategy, it’s important to first consider the specific business challenges your organisation wishes the new infrastructure to address. For that reason, working with a managed service provider is often the best way to plan and deploy a personalised, optimised strategy that achieves the desired outcomes within the constraints of any budget or operational concerns.

If you would like to discuss how Littlefish can support your transition to the modern workplace, as well as take care of the entire application management process for you, contact us through our get in touch button on this page.