DM Jul-Aug 2021

OPINION: FLEXIBLE WORKING Dm
"IF ORGANISATIONS ARE GOING TO PREPARE FOR THE NEW NORMAL OF FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENTS, THE
SOLUTION IS TO DEVELOP A WELL-FORMED, INTELLIGENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGY - ONE THAT
PROMOTES A COLLABORATIVE AND PRODUCTIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENT WHILE ADHERING TO GOVERNANCE,
COMPLIANCE AND SECURITY PROTOCOLS."
very real dynamic taking place now.
Further, here in the UK, in a
September 2020 poll of more than
2,000 office workers conducted by the
British Council for Offices, found that
nearly half of respondents said that
they intended to work from home
some of the time going well into 2021,
and this was at a time when another
national lockdown was viewed as a
mere fantasy.
These seismic changes - office space
reductions combined with new flexible
ways of working and employee
expectation that this is the 'new
normal' - are leading to firms having to
re-evaluate not just where they work,
but how they work.
Central to this is a desire to ensure
that this shift towards flexible working
does not negatively impact
productivity, collaboration or company
culture. There is a body of research
that has shown that people can be as
productive, if not more so, when
working from home. But for employers
there is a very real issue. The practical
and operational advantages of an
entire workforce working from home
could be diminished.
If organisations are going to prepare
for the new normal of flexible work
environments, the solution is to
develop a well-formed, intelligent
information management strategy -
one that promotes a collaborative and
productive working environment while
adhering to governance, compliance
and security protocols.
So, what can companies do now to
prepare a strategy for the new normal
of remote work? What should they be
putting focus on in developing that
strategy? Below are a few key
considerations:
INFORMATION ACCESS &
WORKFLOW AUTOMATION
Most businesses live and breathe
documents, files, and information; it's
the lifeblood of a streamlined,
productive and efficient organisation.
Arguably, the most important tenet of
a flexible work strategy is that
knowledge workers should be able to
access and manage information from
any device and any physical location,
no matter where that information is
stored - in a CRM, ERP, shared drives,
network folders.
Not only should staff be able to
access information, but the same
processes and workflows that govern
their work should be in place in a
flexible work environment.
AVOIDING SHADOW IT
Shadow IT is where individuals
incorporate technology solutions on
their own, away from the 'prying eyes'
of the IT department. For example, one
individual may decide they're going to
use Dropbox for cloud storage, while
others decide on Google Drive and yet
others are using Box. This creates two
types of sprawl - content sprawl and
SaaS sprawl - both despised by IT
departments, not just for the
inconvenience, but for the risk it poses
to established governance and security
protocols. An umbrella strategy should
account for a unified document
management system.
INFORMATION SECURITY
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and rogue
endpoint applications can put information
security at risk. Many companies are using
an array of technology to help allay those
risks - company-sanctioned hardware,
VPN connections, and a secure enterprise
information management platform.
The result of this shift to flexible working
is that employers now need to be thinking
now about how they are going to
respond to employee expectations of new
working patterns.
Government guidance which requires
people to work remotely will not be
around forever. As so many employees
have indicated a preference for remote
working at least part of the time going
forward, employers need to consider
carefully how best to remain an employer
of choice and stay competitive.
The solution is an intelligent information
management platform and the key
principles that underpin a solid flexible
work strategy are already there. All you
have to do to work remotely is grab your
laptop and go.
All the information, files and documents
they need are a couple clicks away, from
any device. It's this concept of any time,
anywhere access to company information
- with a built-in information security
framework - that truly sets the stage for
remote working, giving staffers the same
experience as they would at the office.
And by doing that, companies can ensure
continuity, productivity, and efficiency of
their remote workforce.
More info: www.m-files.com
www.document-manager.com
July/August 2021
@DMMagAndAwards
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