“Building a Better Digital Workplace” plus 10 other selections for your reading list
CMSWire has released a free ebook “Building a Better Digital Workplace”, which features contributions from Digital Workplace Group (DWG)’s CEO and Founder Paul Miller, together with other key thought leaders. To celebrate, we have put together a DWG reading list on digital workplace thinking.
The web is awash with articles that share the bookshelves, e-readers and digital “Read Later” lists of great and inspiring thinkers and leaders. Cultivating a good reading list can be a fine art but should aim to cut through the noise to highlight key elements within a broader category. The intention of such lists can be to: introduce you to an unknown topic; expand and deepen your thinking on an already known topic; or just refresh your memory on the essentials.
With writing on the digital workplace gathering pace – and in celebration of CMSWire’s new ebook on “Building a Better Digital Workplace” – we’ve taken the opportunity to step back and reflect on some of DWG’s key research and writing on what the digital workplace is, and how you can go about building an effective one for your organization.
1: Building a Better Digital Workplace (CMSWire)
[Free downloadable e-book]
CMSWire’s new e-book pulls together six key reports from their recent project looking at building better digital workplaces.
Alongside considering how to define the digital workplace and the role of culture, the e-book features two articles by DWG’s CEO and Founder, Paul Miller. In his contributions, Paul sheds light on the “8 Parts of an Integrated Digital Workplace” and “Where Enterprise Mobile Fits in”.
Other reports included are:
- “Building a Better Digital Workplace” (Sam Marshall)
- “Digital Workplace = Connected Workplace” (Natalie Dodson)
- “The Real Force Behind the Digital Workplace” (Barry Schaeffer)
- “Getting Culture Right is Key to Success” (Mike Volpe)
2: The Digital Renaissance of Work: Delivering digital workplaces fit for the future
[Book; free downloadable chapters]
For those looking to “deep dive” into the world of the digital workplace, DWG’s book on “The Digital Renaissance of Work” is a great starting point. Divided into two parts, in the first section Paul Miller describes the vision and potential impact of the digital workplace, while in the second DWG’s Director of Research Elizabeth Marsh explains in more detail how you can go about building an effective digital workplace for your organization.
3. From Intranet to Digital Workplace: How to evolve your strategy
[Free downloadable report]
Many in our profession are finding themselves with an opportunity – or need – to broaden their knowledge from being focused purely on the intranet to understanding the wider digital workplace. This task can be a daunting one, so this free report provides a useful analogy that helps demonstrate the difference between the two concepts, offering a model on which to base a wider digital workplace strategy.
4. Becoming a Digital Workplace Leader: The big shift from intranet management
[Blog post; downloadable report excerpt]
New strategies and approaches call for leadership that understands and can shape the new world of work that is emerging. Intranet managers are perfectly placed to step up to these new digital workplace leader roles, as this member-only research reports demonstrates. The associated blog post asks “Do you have what it takes to be ‘Head of Digital Workplace’?”.
5. Digital Workplace Fundamentals: The integrated approach
[Free downloadable report]
This report takes a look at two prerequisites for building an effective digital workplace: scope (what to include) and approach (how to deliver). For those looking for a blueprint for getting up and running, this report will do the trick.
6. 12 key concepts behind digital workplace success
[Blog post series]
This great series of 12 blog posts takes a practical, easy-to-read, bitesize look at what the digital workplace is and what you need to know to get up to speed on this fast-emerging concept. Coming in as one of DWG’s top 14 posts of 2014, this is a must-read for those looking to get a good grounding in digital workplace thinking and related key issues.
7. 6 key themes underpinning an effective digital workplace strategy
[Article series]
Building on the 12 digital workplace blog posts above, this series of articles written for CMSWire takes a closer look at a number of digital workplace themes, such as mobile, leadership, user experience and planning for the workforce of the future. This is a useful read for those already familiar with the digital workplace but seeking to deepen their knowledge of key concepts.
8. Digital Workplace User Experience: Designing for a flexible workforce
[Blog post; downloadable report excerpt]
Here at DWG, we talk a lot about the “human-centred digital workplace”. This is because an effective digital workplace is one that is moulded snugly and flexibly around the needs of people, rather than a rigid set of stubborn systems that refuse to cooperate with anyone and each other. This research report, available in full to DWG members, looks at this topic in detail while the related blog post shows “How user experience debt bankrupts your digital workplace”.
9. Success with Enterprise Mobile: How tools for frontline employees drive value
[Blog post; downloadable report excerpt]
An enterprise mobile strategy is not just about being able to access an intranet on a mobile. This members-only report will help you understand the role and impact of “mobile” for your workforce and, in particular, for frontline and non-office based employees. The related blog post lists “10 advantages of focusing enterprise mobility on frontline workers”.
10. Change Management for the Digital Workplace: Bringing the organization with you
[Blog post; downloadable report excerpt]
It is now well understood that “build it and they will come” is a tenet that rarely bears fruit. The reality is that intranet and digital workplace programmes need a carefully planned-out schedule of engagement and change management tactics, to help hand-hold organizations through the evolution of their tools and ways of working. This research report, which DWG members have full access to, provides a practical overview of using change management tactics for your digital workplace programme. The associated blog post provides “8 change management strategies for intranet and digital workplace projects”.
11. Checklist for Setting up a Digital Workplace Programme
[Free downloadable checklist]
So you’ve understood what the digital workplace is, read up on what’s needed to become an effective “Head of Digital Workplace”, and understood the various components and approaches you need to master. What next? Where better to start than a handy checklist, which will help you work through exactly what you need to get your digital workplace programme up and running.
Iterating and building on the digital workplace reading list
Like any good reader, our list of “to read” is always infinitely longer than our list of “have read”. Throughout 2015, we’ll be building on this reading list as we progress through the year’s research programme, in response to our members’ need for more digital workplace thought leadership. In particular, we’ll be taking a look at:
- Defining the digital workplace roadmap
- Governance across the digital workplace
- Approaches to mobile intranets
- The new role of internal communications
What are you reading to help shape your thinking around the digital workplace? Where do you feel there are gaps in the community’s knowledge, which need to be addressed to help build more effective digital workplaces? Leave a comment below to let us know.
Categorised in: Digital workplace, Strategy & governance
