Who you can meet

Ensuring your employees have the tools they need to collaborate effectively and be productive

Collaboration has never been more important than today with a remote workforce and future hybrid workplace. With the upscaling of collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, and social collaboration platforms like Workplace from Facebook supporting more connected organizations, collaboration and community managers are playing an essential role in supporting productivity, business continuity and organizational culture.

Collaboration managers have a lot on their ‘to do’ list. Essential activities include the everyday management of collaboration platforms, driving governance to optimize experiences, and supporting site managers. There are also new challenges ahead as advanced collaboration tools are deployed and future trends like mixed reality increasingly influence the way we work together.

At DWG we’ve focused on collaboration platforms and the teams behind them for many years through our research programme, member meetings and content. As a core component of the digital workplace that enables new ways of working and is now at the centre of the way we work, we will continue to focus on collaboration and its evolution.

Delivering large-scale, complex technology programmes with a focus on business processes

DWG research shows that more and more organizations are choosing to initiate digital workplace programmes. As every digital workplace manager knows, digital transformation is as much about business change as it is about rolling out new technologies. Platforms like Microsoft 365 require new ways of working to get the best out of them, with new skills and a different mindset required by everyone from leaders through to frontline staff.

Digital workplace managers need to excel across a range of disciplines, including: stakeholder management, technical expertise, business analysis, project management, strategic thinking, fixing issues, governance design. Above all they need to be change agents, bringing a wide range of stakeholders together, and taking them on a journey.

Digital workplace management is still very young. When you work in such an emergent field, it’s always better not to journey alone. With DWG you can gain access to some of the world’s leading digital workplace experts, plus a community of peers who are facing the same challenges as you. We’re proud that we’re helping the global digital workplace community to be true pioneers, bringing digital transformation to their organizations.

Responsible for the day-to-day operation and management of the organization’s intranet

Intranet managers and their teams wear many hats. One day they will be content strategists, the next technical experts, then maybe called upon to train a community of publishers, or to advise as usability specialists. They can also be super-connectors, bringing disparate stakeholders across the enterprise together to evolve a vision of a global intranet that delivers value for all employees and moves towards being a digital workplace.

Intranets are important; they represent strategic investments that make a tangible difference to the employee experience. But we know how hard intranet managers have to work to deliver success. With small central teams supporting large communities of publishers and working to ensure the intranet delivers personalized experiences for a large, diverse workforce, managing an intranet can be challenging. It can also be quite solitary, without access to peers and advice.

When you join DWG, you no longer journey alone. At DWG we’ve lived and breathed intranets for nearly two decades. Many of the professionals at DWG have managed global or complex intranets, just like you, and we are proud to have some of the world’s leading intranet experts in our network. Our members include the teams behind many leading-edge and award-winning intranets, and you’ll be welcomed into a vibrant and supportive community of intranet professionals.

Working with executives and HR to help them maintain a positive relationship with employees

Those responsible for internal communications (IC) work in highly complex and fast-moving multichannel environments where messages are targeted to different groups and needs. From email to digital signage, mobile apps to intranets, taking a coordinated approach to consistent messaging requires real skill. It’s even more challenging in an unpredictable world where crisis comms are proving to be so valuable.

Internal communications are constantly evolving. The increased use of social channels, video formats and a move to more informal messaging all offer options for internal communicators. Increasingly, IC teams are also acting as advisors, driving comms best practice across different stakeholders – and IC professionals are starting to get involved in the digital workplace as well.

DWG can help you navigate this changing world. We cover the wider strategic picture with the advance of the digital workplace, but also the specifics such as channel management, content strategy, launching an intranet, and IC metrics. Connecting with peers, digesting the latest DWG member research, and seeing the digital comms of leading organizations can all help you manage the day-to-day whilst also planning for the future.

Working alongside the business to maintain and develop the HR portal

Human Resources (HR) platforms, such as Workday and SAP SuccessFactors, are a key part of the digital employee experience, driving critical HR processes and employee self-service. Increasingly, HR portal managers and product owners are taking a more holistic view of the digital workplace, ensuring that HR data can be viewed and transactions completed across multiple channels.

The HR portal may have integrations with the corporate intranet, Microsoft Teams and platforms like ServiceNow. People and profile data power many digital workplace features such as personalization. Chatbots are also changing the way employees interact with the HR helpdesk, while analytics are providing important insights.

We know the challenges of working with HR systems and data. GDPR, concerns over privacy, adoption levels and difficult integrations are just some of the issues that keep HR platform and portal managers up at night. Here at DWG we take a joined-up view of the HR portal’s importance in the digital workplace, recognizing the real-world issues that result from working with multiple stakeholders. By connecting with peers, tapping into DWG’s knowledge and research, and keeping an eye on the future, you won’t be journeying alone.

Leading the strategic development and delivery of workplace programmes

Many organizations have instigated workplace programmes including activity-based working so that the physical and digital workplace work in harmony to drive productivity, collaboration, engagement and efficiency. Faced with a future where working patterns now look set to be increasingly hybrid, workplace programmes have a new urgency and purpose.

Heads of workplace solutions need to understand the digital workplace in order to support remote working, optimize existing office space and drive productivity. While this embraces knowing about collaborative tools and digital workplace analytics, it’s also about understanding how employees use workplace technology. Only with the right user research is it possible to design better workplace programmes.

We help real estate professionals and those behind agile working programmes to get under the skin of the digital workplace. By connecting with other professionals and accessing cutting-edge trends information, or by benchmarking your digital workplace maturity, DWG can help give you the strategic perspective you need. Whatever the ‘new normal’ is, partnering with DWG will give you the confidence to approach the future in a more joined-up way.

Supporting knowledge flow, findability, AI and a culture of knowledge-sharing through the digital workplace

Did knowledge management (KM) ever go away? Those responsible for knowledge management in global organizations are busier than ever, ensuring that key digital channels and tools support the effective flow of knowledge around the organization and also helping to drive an accompanying culture of knowledge-sharing. In some sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, professional services and energy, knowledge really is the lifeblood of the organization.

Knowledge management functions can find themselves responsible for key components of the digital workplace, such as the intranet, collaboration tools and search. They also define and manage some of the essential elements of digital workplace governance, such as taxonomies, metadata and search management. Increasingly, the skills of KM professionals are being drawn upon to drive the underlying information management and data governance required to facilitate AI and automation.

At DWG, we have a long history of supporting knowledge managers. Some of our longest-serving DWG staff and members come from a KM background, and it is a topic we have consistently revisited in our research, content programme and member meetings. With a wealth of KM expertise to tap into, we can help you to continue to manage and lead across the digital workplace.

Getting employee experience on the agenda and delivering a more consistent and strategic approach

The head of employee experience or equivalent is a relatively new role, but it is proving to be absolutely essential. Employee experience is an area of increasing focus for HR and people functions, taking in a strategic, holistic and more joined-up view of the way work is experienced throughout the employee lifecycle. Employee experience impacts everything from employee turnover to productivity to the bottom line.

So many of an employee’s touchpoints with their employer are digital, from everyday interactions to critical ‘moments that matter’, such as employee onboarding and career progression. The new demands of the hybrid workplace, with the substantial increase in work delivered remotely, mean the ‘digital’ element of employee experience has never been more significant.

Heads of employee experience are change-makers, advocating for a more coordinated and employee-centric approach and taking other stakeholders on a journey. Here, we’re with you every step of the way. Whether this means learning about best practices from the DWG research programme, knowledge-sharing with peers from organizations with similar challenges to you, or asking for advice from DWG experts, we can help you get digital employee experience on the agenda, and then define and deliver your strategic roadmap.

Some of DWG's members

DWG Member Resources

DWG Membership is designed to help large organizations improve their digital workplaces through peer learning, best practice research, social networking, benchmarking evaluations, and partnerships with DWG’s experts.

For specific details of the research and events that took place last year, you can view our 2023 Annual Review.

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