Digital Workplace: work anywhere, anytime, with anything
February 27, 2012 at 9:44 am | Posted in benefit, best practice, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, standards, strategy, usability, value | 2 CommentsTags: benefit, best practice, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, Mark Morrell, standards, strategy, usability, value
I will be at the IntraTeam 2012 conference in Copenhagen this week presenting on 5 ‘Must Have’ Principles for a Great Digital Workplace and running a workshop on How to Build the Right Governance Model for the Digital Workplace. For Twitter users follow #IEC12.
The digital workplace is a phrase that I have written about before and is becoming more frequently used for intranets that are developing beyond being a traditional communications tool. For me a digital workplace can include:
- employees working from any location (or mobile) as their place of work
- IT infrastructure providing the same or similar experience wherever someone uses the digital workplace
- employees collaborating, searching, and completing tasks as well as reading the latest news
- employees choosing how to do ‘things’ – RSS, mobile, etc. – that help them
- organisations measuring the benefits and encouraging employees to use the digital workplace
I define a digital workplace as ‘work is what you do, not where you go to’. To have a successful digital workplace it is vital organisations have the right strategy, culture, environment and infrastructure to exploit the benefits fully. It needs to become the natural way of working so employees are more effective and productive and your organisation is more efficient and successful.
Find out how five principles can help you to work in a digital workplace, how to use my experience to help you and how to contact me for further help.
Have the right SharePoint 2010 governance
February 22, 2012 at 9:24 am | Posted in best practice, collaboration, engagement, governance, intranet, plan, SharePoint 2010, standards, training, value | 3 CommentsTags: best practice, engagement, governance, intranet, sharepoint 2010, standards, strategy, training, value
Based on my experience and knowledge gained when I was the BT Intranet manager and helping other organisations implement many SharePoint 2010 features I can help you too using my checklist.
SharePoint 2010 may be “the best sweetie shop in town” for all its range of features for people to use but the need for effective governance raises for intranet professionals a different set of challenges. The strategy for SharePoint 2010 governance has to be very different to other publishing or collaborative tools.
I believe there are three approaches which can give your organisation the right governance it needs with SharePoint 2010. You don’t have to use just one. You can combine some of each to find the right blend for your organisation. What works best for you will depend on a number of different factors. Among them:
- Restricting use – stop some features from being used
- Encouraging best practice – guidance and training
- Preventing problems – check content before it is published
Each of these approaches can support your governance strategy for SharePoint 2010. The key is to understand what you need to use SharePoint 2010 for.
Find out how to build SharePoint 2010 governance and how to use my experience to help you.
How to build the right governance model for the digital workplace
January 17, 2012 at 11:57 am | Posted in digital workplace, governance, standards, strategy | 3 CommentsTags: digital workplace, governance, standards, strategy
The digital workplace is becoming a higher priority to more organisations in 2012. We have Jane McConnell’s Digital Workplace Trends 2012 report that gives you great research on what is happening. The London 2012 Olympics is forcing some of the most traditional organisations like banks to consider the digital workplace as employees work away from Canary Wharf for ‘flexi fortnight’ while the Olympics take place.
But how is the best way to manage this? How do you reduce that ‘dead time’ when people can’t work while out of the office? Why do employees have to go to their office building to work? How can you save your business money?
All these questions mean you need people with experience and strategic thinking to be involved in the strategy for a digital workplace.
I will use my experience with BT and helping other organisations develop digital workplaces to run a workshop at IntraTeam 2012 in Copenhagen on 28 February. This session will cover what is needed to have the right governance model for your digital workplace.
It will give you an overview on what is needed for the digital workplace to be managed so it brings benefits to the organisation, individuals and collectively, everyone. It should mean that ‘things feel better’ and encourage everyone to use the digital workplace.
By the end of the workshop you will understand the right level of governance needed for your organisation, balancing rewards to be gained while avoiding any risks.
Areas to be covered include:
- Ownership – who is responsible for developing the strategy, implementing the digital workplace and ongoing management of it?
- Consistency – what is the appropriate level of governance across your digital workplace?
- Standards – what are needed for a digital workplace?
- Integrity – do people have confidence when using information and tools in the digital workplace?
- What are the next steps you need to make?
I hope you will join me.
The risks and rewards of SharePoint 2010
September 26, 2011 at 1:55 pm | Posted in best practice, collaboration, governance, intranet, SharePoint 2010, standards | 5 CommentsTags: bt intranet, collaboration, engagement, governance, intranet, sharepoint 2010, standards
I have used my first-hand experience implementing SharePoint 2010 (SP 2010) as the former BT Intranet manager, combined with my knowledge from working with other global organisations also implementiing SP 2010, to write a whitepaper on the risks and rewards of SP 2010. It also builds on my SP 2010 posts in this blog.
You can download a free copy of the whitepaper and learn about the risks and rewards SP 2010 presents.
This whitepaper provides a first-hand look at some of the strategies for implementing SP 2010. The paper provides information that will:
- Help guide an organisation from initial consideration of SP 2010 through to the first day of a successful implementation and, most importantly, beyond
- Provide guidance on how to ensure an effective content governance framework, and define organisational standards
- Show you how to incorporate automated compliance solutions to help protect against non-compliant or inappropriate content
- Highlight how to make the right technology decisions for your business to maximise the rewards that collaboration brings and avoid any risks or pitfalls
This will help you understand what strategies will assist your organisation in implementing SP 2010.
You can also join me on a webinar to discuss the whitepaper on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM BST.
It would be great to have a conversation about SP 2010 with you.
I am now intranet-pioneer.com
August 8, 2011 at 8:57 am | Posted in collaboration, digital workplace, governance, mark morrell ltd, publishing, SharePoint 2010, standards, strategy, value | 4 CommentsTags: digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, Mark Morrell, search, sharepoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, value
It is now easier for you to find my site and blog. You just need to go to intranet-pioneer.com.
Why intranet-pioneer?
Well, I believe I am an intranet pioneer combining strategic thinking with implementation skills. Over many years I have developed intranet strategies and have first-hand practical experience of implementing major technology and change projects.
As the former BT Intranet manager, I transformed BT’s intranet into one of the best intranets globally for governance, engagement and collaboration also measuring the full value BT’s intranet contributed.
Now I have my own business, Mark Morrell Ltd. As an intranet pioneer I can help you with your intranet strategy, governance, standards and use of collaboration tools. I can also share with you my knowledge and experience of SharePoint 2010, the digital workplace and other intranet topics.
And the ‘-’ makes it better for search engine optimisation in case you wondered. 
My special thanks to Jane McConnell for all her help.
4 factors critical to good governance in a digital workplace
July 27, 2011 at 8:52 am | Posted in application, benefit, best practice, collaboration, digital workplace, governance, intranet, mark morrell ltd, news, plan, standards, strategy, value, web accessibility | 2 CommentsTags: benefit, best practice, digital workplace, governance, intranet, Mark Morrell, publishing, standards, strategy, usability, users, value
In my last four posts on the digital workplace I have covered ‘Must have digital workplace principles’, ‘5 steps to a great digital workplace strategy’, 7 ways to engage people in a digital workplace and lastly ‘Create a brilliant digital workplace with me’.
To have a successful digital workplace (my definition is ‘work is what you do, not where you go to’) organisations must have the right strategy, culture, environment and infrastructure to exploit the benefits fully. It becomes the natural way of working so everyone is more productive and your organisation more efficient with:
- people work from any location as well as their office workstation
- IT infrastructure for the same or similar experience
- everyone can read news, collaborate, search and complete tasks
- individuals choosing tools – RSS, mobile, etc. – that help them
- organisations measure benefits and encourages digital workplace
Follow these ‘must have’ principles including strategy, engagement, governance, HR policies and IT infrastructure and you will have a great digital workplace.
Governance
It is important the whole of the digital workplace is managed so that it brings benefits to the organisation, individuals and collectively, everyone. It should mean the feeling that ‘things are better’ permeates through to everyone and encourages even greater use of the digital workplace.
It means the level of governance balances the rewards to be gained while avoiding any risks. That doesn’t come naturally but through good governance of the digital workplace including:
Ownership
Who is responsible for developing the strategy, implementing the digital workplace and ongoing management of it? It is difficult for one person to have overall responsibility for so many key roles and activities. Neither is it best for it to be one person.
The best solution is to have a steering group made up of stakeholders from key parts of the business most affected by the digital workplace. These stakeholders should be senior people with decision making authority not someone who has to refer back to his/her line manager and delay matters.
There may be dedicated roles for people responsible for collaboration, ways of working, etc, but they should ultimately report in to the steering group.
The worse solution is to have competing groups of people each implementing conflicting standards, designs and ways to use the digital workplace. That will be a disaster and must be avoided!
Consistency
You really need a consistent level of governance across your digital workplace. By consistent I don’t mean the same. I mean it is what everyone using the digital workplace would expect or need.
For publishers/site owners who are publishing in the digital workplace accredited types of content (policies, factual stuff) the expectation is for a more rigorous approach than for collaborative content where opinions and views require a lighter touch.
For people using the digital workplace to view information and news, use workflow applications or collaborate with each other, they expect the look and feel of the digital workplace to be similar. Tools needs to be branded in line with the business’ colours and designs. Features need to encourages everyone to use them more such as help links, contact points, easily laid out and functional designs.
All the different parts of the digital workplace need to be integrated so they are seen as one whole entity not a different set of silos, resources with some electronic sticking plaster added to make them look as if they are connected when they don’t give that impression to anyone using them.
Standards
One approach is to have a set of standards based on the needs of the organisation (information retention), regulation (who has permission to see what), legal (web accessibility) and technical (DNS policy). These can be applied appropriately across the digital workplace for each activity. So for formal type content (policies and procedures) it’s most likely all the standards will apply. For applications (HR processes) it’s probable that most will apply too. But for collaboration you will apply a lighter touch.
Alternatively you can create standards that only apply to certain information and applications to meet the purpose people need to use it for.
It is about getting the balance right again. You don’t need to be too restrictive and stifle innovation and collaboration. But you don’t want it to be too loose so that the business and individuals risk non-compliance with a legal or regulatory requirements. It’s not easy but getting it right is critical and benefits everyone and the business.
Integrity
This is the real litmus test, the crunch point for me. Do people have confidence in the information and tools they are using in the digital workplace? Does everyone feel encouraged to use the digital workplace more after each time?
The answer has to be ‘YES!’ to these questions. That is the outcome your strategy and plans should aim for.
However you do this it must balance the needs of the business with those of people working well in a digital workplace.
My next post will cover the HR policies which enable digital working.
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