Why Adoption Is The Love Your Digital Office Needs To Blossom

February is a month where ‘relationships’ have a special focus. But while most of us worry about weekend breaks and roses, our relationship with work shouldn’t be forgotten, not least with our working environment. Loving your digital office by getting the adoption right, can lead to working bliss.

Loving a digital office is not about bringing flowers in every day (though that would be nice). Instead, it’s about paying the attention a switch to an automated, technology-driven working environment demands.

Gathering together a range of cutting-edge technologies and declaring your office paper-free is not enough. An effective digital office is a convergence of people, technology and content, all working together to maximize productivity, creativity and, ultimately, the bottom line. It requires careful planning as well as investment.

Why Adoption Is Crucial

Transforming from a manual processes-based office environment to a digital one involves a huge mindset shift. If this shift does not adapt to the adoption it can undermine a business’s best intentions and result in failure, if it is not properly cared about.

According to a study from Telstra, which focused on the disruption digital transformation can bring, 97% of organizations have a formal strategy in place to manage disruption. But while billions are set to be spent by companies on digital transformation projects by 2020, 70% are expected to fail. Experience, therefore, plays a critical role in achieving a smooth transformation, and being predisposed to these experiences is a huge advantage.

Here at Kefron, that experience is central to our business, allowing us to deliver the right product, the right way and by the right people to our clients. An aspect of this adoption ‘key to success’ is bringing Document Management (DM) technology into the business.

Having easier-to-use, less laborious processes is very attractive but unless it is taken up willingly and with more pleasure than pain then it will fail eventually. So, how can that pain be averted?

4 Reasons To Love Your Digital Office

1. Faster Document Retrieval

Digital offices use document management systems that can retrieve documents quickly and easily. This is largely achieved through metadata, but the best systems can automatically store and cross-reference files without the need to enter such metadata, facilitating retrieval across a multitude of categories instantly. And because access to the DM system is possible through different devices – from laptops to smartphones – retrieval can be made anywhere.

2. Greater Work Flexibility, Smoother Collaboration

Who doesn’t love the chance to skip the morning commute? Because the digital office incorporates document scanning and storage in a single easily-accessed Document Management system, employees can access necessary documentation outside the office. So, whether they are on the road, at a conference or simply working remotely, everything is a search button away. Not only does this mean work can be more flexible, it also means that collaboration across borders – even continents – can be much smoother.

3. Better Communication

The digital workplace embraces technology that makes communication seamless. From instant messaging to collaborative project file-sharing tools, there is no longer any need to wait for a response. Postal or courier services are simply no longer necessary, and geographical location all but irrelevant.

4. Stronger Culture

With greater interconnectivity, flexible working schedules, simple collaboration and a drastic reduction in paperwork and red tape, a digital office creates a stronger workplace culture. Of course, it takes a willingness to change to make this possible, which effectively means managers and leaders have to change their way of thinking, making the workplace more collaborative and transparent. The pay-off is higher employee engagement, greater talent retention, and a more motivated, creative workforce.