Digital Workplace Trends 2015 Survey

Have you completed Jane McConnell’s 2015 Digital Workplace Trends survey? In less than two weeks (closes on 31 December) you will lose your chance to contribute to this valuable source of information and analysis so it’s time, before you put on your out of office, to complete it and help identify the trends of the digital workplace.

But before you press on that link or dig out Jane’s reminder email, remember that the digital workplace is probably bigger than just you and there are a lot of important conversations you need to have internally first.

There are days when intranet managers feel they are ‘in the know’ of what’s going on, but it’s not necessarily the case. There are decisions being made without your knowledge which may affect your own digital workplace and how your organisation will react to it in 2015 and beyond.

A great new addition to Jane’s survey this year is the ability for multiple people from your organisation to complete the survey independently – and Jane will pull the responses together to give one report back to your organisation.  While this might be the simplest option, I found that speaking to everyone involved and completing the survey as a group was a really beneficial exercise. Getting all the people who play a part in your digital workplace together and using Jane’s survey as the structure of a conversation helps everyone get aligned and understand ‘the bigger picture’.

So, who are the people you need to involve? People who make the decisions on:

• E-learning
• Mobile devices
• Storage
• Intranet (if that is not you)
• BYOD
• Software
• IT security

This means you need to talk to people who make these decisions, even if it is over a coffee, in a structured meeting or over instant message. You will also need to speak to people who know:

• How your exec feels about the digital workplace and all the items listed above
• How engaged or to what degree does the above list support what your exec wants
• The organisation’s strategy
• IT strategy
• Status of current initiatives
• What pilots are running or planned

If you work in a small organisation this may only be a few people, but in a big or multinational organisation that is a lot of people to speak to and understand what their objectives and individual strategies are. By pulling these people together and asking them about the questions in the survey, even without getting the report back, you will have a much better understanding of how your digital workplace can help deliver the various goals of the organisation.

Have you done this? If so, what was your experience? Let us know in the comments below.