{"id":42601,"date":"2021-11-17T16:02:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T16:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/?guid=1b6034e65ec735fb99f25ed09abe0a85"},"modified":"2021-11-17T16:02:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T16:02:48","slug":"managing-the-oversaturation-of-workplace-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/managing-the-oversaturation-of-workplace-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing the oversaturation of workplace platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Elliot Mulley-Goodbarne<\/a><\/span>
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24 Nov, 2021<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What does your workstation look like;\u00a0three monitors<\/a>\u00a0powered by a laptop, a desktop surrounded by the latest mic and cameras, or perhaps just a laptop with an\u00a0external mouse and keyboard<\/a>? Regardless of how you work, I\u2019ll hedge my bets and say the way you complete your daily tasks has changed somewhat since 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without leading us down the well-trodden path of\u00a0how the pandemic has changed the way we work<\/a>, it\u2019s important to establish how the effects of COVID-19 on the workplace still manifest. The rise of\u00a0cloud platforms<\/a>\u00a0and portals businesses were forced to adopt to continue functioning during lockdowns is arguably the biggest impact we\u2019ve seen. This is exemplified by the fact a quarter of a billion people now use\u00a0Microsoft Teams<\/a>\u00a0on a monthly basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even 250 million active monthly users, however, doesn\u2019t translate into total market domination. In fact, over the past year, businesses have increasingly bought into an emerging trend of choosing different collaboration platforms for different types of workplace communication. Companies such as BT and Vodafone, for example, are\u00a0using Facebook Workplace to offer employees a pseudo-social media experience<\/a>. There\u2019s a risk, however, that piling yet more digital systems onto the shoulders of already\u00a0digitally stretched workers<\/a>\u00a0might inadvertently lead to a loss of productivity and disillusionment.<\/p>\n

No plan is an island<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Using such platforms in this way isn\u2019t a new phenomenon, Meike Escherich, associate research director for the future of work at IDC, points out. Indeed, communicating with a distributed workforce means businesses need to upgrade their communications methods, with emailed newsletters and bulletins often ending up in spam folders too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest issue is that staff can be given all they need to do their job in a remote setting, but they\u2019re\u00a0missing the culture of the company<\/a>,\u201d Escherich says. \u201cThat sense of community, building loyalty, and support from superiors have all gone down the drain over the last year or so because businesses haven\u2019t worked out how they communicate, how often they communicate, and what they communicate. This is a big issue for businesses to tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the intention to supplement workplace culture might be there, introducing yet another digital platform can also take its toll. Depending on their department, employees will have to log into a range of systems at once, which inevitably has a knock-on effect on productivity. In fact, RingCentral found roughly two-thirds of employees are losing over a month of their time per year just switching between different platforms.\u00a0Its research<\/a>\u00a0also found that a large portion of employees found navigating these different platforms more annoying than spam and junk emails (45%), paying bills (52%) and even trying to lose weight (50%).<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, the industry needs to recognise that none of these tools can be an island anymore,\u201d says principal analyst for workplace transformation at CCS Insights, Angela Ashenden. \u201cThese platform providers need to look at how they fit within the ecosystem. If you’re going to enable productivity and enable people to be effective it has to tie in with all the other processes and happen wherever those processes take place. Therefore, there\u2019s a focus around integration and how to streamline workflows across multiple tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is where collaboration platforms come in. Microsoft, for example, wants Teams to serve as a user interface window, senior analyst with Cavell Group Patrick Watson, says. Employees will, effectively, use Teams as a window into their applications, with integrations getting much better. If various providers integrate into\u00a0Teams or Slack<\/a>, he adds, users won\u2019t feel bombarded by different apps because they\u2019re effectively using one interface.<\/p>\n

Dispelling the threat of shadow IT\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although the likes of Vodafone and BT may well have good reasons for investing in Workplace, Escherich says she doesn\u2019t think the trend of using more than one collaboration platform will be picked up by smaller businesses. The priority, for them, is to protect their IT teams, who would be burdened with a greater workload. \u201cWhen we ask our clients about digital transformation and what is needed in-house to enable a hybrid workplace, the key issue is IT support,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a big issue for business and even outstrips things like security or employee experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making such a decision may not be as simple as protecting IT teams, though, with\u00a0shadow IT highly prevalent<\/a>\u00a0in regulated industries such as finance, legal and the public sector. As Watson outlines, establishing places for employees to go for both professional and social interactions is likely an attempt to control the realm of all employee interactions, as they may not currently know what\u2019s being shared, how, and when. According to data Watson shares, 39% of executives in charge of technology know their business is currently using Facebook Messenger, 58% are using\u00a0WhatsApp<\/a>, with 10% using\u00a0Signal<\/a>\u00a0and 20% using Telegram.\u00a0<\/p>\n