DWG’s 2024 Research Programme helps members unlock digital workplace potential
In 2024, we’ll be helping DWG member organizations ramp up their readiness for AI, evolve the digital workplace team, enhance their product management approach, develop expertise at tracking trends and future signals – and more. This year we’re excited to add six new original research papers to our existing library of more than 100 reports and 200 case studies. You can see all the details in the new fact sheet for the programme.
DWG’s CEO, Nancy Goebel, says: “Research is core to our member offering and we relish the opportunity to explore the latest trends and critical challenges for digital workplace teams. And we know it matters: in our latest member survey, 88% of members said that access to research and case studies is one of the best things about DWG membership. Members tell us that they use DWG research to help shape strategy, grow team knowledge, validate thinking and ideas, prepare for new projects, and gain credibility internally. We look forward to supporting all of these activities with rich insights from the research team in 2024.”
In 2024, we’ll explore the following topics in depth:
The AI readiness report: In light of fast-moving developments in artificial intelligence, this research will focus on how digital workplace teams can lay solid foundations for AI-powered digital workplace tools and features. It will cover a range of aspects such as culture and enablement of the workforce; skills and expertise for the digital workplace team; evolving approaches to data, knowledge and content management; and appropriate ethical frameworks.
This report builds on DWG’s artificial intelligence and automation research stream in which our most recent publication was Generative AI: Unlocking value and managing risk inside organizations.
The role of the digital workplace in supporting ESG: This report will serve as a ‘primer’ for digital workplace teams on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations. The research will provide digital workplace practitioners with a clear understanding of what ESG is and how it relates to their work. In addition, it will show them how the digital workplace strategy can align to wider ESG goals. The research will cover specific examples of practices and approaches to promote ESG enablement via digital workplace transformation.
This will represent a valuable addition to previous DWG research on the environmental and ethical considerations for the digital workplace.
Digital workplace product management: This research will investigate best practices for managing products across the digital workplace throughout their lifecycle and will include approaches to engaging and managing stakeholders involved in the digital workplace product ecosystem. It will look at effective processes and governance structures, development and implementation methodologies, how to practically explore and test new technologies, as well as measuring success in the product landscape.
Here we look to tackle a challenging area for digital workplace teams, building on previous DWG research on managing the digital workplace effectively and creating an integrated digital experience. Our most recent publication in this area was The integrated digital workplace: Creative approaches to weaving together tools.
Evolving the digital workplace team: Here the research team will highlight progress and patterns for establishing and growing the team as well as promoting it successfully across the organization. The digital workplace team is a relatively new entity inside organizations. This research will check in with progress on how digital workplace teams are evolving, provide an overview of areas such as team composition, location, patterns of growth, challenges and solutions in building and scaling teams, branding and promoting the team, measuring success.
With the launch of the ‘Digital Workplace Team of the Year’ award in 2023, DWG acknowledged the importance of the high-performing teams responsible for delivering the digital employee experience. This report will build on insights from the new award as well as previous research we’ve done into leading and managing the digital workplace effectively, most recently in Digital workplace management: Teams, structures and methods..
‘Futuring’ for digital workplace teams: This research will draw together principles and frameworks for understanding and exploring unfolding trends and potential future scenarios for the digital workplace. It will guide digital workplace teams to think systematically about the future in order to understand signals of coming trends, identify emerging opportunities or threats, navigate uncertainty, and anticipate actions that will lead to desired future outcomes. It will draw on ‘futuring’ and ‘visioning’ frameworks and models to provide practical tools to frame thinking and planning.
In previous research we’ve thought forward to understand possible futures for the digital workplace, but this report represents a new departure for the research programme in which we support members with a ‘playbook’ on how to go about this themselves.
Low friction, no friction digital workplace: User research techniques, employee listening, journey mapping and personalization approaches to reduce friction and radically enhance the experience. This paper will provide a compendium of tools and techniques that place the employee at the centre of the digital workplace strategy. Illustrative examples and vignettes will bring these approaches to life, signposting useful resources to explore them in greater depth.
The report will bring together and build on previous DWG research that has explored how to set up a user experience programme, engage and listen to employees, and draw on user-centred approaches to deliver a more integrated digital employee experience.
Download the 2024 DWG Research Fact Sheet to learn more about our research programme and the new topics on the roster for the year ahead.
DWG’s Director of Research, Elizabeth Marsh commented: “As well as tuning into DWG members through our annual member survey, this year our 2024 Research Programme has also been guided by the deliberations of our new Research Advisory Board. Knowing both what is most exciting and most challenging for digital workplace teams, and responding with well-researched, actionable reports, is core to our member offering.”
Download the fact sheet
DWG’s 2024 Research Programme
Categorised in: Artificial intelligence and automation, Digital workplace, Future of work, Research reports
