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Creating tomorrow’s workplace means building digital workspaces. Boosting mobility productivity isn’t simply a matter of handing tablets to people as they walk out the office door, it’s about creating digital workspaces for working effectively and securely on the go.

Early mobility efforts focused on managing and securing end physical devices. This creates challenges when business and personal data mix on the same device – whether that device be part of a corporate fleet or a BYOD program.

Today’s mobility solutions focus on offering secure access to applications and business resources, regardless of the end device. This makes it much easier for organisations to protect their data if a device is lost or falls into the wrong hands, avoiding the heavy handed approach of completely wiping the device from afar.

Our general manager of products and services, Peter Ikladios, recently spoke with the Australian Financial Review, about empowering staff to work effectively anywhere at any time using any device. Under the modern approach to mobility, the end device is becoming irrelevant – it’s not about the hardware but rather what users can do with it, Ikladios says.

‘‘It shouldn’t matter whether your people are working on an iPad or a Windows device,’’ he says. ‘‘Nor should it matter whether they’re trying to access internal resources, cloud-based applications or legacy applications. The key is to offer them a consistent unified experience that ensures everything they need is at their fingertips, on any device, which is where a secure workspace portal becomes the cornerstone of your mobility efforts.’’

This approach offers benefits from a work flow perspective, such as establishing an internal app store, and makes it easy for staff to access the tools they need in a secure environment while simplifying software licensing.

A digital workspace can also streamline work flows with single sign-on, which takes much of the friction out the traditional, fragmented approach to mobile productivity.

A secure digital workspace also makes it easier to enforce corporate governance, compliance and granular data protection controls.

A well-rounded, tightly integrated digital workspace helps businesses retain control of their data and crackdown on shadow IT, where users turn to apps and services that lie outside the protected system.

‘‘This can be one of the biggest pain points for businesses which are undergoing a digital transformation,’’ Ikladios says.

‘‘When people start signing up for applications and services themselves, it’s easy to lose track of who is using what, how much you’re paying and how secure your business data really is.’’ Just as most of the features in Microsoft Word go underutilized and unappreciated, many users and organisations also fail to appreciate the breadth of tools offered by suites such as Office 365. This can see them look to external tools that lie outside the digital workspace when the features they require are right under their nose.

Many businesses only take advantage of a single component of Office 365, Ikladios says, but once this kind of suite is integrated into a digital workspace, it is easier to incorporate more of its tools into work flows, such as corporate calendars and planners.

‘‘At the moment, a lot of organisations get overwhelmed by all these technologies and options, which means they struggle to grasp how to use them efficiently and effectively,’’ he says. ‘‘As a result, they only use a fraction of the full potential but, when you’ve invested in these tools, it’s important that you get the maximum value out of them. It’s not just a question of discovering these features, it’s also knowing how to combine them into use cases and work flows that translate into real benefits for the business.’’

Artificial intelligence and automation are set to be key disruptors in this field. For starters, they will offer a smoother onboarding process for new staff, in terms of creating accounts and granting appropriate access to specific resources.

Meanwhile, incorporating autonomous chatbots into digital workspaces lets users call on virtual digital assistants. These chatbots can assist with common day-to-day tasks and complement self-service efforts, such as managing password resets, without the need to call the help desk. This, in turn, provides a flow-on productivity boost by freeing up IT staff to focus on higher-level tasks.

Predictive analytics will take things to the next level, Ikladios says, such as running real-time business-wide analytics to monitor for disruptions and implement predictive maintenance to prevent them from escalating.

‘‘You might have hundreds or even thousands of devices in play across your organisation,’’ Ikladios says. ‘‘The sooner you can pick up on a problem which is impacting a few of them, the sooner you can deal with it to ensure it doesn’t become a business-wide issue. I think predictive intelligence is the next big thing in managing enduser environments, to ensure that digital workspaces are the rock-solid foundation of your business.’’

“It shouldn’t matter whether your people are working on an iPad or a Windows device.”

Shared from the Wed 28 Aug, 2019 – Financial Review Digital Edition