Transcript

Beatrix:

Welcome to the Digital Workplace Podcast. Here to help you work smarter and get more done!

He makes the best Chongqing street barbecue, outside of China!

Here is your host, our resident digital workplace expert, Grant Crawley.

Grant Crawley:

Thanks Beatrix.

In this episode I’m going to introduce what the digital workplace is, what this podcast is here to give you, outline the format of the podcast and tell you who I am.

I’m not one to beat around the bush, so let’s cut to the chase. The digital workplace, or modern workplace is not one thing and it’s not the same for everyone either. I mean that in the sense that for every individual the digital workplace is unique to them. An organisation may have a common set of tools in their toolbox, but one person may use a ring spanner where another uses a pipe wrench. They both deliver the same outcome, are compatible to an extent and are not difficult to understand. The set of tools used by each individual will differ depending on what they do, but the people can be grouped into cohorts who use similar sets of tools. We call those personas and I’ll do a deep dive into personas in episode 3.

One thing common to all interpretations of the digital workplace, is that it enables people to communicate, collaborate and work from anywhere on any device. You can apply it equally to the digital nomad, who’s travelling the world on a bicycle, with dynamo or solar power and a tablet device connected to the Internet via a satellite link, or to an accounts clerk who powers on their desktop pc at 08:45 every morning in their cubicle, after a tedious 30min commute and a few minutes chatting to colleagues as they make their morning coffee.

Their equipment will differ, their software will differ, but they could both do exactly the same job. In fact they could be co-authoring a document at exactly the same time, while chatting on a video call. That is what the digital workplace delivers, and I know. I’ve been the digital nomad and I’ve been the office-based worker (though not an accounts clerk).

That’s the digital workplace. So why should you listen to this podcast? I’ve created this podcast to help you understand what the digital workplace is, what the benefits are and how you build a digital workplace strategy that works for you, your colleagues and your organisation. Each episode will do a deep dive into a topic, update you on any useful new tools Microsoft and Google, and others, are releasing to the market and answer listener questions.

So, if you have a question about the digital workplace or digital workplace technologies, head on over to digitalworkplacepodcast.com and use the Speakpipe to leave me a 90sec voice message. I will answer every query, but if it fits well with the show schedule I’ll answer the question in the podcast.

I can almost hear you thinking, so who are you and what makes you think you are an expert on the digital workplace. An expert is “someone who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area”. One definition I read is that an expert has 10,000 hours of experience in a particular field of study. I have 30 years of experience advising on and delivering digital workplace technologies and modern ways of working to business as small as one employee to multinational aerospace giants with 200,000 employees, to healthcare organisations with 2,000,000 employees. I’ve helped businesses in fintech, automotive, f1, aerospace, manufacturing, hvac, healthcare, event management, recruitment and more. I designed and developed my first cloud-based SaaS solution back in 1994, and I’ve led globally diverse teams with members covering 16 time zones and 5 continents. Conservatively I have around 35,000 hours of experience in the digital workplace. I know stuff.

Beatrix:

This episode of the Digital Workplace Podcast is sponsored by Virtco Consulting.

Their proven digital accelerators help to contain costs and limit disruption, reducing risk and ensuring return on investment is optimised.

Visit virtco.com, today!