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One of the holy grails of the digital workplace is creating a single place where employees can accomplish work. The idea has waxed and waned over the years, but is currently on the rise as the number and complexity of the tools in use grows on what feels like a daily basis.
A recent post from Microsoft outlining its future plans for Teams added further fuel to the single workplace hub idea.
Microsoft's Vision for a Single Workplace Hub
The Microsoft post outlines where Microsoft wants to take Teams and how it envisions its future role in the workplace. The growth in platform adoption, the paper states, has helped the company better understand the processes and strategies needed for workers to optimize the Teams experience.
It sees this experience as based on four different principles:
- Is the hub for teamwork within Microsoft 365.
- Integrates with every app an employee uses.
- Offers a complete meeting experience.
- Has integrated security.
Leaving aside discussions around the complexity of some of the Teams offerings and the different integrations, Microsoft said the driver here is to turn Teams into a single place to work.
It isn't the first time Microsoft has put forth the idea. What's different this time is the level of detail it provides into where it views Teams current state, where and how it believes people should be using it, and where it might be used in the future.
“Microsoft Teams, in combination with Microsoft 365, creates a hub for modern collaboration and effective teamwork. It empowers our employees to engage with the business and each other in a way that transforms our business for the better, moving our entire organization closer to fully realizing digital transformation,” the blog reads.
Related Article: The Myth of the Digital Workplace Hub
Is a Single Place to Work Possible?
Microsoft isn't alone in its ambitions. Google has also been pursuing a unified workplace hub, albeit less vocally than Microsoft, since its introduction of Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. In fact, we've seen an acceleration of this activity in recent months.
Slack has always been an alternative to Microsoft and Google for communications, but with its many integrations and updates, it too can be used to meet other business goals. Zoom is also digging deep into the space, although it has a ways to go, while Zoho has offered integrated apps and capabilities at reduced price since it started.
Clearly the vision of a single digital place to work, where all work can be accomplished from a single interface, app or platform is one of the principal objectives of the vendors working in the digital workplace space. But is it possible?
According to Accenture's Ed Santos, it is increasingly possible to create a single place to work in the digital workplace. It needs to bring together chat, video conferencing, file sharing and a wide range of third-party app integrations, creating a central hub for communication and collaboration.
“The key to making this possible lies in robust change management and continuous education to ensure users can fully leverage the platform’s features,” he said. However, for it to be effective, organizations need to consider several criteria:
1. Efficiency and Productivity
A unified platform can streamline workflows, reduce the time spent switching between different tools, and minimize information silos, Santos said. This can lead to increased productivity and a more cohesive work environment.
2. User Adoption and Satisfaction
A truly effective platform is user-friendly and meets the diverse needs of its users. Continuous feedback loops and iterative improvements help ensure the platform evolves with user needs and preferences, he said.
3. Flexibility and Customization
Santos also urged companies to continue to emphasize flexibility and customization even when single platforms centralize many functions. Different teams have different workflows, and a one-size-fits-all approach may not be effective. The platform should allow for customization to fit various use cases.
Other issues are increasingly problematic with the way the workplace is evolving.
One of the biggest issues, he said, is resistance to change. Employees accustomed to using various tools may resist transitioning to a single platform. Effective change management strategies are vital to address this.
He also points to the issues that can arise with depending on one vendor. “Relying heavily on one platform can be risky if there are service outages or other disruptions,” he said. “It's essential to have contingency plans in place.”
Related Article: Minimizing the Fallout When a Vendor Sunsets Your Digital Workplace Product
The Argument for a Diversity of Tools
Different teams and individuals have different needs, workflows and preferences. While a single tool can meet many of those needs, it is difficult for any one system to satisfy them all, Guy Leon Sheetrit, founder of Guac Digital, told Reworked.
While it may be a good idea to deploy a company-wide collaboration platform to unite communication and task management, smaller teams should be able to use other tools that suit their needs.
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“For a single place to work to succeed,” he said. “It must be highly flexible and customizable. It needs to integrate well with other systems and have an open API so people can build the specific functionality they require."
He added that it also needs to provide a simple but compelling experience so that people want to adopt it, rather than being forced to. “The risk is that in trying to be everything to everyone, these systems end up being mediocre at many things, rather than great at a few,” he said.
“They can also stifle innovation by locking people into a single platform. So, while a single place to work is an appealing vision, the reality is that most organizations will still need a diversity of tools.”
Related Article: Having a Single Source of Truth for Internal Communications Helps, But Don't Stop There
Teams in the digital workplace
Back to Teams: does it currently deliver as a single place to work? Despite the breath of its capabilities, Teams will not become the “single place to work” for all workgroups, said Carl Mazzanti, founder of eMazzanti Technologies. However, depending on the team and the work it does, it can come close.
In a workplace that frequently includes a blend of in-person and remote employees, Teams does an effective job of keeping colleagues connected, he continued. It provides a central hub to chat, organize documents, conduct meetings and collaborate, moving among those tasks with ease.
In fact, Teams improves meeting quality and accessibility with features like Intelligent Recap, live translations and additional security. It also provides a gateway to Microsoft apps, vetted third-party apps and custom apps created within the organization. This lends weight to Microsoft's claim that it is moving towards becoming a single place to work.