Data and metrics in a world of ‘Digital Workplace opinion’

DWG releases methodology to measure and map the performance of your digital workplace.

19 February, London & New York.

While the digital workplace is gaining interest among major organizations, many are failing to grasp the opportunities of the shift to the digital workplace – haphazard deployments, fragmented digital assets and a lack of clear vision.

To address this, the Digital Workplace Group (DWG) has developed a pioneering methodology to measure, map and evaluate the performance of the digital workplaces of large companies. The new Digital Workplace Map details specific strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.

Ten years ago the Digital Workplace Group (part of DWG) developed a benchmarking process for large-scale intranets that became the global industry standard, with hundreds of Fortune 500, FTSE 100 and equivalent having been measured and compared to their peers. Now that same approach is being applied to the digital workplace for the first time.

“What organizations need in the digital workplace is data and metrics in a world of opinion. How can you understand the impact of your digital world of work without measurement, evaluation and a clear map?” says Paul Miller, CEO and Founder of DWG and author of “The Digital Workplace – How Technology is Liberating Work”.

“As more work is carried out within the digital workplace, organizations that have independent measures will gain a significant competitive advantage, impacting productivity, headcount, recruitment and leadership,” he adds.

The new Digital Workplace Map

The new Digital Workplace Map is an independent methodology to help organizations understand how their Digital Workplace performs. It’s based on more than 10 years’ experience of benchmarking the intranets of the world’s leading companies, as well as input from organizations such as Microsoft, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Fujitsu.

Example applications of the methodology are:

• For a major supermarket, assessing the quality, scale and productivity of the digital services between head offices, regional offices, distribution centres, vehicles and retail outlets.
• For a large energy supplier, analysing whether the digital workplace is attracting or repelling new hires. The physical workplace may look superb but new demographics mean younger employees demand equally compelling digital services.
• At the mobile frontline, are employees empowered with data and knowledge? At retail chain Zara, shop assistants have become market researchers (an example which will be featured on the forthcoming Digital Workplace 24 event).

Digital Workplace Mapping service

To enable organizations to utilize the new methodology, a Digital Workplace Mapping service will be offered through the Digital Workplace Forum in the coming months.

Through a brief but highly structured intervention, DWG’s experts in digital workplace strategy and deployment conduct an independent assessment of an organization’s current digital workplace – with a detailed confidential report on strengths, weaknesses and priority areas to exploit.

The service is available to partners and associates of the Digital Workplace Forum and to clients of DWG to deliver an objective assessment of where they are against this new industry standard.

For more information about the Digital Workplace map and the new Digital Workplace mapping service please contact Nancy Goebel.