We all know that pre-COVID, teamwork involved a lot of face-to-face, in person interaction. But with the current context of remote working – and the likelihood that 2021 is going to see more of the same – collaborating the way we did before isn’t practical (or possible) anymore.

Looking ahead to the new year, digital workplace collaboration is going to be a critical thing to get right, and organizations should be ready to hit the ground running in January. With this in mind, there are major benefits to having a unified collaboration platform in place.

Top 4 reasons to get digital workplace collaboration right

1. Deliver a better customer experience

Research from Salesforce shows that 80% of customers say that the experience a business provides is just as important as its products. Moving into 2021, the pandemic will no longer be a tolerable excuse for less-than-stellar customer engagement.

At the core of a customer experience ecosystem are interactions between your employees, partners, and customers. When departments work in silos, collaboration suffers, which often translates into a poor customer experience.

When a customer gets conflicting information from multiple parties within the same organization, they’re likely to take their business elsewhere. On the other hand, collaborative working delivers strategic value to a business and enables teams to resolve customer problems quickly and efficiently. 

• Share success stories and customer videos to help all employees understand your customers.   
• Create designated communities for specific customer projects so internal stakeholders can check status updates, collaborate and contribute to success in real time.

2. Improve innovation and business agility

How important has business agility been in 2020? When the world turned upside down, many agile organizations pivoted, redefined collaboration, and transitioned well to remote working, while others scrambled to adapt to the new reality.

Whether it’s about finding solutions to business challenges, creating new products, or improving sales – successful digital workplace collaboration drives business success.

• Encourage collaboration through CEO and senior leadership blogs. Constantly reinforcing the need for business agility will increase a sense of ‘this is how we do things here’ – and leaders should be using their voices.
• Crowdsource innovation with communities designed specifically for open innovation and idea generation. This can be particularly effective when you’re exploring new and enhanced product ideas.

3. Keep your people engaged and working at their best

People are spending more and more time engaging in remote work that’s collaborative, and organizations are realizing the necessity of employee collaboration software to make it happen. Video calls alone don’t cut it. Companies need to pay attention to the full suite of collaboration tools they’re making available to their people.

According to Gartner, “by 2022 70% of organizations leveraging collaborative work management systems will report that their teams are significantly better performing.” So, creating an environment that makes workplace collaboration easier – where employees are engaged and energized – has become essential to productivity improvements and sustainable business success. 

• Simplify the experience and make it enjoyable. If you’re looking for the best online collaboration platform for your digital workplace, consider one that offers features similar to popular social media sites. Here at Beezy, we think people should be able to share information, like, comment and create blogs in a way that’s user friendly and fun.

4. Make sure employees keep developing new skills

Ambitious employees seek opportunities to learn from colleagues and share best practices, contributing to their overall personal and professional development. This can be more challenging in a remote work environment, but it doesn’t have to be.  

A collaborative environment challenges people to consider new ideas and learn more about their co-workers’ skills and competencies. It builds self-awareness and helps them contribute to evolving business priorities.

• Encourage regular brainstorming sessions where employees can contribute to evolving business priorities.  
• Create a mentoring community where mentors and mentees can be easily matched.  
• Set up a learning hub that includes a range of training materials, articles, and videos about key topics of interest.

Collaborative teamwork is everything

An effective collaboration platform, combined with a culture that nurtures teamwork, can have a profound impact on an organization's productivity and ability to innovate – not to mention employee well-being (something we’ll be talking about more in 2021).

Right now, organizations continue to face unprecedented challenges and opportunities in an unusual economic and business environment.  Whatever unique issues your organization is facing moving into 2021, it’s likely to be easier when all of your employees are focused on working towards common goals and finding solutions together.  

Here at Beezy, we believe that the right team collaboration platform is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s business-critical, which is why we’re focused on making digital workplace collaboration as easy as possible.