Virtual Organization and Collaboration Software
- [Zaanse Schans, Zaanstad, Netherlands - Michal Soukup]
- Mega Trends for a More Connected Future
The leap from wireless 5G to 6G heralds a giant leap forward, bringing siled entities like homes, cars, and cities into a unified connected living ecosystem.
"Megatrends" expected to significantly shape our future world include: climate change, technological advancement, demographic changes (such as population aging), urbanization, global economic changes, resource scarcity, artificial intelligence, and increasing interconnectedness; essentially , are large-scale forces affecting society in all aspects, including the environment, technology, and population dynamics.
These trends often overlap and influence each other, so it’s critical to consider them comprehensively. Megatrends are large-scale developments that are expected to have significant impacts over an extended period of time. Understanding and preparing for these trends is critical for individuals, businesses and governments to effectively navigate the future.
Some examples of megatrends:
- Climate change: rising global temperatures, extreme weather events, the need for sustainable practices.
- Technological disruption: Rapid advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology.
- Demographic changes: Population aging in developed countries and changes in global birth rates
- Urbanization: Population is increasingly concentrated in cities
- Globalization: the interconnectedness of transnational economies and cultures
- Inequality: The gap between rich and poor is growing
Virtual Organization
A virtual organization is a network of geographically dispersed individuals, teams, or companies that collaborate using digital technology to achieve a common goal, essentially operating without a physical office or central location, relying heavily on virtual communication tools to function as a single unit across different locations; it is a flexible structure that allows for collaboration across diverse teams and time zones, often forming temporary alliances for specific projects.
- Digital Workplace Transformation
Digital workplace transformation is the process of using digital technologies to modernize an organization's work environment and improve efficiency, collaboration, and innovation. It involves more than just implementing new tools, but also reshaping how work is done, including procedures, processes, and workplace culture.
For a modern organization to be successful, it must transform into a digital workplace with the ability to conduct business from anywhere, anytime and with anyone. That means businesses must provide employees (or team members) with the technologies that allow them to stay connected to colleagues and customers while being productive, even while working remotely.
- Using Technologies for A Digital Workplace
Global organizations are tasked with an increased need to create a work environment that seamlessly includes both remote workers and office-based staff. In today’s global marketplace, organizations are using remote offices that unite employees (or team members) across continents, including those who live in time-zones that are different from their main office.
While the best method of accomplishing group projects is often thought to be through direct, in-person environments, this is not a viable option for most international organizations. That’s why finding reliable ways to use technology to bring remote offices together is an essential tool for today’s organizations.
- Digital Workplace and Supporting Digital Tools
With a digital workplace, employees (or team members) get access to a complete set of digital tools that they can use to manage and execute their everyday work. It is a unified platform that integrates all the core business applications and in turn, it helps employees (or team members) communicate and collaborate in a better way. It is also able to imbibe a strong sense of work culture and community in organizations as leaders are forced to take into account the latest workplace demands, variables, and trends.
Digital workplace technologies are tools and platforms that enable employees to work remotely and collaborate with each other. Some examples of digital workplace technologies include:
- Communication tools: Email, instant messaging, and employee communication apps
- Collaboration tools: Google Docs, Quip, Slack, MS Teams, Yammer, and Jive
- Project management tools: Jira, Asana, and Trello
- Video conferencing tools: Zoom, Go2Meeting, Citrix, and Microsoft
- Cloud storage: Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive
- Virtual assistants: Can answer questions, find information, and schedule meetings
- Security tools: Protect against cyberattacks
- Analytics tools: Turn data into actionable insights
- RPA: Automates repetitive tasks like data entry and invoice processing
- Workflow automation: Integrates systems and tools to make it easier to share data
When used effectively, digital workplace technologies can improve employee experience, productivity, and work life quality. They can also help businesses increase revenue, accelerate innovation, and enhance security and compliance.
- The Digital Workplace Platform
The digital workplace priorities for your organization will depend on your digital needs and employee (team member) requirements. The digital workplace platform that you choose for your company should be able to fulfill all your requirements and close any digital gaps. In addition, all employees (or team members) - remote workers especially - must follow key cybersecurity guidelines.
- Collaboration
Collaboration is critical to the success of a organization, A digital workplace should make it easier for the employees (or team members) to work and communicate with each other regardless of their location or the device that they are using. Collaboration should include both formal and informal communication including blogs, documents, and team channels.
Collaboration Tools To Support Virtual Projects
- The Broadband Internet Connections and The Tools
A virtual team member needs to have the means to work effectively in a virtual project. Broadband Internet (Wi-Fi) connections, the cloud, virtual private network (VPN), phones with conferencing ability, online web meeting spaces, a global time clock (if the team is global), regularly backing up information, and mobile computers are some of the requirements. Modern online communication systems allow you to see if someone is “online” or not, or in a meeting (which can guide you as to whether to chat using an instant messaging tool). In the same manner as you ensure your team members software is compatible (particularly if they work for different organizations), the project manager needs to ensure the team members are trained in and have a comfort using such technologies.
It’s amazing to see how virtual project management and online collaboration tools have grown over time. As the ability to network across towns, states, and even continents has increased, so too has the need for reliable software programs that can aid in large-scale project management. Even more important than just sharing documents among project team members is the need to solicit and keep track of feedback on the project. Gone are the days of circulating a hard-copy of a draft and getting back with sticky notes and annotations requesting changes or additions.
- The Cloud
Employees (or team members) need virtual access to the same information and tools they’d be able to access in a physical office. According to a report, employees (or team members) spend over 20 percent of their time to find the information that they need in order to get their work done. The way how organizations manage and store their content can impact the overall efficiency of the employees in a big way.
Digital workplaces should be able to store business data securely, but at the same time, the data should be easily searchable so that the employees don’t have to spend hours to track a single file. It should have powerful search and filter capabilities to track and manage data seamlessly.
The solution here is the cloud, which hosts files, data and applications within a centralized server and makes them accessible from any device with connectivity. This means employees can work from anywhere on company-issued mobile devices or on their own devices.
- Virtual Project Management
Virtual project management allows you to eliminate most on-site office expenses, such as office space rentals, commuting costs, and equipment costs to run your operations. This cost efficiency does not change the structure of your business but allows you to shift resources to other core activities.
Remote working is very common, and it has become a necessity for many reasons. No matter where the best talent resides, it has its advantages. It contributes to the profitability of the organization. Sometimes, natural disasters disrupt the normal flow of work.
Whatever the reason, virtual project management brings its own set of challenges that add to the already daunting task of project management. There are traditional protocols for allocating tasks, managing resources, tracking progress, and updating stakeholders, but not when they are in different regions or foreign countries.
Virtual project management is the process of managing projects through remote or virtual teams. When teams are spread across different time zones, they still need to be assigned tasks, and work must be monitored and tracked to ensure it's progressing as planned. As more teams work from home, virtual project management becomes even more clear.
While the basics remain the same, such as the life cycle of a project and the various disciplines that control every aspect of the project, there are differences. And it's a big deal. These managed teams are not in one place, but scattered in the four corners of the world. Not having physical contact with the team creates new obstacles that case managers must overcome.
Virtual teams are not going away. They are growing, and case managers must not become complacent and assume that the old rules still apply. Things are changing, and project managers must change with them and bring their project management into the digital age.
Thankfully, project management tools have been moving from analog to digital for some time, and with that shift comes efficiency and productivity improvements. So the move to virtual project management may seem like a giant leap at first glance.
[More to come ...]
