The Digital Workplace is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It.

The digital workplace is broken, not from laziness or malice, but from inertia. We’re trying to force our old in-person structure into a digital mold. It doesn’t fit.
Communication, collaboration, productivity, security — it’s all different now. We need to stop cramming square pegs into round holes.

What does that look like? For starters, recognize that the digital workplace is about so much more than providing basic tools and troubleshooting problems. With the right approach, the digital workplace isn’t just a new physical location but a massive opportunity for innovation and growth.

Reimagine Your Approach

Instead of asking, “How can we make remote work tolerable?” start asking, “How can we make digital work better than in-person?”

For starters, consider the Digital Employee Experience (DEX). It affects every aspect of an employees’ interactions with the company. Can they be productive? What snags do they hit? Are they getting burned out by hoops they have to jump through? Are there patterns in the problems they’re encountering? Are they able to engage with their teams, share ideas, and get things done?

Digital work can be incredibly satisfying, efficient, and collaborative when you have a framework that gets ahead of problems rather than chasing them. Really, it’s more than that. Success in the digital workplace isn’t so much about staving off problems as it is about elevating your standards for what’s possible. Anywhere, anytime creativity. Collaboration that transcends location. Tools that let humans optimize their skills without frustration. And speaking of tools…

Bring in the Right Tools

I’ve had so many conversations with leaders seeking a “VDI fire extinguisher”—a quick fix for when things go wrong—to help them create a thriving digital workplace. But here’s the thing: fire extinguishers are messy, imprecise, and do nothing to prevent future problems.

Putting out 100% of fires might sound like a big win, but it’s a symptom of a much larger problem. And this reactive, fire extinguishing approach will inevitably lead to burnout. (No pun intended.)

A strong digital workplace—and a strong DEX—doesn’t rely on point solutions. Instead, it’s built on a comprehensive platform that covers key elements of digital work like device monitoring, issue analytics, and even automated remediation.

The right tools proactively detect and tackle problems behind the scenes, minimizing disruptions and often without ever involving a human. These tools identify patterns and address root causes. They distinguish between systemic issues, isolated issues, and issues stemming from external issues.

In this new approach, proverbial fire extinguishers are there for emergencies, not as a daily operational plan.

Make the Shift

McKinsey reports that digital leaders are outperforming “laggards” by 60%, and the gap will keep widening as employees seek roles where they can work effectively without square-peg-round-hole headaches. Plus, keep in mind that Customer Experience equals Employee Experience (CX = EX). You can’t deliver great CX if your employees don’t have a good digital fabric to work with.

Make the shift. Start thinking about the digital workplace as a whole new way of work with new challenges and needs, but also new opportunities. The sooner you start, the better.