Business continuity planning has been a crucial aspect of business success considering how unprecedented disruptions can have a significant impact on any organization’s operations, reputation, and bottom line. 

Let’s pin down some reasons that make business continuity planning a must for your organization in today’s digital age.

1. Dependence on technology

Today, businesses rely heavily on technology for their day-to-day operations. Any disruption, whether caused by a cyber-attack, natural disaster, or system failure, can result in significant downtime, loss of data, and revenue. Business continuity planning ensures the organization can quickly recover from such incidents and function without severe consequences.

2. Reputation risk

With social media and instant communication, news travels fast. Any prolonged outage, breach, or data loss can create negative publicity and damage the organization’s reputation. A robust continuity plan helps mitigate these risks and ensures the organization can maintain its operations and reputation during crises.

3. Compliance requirements

In many industries, regulatory compliance requires businesses to have a robust business continuity plan. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in financial penalties or legal action.

4. Consumer expectations

Consumers expect businesses to be available 24/7 and provide uninterrupted services. A lack of preparedness can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction and, ultimately, a loss of customers. Business continuity planning ensures the organization can meet its consumers’ expectations, even during a crisis.

As business continuity planning becomes the cornerstone of business success, implementing cost-effective solutions is imperative to help your organization navigate the inherently risky digital landscape and continue to operate smoothly. Read on further to learn how InfinCE is a reliable, cost-effective backup solution for business continuity.

Read more: The Best Ways to Improve Your Digital Workplace Management.

InfinCE- The much-touted backup solution for businesses of all sizes

InfinCE is committed to ensuring the highest levels of data privacy and security. With a robust private IT infrastructure, InfinCE supports multi-factor authentication and a comprehensive, continuous monitoring model to keep data secure and protected from threats. As an independent server, unlike Microsoft Teams or Google Workplace, InfinCE is less prone to public attacks or breaches, acting as a perfect backup solution for your current digital workplace. 

Here is a glimpse of InfinCE’s features focusing on data privacy and security, enabling reliable backup for business continuity.

1. Private IT Infrastucture: When your business runs on private cloud infrastructure, you need not worry about servers being down or your data being stolen. No matter what happens around you, you can easily set up and run your business from anywhere, maintaining service continuity and customer satisfaction every time. InfinCE private cloud solution is purpose-built to enable seamless IT operations, business continuity, and future-proof your business.

2. Secure Access Management: Identity and access management tools that provide secure access to data and applications. InfinCE supports multi-factor authentication, permission-based access controls and authorization, and password policies, among others, to ensure secure access to data. 

3. Data Encryption: InfinCE’s data encryption ensures that all the data is encrypted in transit and storage, offering an extra layer of protection. 

4. Secure Collaboration: InfinCE provides secure collaboration tools that enable teams to collaborate while maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of data.

5. Threat Detection: InfinCE’s security features offer real-time threat detection to identify and prevent attacks before they occur.

6. Access Control: InfinCE provides fine-grained access control that allows companies to set the level of data access their employees have based on their roles and responsibilities.

7. Client Confidentiality: InfinCE prioritizes client confidentiality by implementing privacy laws, security protocols, and dedicated confidentiality clauses in contracts.

8. Centralized IT Management: The biggest challenge organizations face today is to keep up with the rising work culture shifts. InfinCE’s centralized IT management feature makes it convenient to proactively manage IT assets from anywhere, making operations streamlined in remote, hybrid, and work from the office environments. 

When business continuity is your priority, InfinCE is a #NO.1 choice! Although there might still be hesitations implementing such a platform as normally similar software either cost you high or have a complex setup process. But with InfinCE, none is the case. It is easy to set up, simple to use, and cost-effective.  

Let’s learn how easy and fast it is to set up your digital workplace backup solution with InfinCE!

Step-by-step guide on implementing InfinCE as your digital workplace backup solution

1. Conduct a thorough business needs analysis: Before implementing any digital workplace platform, it is important to identify your organization’s needs and pick a platform that suits your business case. 
2. Analyze competitors and choose the right platform: Research and compare different digital workplace platforms available in the market and choose the one that best suits your organizational needs. Consider factors such as ease of use, must-have features, pricing, and scalability.
3. Zero in on the right platform: If you have zeroed in on InfinCE owing to its unique and competitive pricing, sign up for an InfinCE account.
4. Customize the platform: Now that you can choose the features you need with InfinCE, customize it to suit your organization’s specific needs. This includes configuring settings such as branding, user roles, and permissions.
5. Migrate your existing data: Migrate your data from your current system to InfinCE. This includes documents, files, contacts, and other crucial business information.
6. Train your team: InfinCE’s ease of use comes in handy, and given that it is built with great intuitiveness, you can set it up and have your users learn it on the go.

Ensure your team is engaged with the platform by encouraging them to use the key features and providing ongoing support.

InfinCE’s solution is well-positioned to tackle the challenges of today’s dynamic digital business landscape. 

But if you are still reluctant to try InfinCe and are concerned about its pricing, then worry not. InfinCE is more affordable than your Netflix subscription!

Read more: The Benefits of InfinCE’s Unique Pricing Model for Digital Workplace Platforms.

InfinCE’s pricing structure is its USP

A cloud-based digital workplace that offers small and medium-sized businesses a comprehensive solution to improve their employee productivity and streamline their business processes, comes with a suite of enterprise-grade tools such as project management, document management, team collaboration, and automation tools that can be accessed from anywhere, anytime, and from any device. 

What sets InfinCE apart is its unique pricing model. Unlike other cloud-based industry solutions that require users to pay a flat monthly subscription, InfinCE’s competitive market pricing offers lower subscription rates and license costs that require users to pay only for the features they intend to use. This precludes users from the need to pay for a bulk of unnecessary features that serve no purpose in the wake of changing business needs. Customization options to choose what to pay for makes InfinCE a reliable and scalable partner for your digital workplace journey. Not just that, it also doubles up as an affordable backup option, particularly for businesses that may not have the budget to pay for expensive software licenses.

InfinCE’s unique pricing model and data and privacy features are sure-shot reasons why you consider it an appropriate backup option for your business. InfinCE’s solution cuts because of many benefits from a competitive pricing slab. Test drive InfinCE today, or connect with our experts for more details. 

Introduction

Are you struggling to retain top talent in your organization? You’re not alone. Resignations are rising, with many employees citing a lack of career growth and work-life balance as key factors in their decision to leave.

Since the great resignation In 2021, employees have started leaving their jobs at record rates. In September 2021 alone, 4.4 million people quit their jobs – a record high. This has shifted the focus of the organization to employee experience & retention.

In fact, According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, there has been an increase in employee dissatisfaction and resignations in recent years. 22% of employees who have left a job cited company culture as a key reason for leaving.

But what if there was a way to improve employee satisfaction and retention while increasing efficiency and productivity?

Enter the modern intranet and digital workplace!

The shift towards remote work has been a major driving force behind the adoption of modern intranets in recent years. One area that has seen significant growth due to the shift towards remote work is adopting remote workplace tools and employee intranet software.

A modern intranet and digital workplace can help control various workplace situations by providing centralized communication, collaboration, and access to information. This can help:

1. Streamline communication: Everyone is kept informed and up-to-date by having a centralized platform for all internal communication.
2. Increase collaboration: Teams can collaborate more effectively by sharing real-time documents, tasks, and ideas.
3. Improve efficiency: Automated processes and access to information from anywhere help employees make decisions faster and reduce downtime.
4. Foster a sense of community: A digital workplace provides a space for employees to connect, share ideas, and collaborate, promoting a sense of belonging and engagement.

A digital workplace and a modern intranet can help organizations improve productivity, reduce confusion and errors, and promote a positive work culture.

Read more: Is Remote Work Culture Hindering Your Company Productivity & Growth?

Disengaged Employees Impair the Advancement of Digital Workspaces

Dissatisfaction among employees can hold back from uncovering the full potential of work. A recent study by Gartner showed that nearly 60% of organizations believe that improving the employee experience is a top priority. When it’s highly impacted, it can lead to high turnover rates and a constant need to hire and train new employees. This can be costly and time-consuming, and it can also disrupt team cohesion and productivity. Various factors that lead to employee dissatisfaction at work:

• Work culture shift frustrations: Rapid changes in work culture and technology can confuse and overwhelm employees.
• Collaboration difficulties: With remote work becoming the norm, it can be challenging for teams to collaborate effectively and stay on the same page.
• Low transparency and limited access to data: Employees can feel disconnected and in the dark about key decisions and developments within the company without proper access to information.
• Not feeling valued: A lack of recognition and appreciation can lead to a demotivated and disengaged workforce.
• Lack of learning and development opportunities: Without access to training and development programs, employees may feel stuck in their careers and unable to grow and advance.

How does a modern intranet help tackle these issues?

A modern intranet can help tackle the issues contributing to employee dissatisfaction in several ways:

1. Improving Communication and Collaboration

A modern intranet provides a centralized platform for teams to communicate and collaborate effectively, regardless of location. Employees can stay connected and work together in real time with features like instant messaging, team chat rooms, and document collaboration tools. This helps to overcome the difficulties of remote work and improves overall collaboration.

2. Increasing Transparency and Access to Data

A modern intranet provides a single source of truth for all internal information and data. This can include company news, policy updates, project progress, and more. A employee intranet software can increase transparency and reduce confusion by giving employees access to this information. This can also help improve decision-making by giving employees access to the data they need to do their jobs effectively.

3. Providing Opportunities for Recognition and Appreciation

A employee intranet software can provide a platform for recognizing and rewarding employees for their contributions. With features like employee profiles, achievement recognition, and peer-to-peer recognition programs, employees can feel valued and appreciated for their work. This can help foster a more positive work culture and improve employee morale.

4. Access to Learning and Development Resources

A employee intranet software can provide employees access to training and development programs, promoting career growth and development. This can include online courses, webinars, and other resources that employees can access at their own pace. By providing these opportunities, a modern intranet can help employees feel like they are continuously learning and growing in their careers, reducing frustration and dissatisfaction.

A  employee intranet software can help tackle the issues contributing to employee dissatisfaction by improving communication, collaboration, transparency, recognition, and access to learning and development resources. This can help organizations create a more positive and engaged workforce, improving productivity and success.

Read more: What is a Digital Workplace: A Complete Guide!

Choosing the Right Modern Intranet: Understanding the Differences and Key Features

A modern intranet is a digital workplace platform that provides centralized communication, collaboration, and access to information for an organization. It is designed to help employees stay connected, informed, and productive, regardless of location or device.

A traditional intranet, on the other hand, is often limited to simple file sharing and basic communication tools. It may not be designed for mobile use or include features like social collaboration, gamification, and personalized experiences.

When choosing a employee intranet software for your company, some key features to look for include:

1. Mobile-responsive design: The ability to access the intranet from any device, anywhere, at any time.
2. Collaboration tools: Features like instant messaging, team chat rooms, and document collaboration to help teams work together effectively.
3. Personalization: Employees can customize their intranet experience based on their roles, interests, and preferences.
4. Social features: The ability to share information, connect with colleagues and recognize and reward employee contributions.
5. Integrations: The ability to integrate with other tools and systems, such as HR systems, project management tools, and more.
6. Analytics and reporting: The ability to track usage and engagement, measure the impact of intranet initiatives, and make data-driven decisions.
7. User-friendly interface: A modern intranet should be easy to use and navigate, with a simple and intuitive design.

By considering these key features, you can ensure that you choose a modern intranet that meets your organization’s needs and supports a positive and productive work culture.

Conclusion

A modern intranet is a powerful tool for organizations to engage their workforce, drive collaboration, and improve operational efficiency. With the rise of remote work and the need for innovative solutions, upgrading your traditional intranet to a modern, collaborative platform that supports your employees and aligns with your organizational goals is essential.

InfinCE provides a comprehensive, modern intranet solution to support employee engagement, regardless of where they work. With features such as shareable dashboards, blogs, wikis, communication apps, and productivity tools, InfinCE is designed to transform employee communications across your organization. Whether your employees work together in-person or remotely, InfinCE ensures seamless communication, connection, and engagement, leading to better collaboration, productivity, and success for your organization.

Connect with our experts today or Request a Free Demo!

Productivity leakage is a concern when it comes to remote work.

There’s still a debate on whether to work from home or the office. And to settle this debate, we focus on the productivity levels in each working environment. Productivity can only be measured with the amount of outcome generated by the employee.

It’s a common notion that employees are distracted or less productive when working remotely. A leader constantly worries about deadlines, deliverables, team relationships, employee creative levels, and upscaling employee skills that contribute to the company’s goals. However, a survey conducted by Work Trends Study states 87% of employees say they’re more productive when working remotely or in a hybrid setup. 

But employees, on the other hand, might feel a communication gap and lack motivation when working remotely. Employers must ensure a connected workplace with effective and regular communication, feedback, and employee training. Focusing on these factors alone can help companies tackle the challenges of shifting work culture.

With remote work culture growing, particularly given recent trends with companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and SalesForce all announcing new policies for unlimited working from home, it is crucial to stop and see how this change in dynamics might impact the culture at your company. These nearly invisible changes directly impact employees’ happiness, yet data and analytics are lacking to see how remote and hybrid working impacts things.

Regarding productivity, managers who track it down on baseless metrics like working hours, putting a tracker system, and following up every hour, jinx the work culture. In this blog, let’s try to understand how remote work culture directly impacts productivity, internal relationships, creativity, and collaboration and if it is the future of work!

How is remote work culture impacting work productivity?

While working remotely may increase productivity, decrease stress, eliminate real-estate costs, and lower greenhouse emissions, it may cause several workplace problems. Remote work can hurt a company’s culture in several ways; a lack of social interaction may cause workplace relationships to suffer. For those individuals who strongly prefer working in-person, remote work culture’s de-engagement effects can be as severe as 17% lower productivity to 24% higher turnover.

We covered quite a bit of ground on building good communications and developing a positive corporate culture while working with distributed or remote teams. Developing company culture is not simply done for its own sake; it significantly impacts employee retention, satisfaction, and performance.

You need to understand that long-lasting remote working culture impacts how you are perceived by employees and customers, which will eventually define the success or development of the company. But considering the upside of having a remote work culture, especially the cost advantages, it is not smart to completely turn down this culture shift. The only way to still embrace this shift is by ensuring healthy employer-employee or company-staff relationships. And with technological advances today, nothing is impossible!

Read more: How to Keep Your Remote Teams Connected

How can a digital workplace platform help maintain productivity in remote work culture?

There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to rethink the way they operate. For many, this has meant implementing remote work policies for the first time.
While working remotely has many benefits, some challenges also need to be addressed to ensure that productivity levels are maintained.

One way to do this is by using a digital workplace platform. This platform can help facilitate communication and collaboration between team members and help set and track goals.

It can be tough to cultivate a remote work team culture, but it’s worth it. Here are a few tips to help get you started.

1. Defining team culture in a remote work setting

The best way to create a team culture in a remote work setting is to start with the team’s goals and values. Define what the team wants to achieve and how they want to work together. Once these are established, everyone on the team should be on the same page and understand the culture that is being created. It’s important to be clear about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior and have a set of guidelines that everyone can refer to. This will help ensure that the team culture is maintained and everyone is working towards the same goal.

No one can work in a vacuum. To be productive, people need to feel part of a team. A remote work setting can be a challenge when it comes to creating a team culture.

Here are a few tips to help you get started.

• Define your team’s values and culture: What are the things that are important to your team? What are your core values? Defining your values and culture will help you to create a common understanding among your team members. It will also help you to make decisions when it comes to things like hiring and firing.
• Establish rules and guidelines: To ensure everyone is on the same page, it’s important to establish some rules and guidelines. These can include how often team members should communicate, what type of communication is acceptable, and how to handle conflict.
• Encourage team bonding: Even though team members may be working remotely, it’s important to find ways to encourage team bonding. This can be done through team-building exercises, social media groups, or video chats.
• Celebrate successes: When your team achieves something great, take the time to celebrate! This can be done through team emails, social media posts, or even a team video call.
• Be transparent: When things go wrong, it’s important to be transparent with your team. This includes being honest about why something went wrong, what is being done to fix it, and what the consequences will be. Creating a strong team culture in a remote work setting can be challenging, but it’s definitely worth the effort. By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating a team that is productive and happy.

2. Managing conflict in a remote work team culture

To manage conflict in a remote work team culture, it is important to understand the dynamics of the team and the culture in which it operates. Effective conflict management involves understanding the triggers for conflict, the communication channels available, and the team’s culture.

In a remote team, there may be a higher chance of misunderstandings due to the lack of communication or facial expressions. This can be exacerbated when team members are from different cultures. It is important to be aware of the potential triggers for conflict and to have effective communication channels in place.

When managing conflict in a remote team culture, it is important to be aware of cultural norms and expectations. In some cultures, it is acceptable to be more direct in communication, while in others, it is considered rude. It is important to be aware of these differences and to adjust communication styles as needed.

By understanding the dynamics of the team and the culture in which it operates, you can better manage conflict in a remote work team.

3. Encouraging team productivity in a remote work setting

To encourage productivity in a remote work setting, setting up some ground rules and expectations for team members is important. This includes clearly defined working hours, communication methods, and expectations for quality and output. It is also important to foster a positive team environment where team members are supportive of one another and are willing to help out when needed. By establishing a productive remote work environment, team members are more likely to be productive and meet deadlines.

Read more: Modernize and Simplify Your HR processes with a Digital Workplace Platform

How InfinCE makes an apt Digital workplace platform

InfinCE allows you to feel more in control of your data and your work-giving you a greater sense of mastery and purpose. It also helps you feel more connected to your team and organization, fostering a sense of community and collaboration matters.

InfinCE: Interactive, Data-Rich Dashboards to Boost Engagement

As an HR professional, you know that employee engagement is essential to organizational success. But what’s the best way to promote engagement within your organization?

One effective way is to use modern dashboard software to create custom dashboards for employees. By doing so, you can ensure that employees have the information they need to stay aligned with organizational goals.

Not only will this help to promote employee engagement, but it will also help to improve communication and collaboration within your organization. So if you’re looking for a way to boost employee engagement, consider using modern dashboard software to create custom dashboards for employees.

A Comprehensive Employee Directory

Looking for the contact information for your entire employee base? Look no further than the InfinCE comprehensive employee directory. This easy-to-use tool provides all the information you need to connect with your employees, no matter where they work. With multiple modes of collaboration available – live chat, one-on-one video calls, and meetings – your employees will stay connected and productive, even when working remotely.

More Productivity tools with InfinCE

Enhance your organization’s credibility with business emails. Store captured business data on documents, presentations, or spreadsheets in a private drive and ensured selective access through permissions and controls. Create events on InfinCE’s calendar, track tasks, and enhance your workforce efficiency easily!

Conclusion 

Various stats have proved that remote work culture has contributed to productivity but, at the same time, has also increased work stress for employees. However, the advent of remote working tools has helped embrace the work culture shifts and continues to enable the company to empower the upside of remote work culture! 

InfinCE, a powerful digital workplace platform, can help your company improve communication and collaboration and maintain transparency to embrace the remote work culture. It’s easy to use and can be customized to meet your needs. Start a free 30-day trial today and see how it helps your company!

Remote work is taking a front seat, and companies need to shift from traditional workplace norms to an on-demand workforce that is changing the business world completely. To make this shift, companies need a digital workplace solution. These integrated and intelligent remote work platforms provide exciting new ways to increase employee engagement, optimize costs, and create an agile workforce. 

What is a digital workplace? On the face of it, a digital workplace may seem like a virtualized proxy of the in-person office space, but in today’s competitive and technology-enabled world, it needs to do so much more.

A digital workplace platform offers cloud-native technologies that improve the company’s bottom line and lead to better team collaboration. It also leverages digital tools that help companies achieve scale while reducing costs. 

Deloitte describes the digital workplace as encompassing “all the tools and technologies people need to get their work done in today’s workplace – both in operation and the ones to be implemented.” Deloitte’s report outlines one characteristic that makes a great digital workplace solution. A good digital workplace platform connects the employee experience with business outcomes.  

Read more: Why Does Employee Well-being Matter in a Hybrid Work Model?

Why Your Company Needs a Digital Workplace Solution

Digital workplace solutions give companies a competitive advantage by making them agile, flexible, and providing them with a centralized management view. In the shift to a remote work culture that is now the new normal, companies need to go beyond generic tools for remote work. Instead, they need to look at a digital workplace solution that integrates processes and leverages digital technologies to help companies improve their profits. There are many reasons why your company must rely on a digital workplace solution.

• Provides real-time collaboration and productivity tools: Productivity and collaboration tools are crucial for remote and hybrid work. Productivity tools like smart email management tools, collaboration channels, and task management apps can help companies complete more work in less time and strategically plan their workloads and business strategies.   
• Improves employee experience: Digital workplace solutions put employees at the center of their design, making team members feel engaged even though they work remotely.  
• Offers unified custom dashboards: A good digital workplace solution provides tools like interactive, data-rich dashboards that give a unified view of all the end-to-end processes. 
• Reduces costs and drives profitability: Digital workplace solutions reduce organizational and management costs. They can increase productivity, which impacts the bottom line. This survey by Gartner reveals a 44% rise in employee productivity. Thanks to collaboration tools. 
• Promises transparency and data security: With their business dashboards that provide an additional layer of data security, digital workplaces offer better transparency and prevent data theft.  
• Drives innovation and scalability: Digital workplace technologies will drive innovation by enabling companies to hire from around the world. They will also help companies scale and increase productivity due to their feature-rich collaboration tools. 

Read more: How to Keep Your Remote Teams Connected

The Best Ways to Improve Your Digital Workplace Management

In the aftermath of the pandemic, remote work is the new reality of an on-demand workforce. A company can have many productivity and collaboration apps but without a digital workplace management strategy and platform to unify them all, there can be information and collaboration overload.  

Here’s how you can improve your digital workplace management.

• Prioritize a single pane of glass view: Digital workplace management brings this unified view of the entire company’s workflows. A central point of control is important. With it, you can leverage advanced levels of automation to make collaboration better and faster. Unified dashboards lead to faster workflows and greater scale.
• Aim for seamless integration: Digital workplace solutions are invaluable only if they are completely integrated into the company’s overall business processes. Digital workplace management helps companies achieve this single point of integration.
• Choose smarter data analytics: To improve your digital workplace management, focus on actionable data and people analytics. Intelligent collaboration tools can give you real-time updates about projects and employee performance. It is not just important to have data but to mine and utilize it immediately. Use custom dashboards to track performances and processes. These dashboards can also give you immediate access to company-wide data from APIs, apps, and CSV files.
• Look for personalized digital solutions: Choose digital workplace solutions that suit your company and its specific requirements. This is where digital orchestration platforms come in. They blend into your company’s existing workflow and optimize it instead of disrupting processes. A digital orchestration platform helps you integrate software and solutions from various SaaS vendors to manage and scale your digital workplace.
• Pick the right tools: Choose digital workplace tools that drive higher rates of automation and collaboration. Digital workplace solutions should be designed to drive end-user adoption, leading to an agile digital workplace. Look for rich interactive collaboration tools like live chats, multiple screen sharing, breakout rooms, and shareable meeting links. Go with productivity apps with excellent project management capabilities and tools to track performance and tasks. 
• Give importance to the employee experience: Employee experience is central to the success of your digital platform. Opt for voice and video calls to build stronger workplace connections so that employees don’t miss face-to-face interactions. Employees value flexibility in remote work and tools like live chats, collaboration channels, and intranet platforms that keep social interactions alive. 
• Choose a centralized IT management: When your company runs multiple applications and has to juggle between many sign-on, work becomes tedious and difficult to manage. With a single sign-on and an efficient third-party tool integration, centralized IT management unifies all of the enterprise’s applications and workflows. It also increases business transparency. 

With the rise of remote work, sustaining a distributed workforce and empowering it with a solid digital workplace management solution is important. InfinCE integrates online and offline communications by providing all-time access from anywhere in the world. While most digital workplace tools offer a variety of tools, some of them like InfinCE, are purpose-built to provide unified reporting of company workflows and targets. InfinCE also provides companies with excellent data accessibility and multiple modes of effective collaboration. Its features include customizable dashboards built to mine data and generate metrics. Want to create powerful and profitable digital workplaces that help you race ahead of the competition?

Schedule an InfinCE demo today or talk to our experts!

Today’s workforce is witnessing a massive shift in culture. The pandemic disrupted the workforce in every way. We may be inching back to normalcy, but many companies still work remotely, and remote work seems to become a permanent fixture. It also has benefits, including giving companies access to talent pools across locations.  

This Gartner report published in 2022 finds that a company will risk losing up to 39% of its workforce if it returns to a full on-site arrangement. Even an office setting involves collaboration and communication with employees from other time zones and office locations. The hybrid work culture has led employees to witness better physical and mental well-being, indicating that companies need to evolve with the changing workforce and embrace this new reality.   

This increases the need for a new work model that values employee connection, team building, and collaboration. The role of a manager is changing too. Managers should invest in the right tools and team workflow technologies to ensure teams are connected, whether remote or hybrid. Collaborative notes, shared documents, and tools to monitor response times and communication standards will ensure that all team members are on the same page. Companies should focus on consistent communication and a purposeful agenda to make the best of hybrid and remote work cultures.  

With all its advantages, managing a remote workforce is not easy. According to this Harvard survey, remote workers often feel lonely and disconnected. This proves that keeping remote workers connected is more important than ever. Companies must use employee experience software and digital workplace solutions to keep their remote workforce invested in the work. Here are some ways in which you can keep remote teams connected. 

Read more: 6 Ways to Improve Engagement of Your Digital Employees

1. Use the Right Communication Tools

Streamlined communication is the key to keeping remote workers connected. In fact, ineffective communication can negatively impact your productivity and team morale. Most teams face problems when they choose the wrong messaging apps to solve complex problems. When handling high-priority projects, for example, teams must use apps that give complete information exchanges and team interactions. Companies should not leave employees struggling with perception and communication gaps. Look for digital workplace solutions that offer multiple communication tools to meet different requirements, all in a unified platform. 

Channel selection also plays a role in effective team communication. Companies should use high-bandwidth and synchronous, face-to-face channels like video conferencing for complex projects, tasks, and exchanges. Similarly, they can use low-bandwidth and asynchronous channels like email or apps for simple and linear tasks and interactions. 

Another crucial piece of the puzzle regarding communication among remote team members is the need for a comprehensive workplace chat app. This is different from virtual meetings and video interactions or calls.  

2. Invest in the Best Collaboration Tools

A common problem in a remotely functioning team is that when using different collaboration apps like Zoom, Slack, Google Hangouts, and Spreadsheets, switching between multiple apps becomes a huge problem. Look for a digital workplace solution that integrates different apps under one roof. 

Before companies onboard remote teams, they must choose and implement collaboration tools like video conferencing, meeting rooms, and group chats to ensure that team members can communicate instantly.  

Collaboration tools include everything from apps and video-sharing technologies to programs that let employees revise documents, share interactive presentations, and brainstorm together in real time. InfinCE, for example, ensures that companies can bring partners and clients on board for a video conference or online meeting without downloading the app and even has features like simultaneous document editing. Such features are designed specifically for remote or hybrid teams and to improve productivity significantly. 

Besides enhancing the workflow, collaboration apps capture a lot of data and insights from projects and tasks, which can be used in the future. Companies should choose digital workplace solutions that support custom app integrations to meet specific needs. For example, developers and project managers who are collaborating remotely on a project rely on cloud-based tools with task-management capabilities. This means that they need tools that let their team members merge changes, schedule meetings, update events, check member availability, coordinate better, and reduce planning time.  

Read more: 5 Tips to Improve Remote Collaboration

3. Opt for Intuitive and Visual Dashboards

Dashboards are superb information management tools that enable visual facilitation. Visual tools are great ways to help employees focus, get involved, and access information on demand. Dashboards are also great analytics tools to generate reports to drive business decisions.

A centralized dashboard is essential for collecting data from multiple sources and providing a unified workflow view. It also keeps employees engaged by sharing a snapshot of the team’s projects or the company’s performance. Dashboards are also useful for organizational communication. Senior management can set objectives that can be broken down into action items, and these actionable tasks can be attributed to overall company goals and metrics. Apart from being an excellent organizational tool, this dashboard feature makes employees feel invested in the company’s growth, and they can track the company’s achievement milestones in conjunction with their own projects and efforts. 

Some digital workplace solutions also offer dashboard tiles that further customize the dashboard experience and strengthen communication, especially with application tiles that help to visualize business data on the dashboard.

4. Use Productivity Apps and Management Tools 

Remote team workers can stay connected with the right project management tools and productivity apps. The right productivity apps are built to be intuitive and to improve the employee experience. They keep teams and projects connected and synchronized. Productivity apps also track performance and enable professional growth across the team. You can also choose productivity tools and project management software that automate workflows and save valuable time.

There are multiple productivity apps but pick a digital workplace solution that can integrate all the productivity apps of your choice. Employee disengagement is a silent killer in the remote workplace, and having an integrated remote work platform will ensure that all team members are focused on the work and believe in the team. 

There are so many other factors that keep remote teams connected. It is important to implement a good remote onboarding program. InfinCE’s collaboration platform, for instance, makes it easy for managers and administrators to onboard employees quickly, instantly assign new job roles, and address personal employee needs. Data security is another matter of concern. Opt for apps that let you share files securely and a digital workplace solution that enables you to run your enterprise on a secure private cloud location. 

According to Gartner, organizations will be forced to adopt digital solutions to support remote and hybrid work, an investment that will drive business growth like never before. Companies that don’t adapt could slip out of the race.
InfinCE offers future-proof digital workplace solutions that truly lead to cross-functional collaborations, exemplary teams, and high-value business outcomes. Book a demo today to set your company on the path to digital transformation.

The pandemic caused remote and hybrid work cultures to become the new modes of work. When workplaces shifted to homes, it compelled many companies to adopt digital workplace solutions to enable their employees across diverse geographies and time zones to stay connected. But why are connected workplaces increasingly becoming the need of the hour for businesses today? Why are companies striving to prepare for the future direction of the workplace?

Connectivity offers flexibility to workplaces, and employees tend to be more engaged at work when they can choose how they spend time at work. Remote work allows employees to work from the comfort of their rooms, thus letting them save the time required for daily commutes to the office. 

Read more: How a Unified Environment Promotes a Successful Digital Workplace

So, what is a connected workplace?

A connected place is essentially an integrated, secure network of tools and systems that brings together personnel, information assets, and business services on a single, centralized platform to improve efficiency and productivity. Powered by cloud technologies, a connected workplace is equipped with all the aspects you require to manage the services of your business to the employees and customers alike. Connecting with employees at the workplace is vital for sustained business growth. 

Benefits of connected workplaces

Connected workplaces bring a host of benefits to the table, a few of which are:

1. Inculcate a sense of belongingness among employees, which gives rise to good employee experiences, leading to good customer experiences.
2. Carrying out all tasks on a single platform gives transparency to employee activities, easing collaboration across all departments.
3. The progress of every task can be tracked, which would help in their timely completion.
4. Enable seamless internal communication among all departments.

Connected workplaces help increase cooperation among employees. Your employees can connect with team members, their work, company goals, and work culture. Thanks to the smart tools on a connected digital workplace platform. Hence, keeping your geographically dispersed teams connected at work is important to meet organizational objectives and attain sustained business growth. 

Here are 12 ways to keep your workplace more connected,

1. Make sure you know your employees personally
2. Allow a free flow of information to one and all
3. Focus on employee engagement
4. Integrate collaborative software suites with the digital platforms
5. Ensure your onboarding process is hassle-free
6. Conduct online surveys and opinion polls among employees
7. Set up a peer mentoring program
8. Recognize the voice of your employees
9. Nurture communities of practice
10. Encourage employees to connect on an intranet   
11. Set up an employee directory
12. Plan virtual social events to build a rapport among team members  

1. Make sure you know your employees personally

The managers and HR executives must make sure that they connect well with the employees to create a sense of belongingness in their minds. Several companies make it a point to send a gift to their employees on their birthdays. Such gestures would give the message that employees are important to the company.

2. Allow a free flow of information to one and all

The information must freely flow from top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer while working from home. The multi-directional flow of information required for your day-to-day business operations calls for connecting to digital workplace platforms. Content should be well documented and made accessible to one and all through intranet and other tools for communication available on your digital platform. Employees must have the liberty to ask questions and offer feedback to their superiors as and when required. The free flow of information is an important factor in determining how to stay connected with teams while working remotely.  

3. Focus on employee engagement 

To increase productivity, your employees need to feel enthusiastic and involved in what they do. Lack of enthusiasm might lead to lesser productivity. Being connected on digital workplace platforms renders transparency to work. Tracking and reporting tools like custom dashboards display the progress of tasks and motivate people to work hard. 

4. Integrate collaborative software suites with the digital platforms

A digital platform integrated with collaborative suites like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other collaborative tools helps employees stay connected and join hands with team members to realize organizational goals. 

5. Ensure your onboarding process is  hassle-free

Your new recruits deserve a suitable environment virtually to familiarize themselves with the tasks they would be entrusted with. Conducting well-designed virtual induction programs will help the new recruits connect with their colleagues while familiarizing themselves with your digital platform. Existing employees will get to hone their skill sets by attending virtual orientation programs designed to introduce new software updates. 

Read more: Modernize and Simplify Your HR processes with a Digital Workplace Platform

6. Conduct online surveys and opinion polls among employees

A connected environment would give all your geographically dispersed employees an equal opportunity to engage in conversation with each other. Online surveys and opinion polls would help keep your employees stay connected and engaged while giving insights into employee conceptions and work culture.

7. Set up a peer mentoring program

Workplace mentoring enhances the employee experience and well-being. Peer mentorship helps build unbiased relationships among employees wherein participants encourage and support each other by sharing knowledge on digital workplace platforms. Peer mentoring programs testify that employees stand to gain knowledge and personal growth through social connections via the Internet.

8. Recognize the voice of your employees

Your employees must be encouraged to drop their suggestions and opinions on your company’s performance in virtual suggestion boxes. Managers must appreciate these ideas on their merit and act on them. Internal communication channels on your digital platform can also be used to voice employee opinions on business performance. Your employees’ voices deserve to be heard!

9. Nurture communities of practice

Harvard Business Review defines communities of practice as “groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise”. These groups allow your employees to freely share their experiences and knowledge in novel ways to develop new methods to resolve issues. Communities of practice focus on taking advantage of the expertise within the company by letting your employees across multiple locations connect, brainstorm, and collaborate on your digital workplace platform.

10. Encourage employees to connect on an intranet   

Post good content on the intranet that focuses on specific activities of employees and teams. The special events and campaigns held in the company also must find mention in the content shared on the intranet. Excellent performances must be duly appreciated, thus making the intranet an employee recognition center. This gives people a chance to recognize the good work done by their peers, thus improving your company’s culture. 

11. Set up an employee directory

Having an employee directory on your digital platform would mean having the contact details of all your employees at your fingertips. This would help an employee to communicate with the right person to resolve a crisis. The valuable opinion of the expert can be initiated through an audio or video call or even an email, all of which would be available on the digital workplace platform.  

12. Plan virtual social events to build rapport among team members  

Your geographically dispersed teams can be brought together at virtual social events. Online games and campaigns are other events that help employees connect with peers. 

Your employees deserve to be heard, and their opinions merit appreciation. They need the support of a smart digital workplace solution like InfinCE to help them stay connected with their peers and company goals. InfinCE offers many features to help your employees stay connected at work. 

How does InfinCE help in keeping workplaces connected?

“Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work”, says Forbes. InfinCE is a smart digital workplace solution with many features to help your employees stay connected to voice their opinions and share their knowledge. 

InfinCE offers a pool of effective collaboration tools to help you connect with your teams faster and work together better for greater business achievements. 

• You can create custom dashboards with InfinCE that offer deep insights into your business operations and track the progress of projects to ensure they are on schedule. 
• The platform offers a wide range of productivity tools to help you manage tasks, organize data, and share files seamlessly in a secure environment. 
• The curated app marketplace of InfinCE provides your organization with many open-source and commercial business software options from multiple vendors that cater to varied industries. 
• The extensive list of apps available on InfinCE includes Vanilla Forums to manage interactive community forums for customers and potential clients; LimeSurvey to conduct surveys and gather feedback; MediaWiki to build, track and share a hub of knowledge internally and externally; Mautic to manage campaigns, track metrics and generate reports; and many more! Besides, you can seek the help of our experts to integrate custom apps into the platform.
• The platform helps you streamline communication through live chats, video calls, and meetings. 
• InfinCE has an extensive employee directory that fetches important details of your company staff and other external contacts, including their designations, email ids, and contact numbers, with a few clicks. You can view their online presence status and initiate a chat, call, or email directly from the directory!

Get in touch with our consultants for more information about our smart digital workplace platform, or just Sign Up for Free! 

Teamwork is always the underlying element for business success, now more than ever, considering today’s remote working environment. The remote work revolution has caused companies to increasingly let their employees work from home, requiring geographically diverse team members to work in unison to attain corporate goals. 

So, why is remote collaboration important? 

74% of Fortune 500 CEOs expect to reduce their office space, thanks to anywhere working. Remote work calls for seamless collaboration among teams, and the digitalization of business processes endows companies with remote work capabilities. Remote collaboration is essential because it can:

1. Increase productivity, 
2. Optimize workflow processes,
3. Strengthen team relationships,
4. Help manage projects better, and
5. Improve communication.

A robust virtual collaboration environment must be in place for remote work to be productive. Your business needs the support of a smart digital workplace solution integrated with efficient collaboration tools to enable its dispersed team members to seamlessly share data to meet goals faster. 

What are collaboration tools?

Remote collaboration tools are the different kinds of software and services that allow your geographically diverse teams to work together to meet business goals. They eliminate the limitations of geographical locations as impediments to teamwork and equip your team members with the right capabilities to work in conjunction with each other to complete projects. You need a suite of various collaboration tools integrated into your digital workplace platform because they bring diverse benefits to the table.  

Read more: How A Collaboration Software Can Improve Productivity

A Few Benefits of Remote Collaboration  

1) Increases productivity   

Productivity is vital to increasing profits and efficiency. A productive workforce is a key to sustained business growth. Your remote employees have more time saved by eliminating unnecessary commutes, which can be effectively used to complete tasks faster. Likewise, virtual meetings consume less time than face-to-face meetings. In short, remote work helps your employees save a lot of time which they can productively use to complete their work faster and smarter.

2) Eases problem-solving

Collaboration enables diverse skill sets to come together to carry out tasks and address any challenges. Seamless sharing of knowledge can help resolve problems with more efficiency and address the blind spots, if any, with more ease, thus optimizing workflow processes. 

3) Allows freedom and flexibility at work     

One of the biggest boons of remote work is enabling your employees to enjoy more freedom and flexibility at work. The employees have ample time to accommodate their personal and professional lives while clocking the required work hours and completing tasks on time. This serves to ease work pressure and foster trust while leaving your employees more satisfied. 

4) Saves cost for both employers and employees  

Remote work relieves employers of the need to pay huge rentals for their office premises. Even in a hybrid environment, the physical premises of the office need to be retained only on a limited scale, thus saving huge costs which are otherwise incurred in the form of rents payable to huge commercial spaces. Remote work eliminates the costs of transportation, childcare, and work wear for employees, thus adding up to their savings. 

Thus, it is imperative for businesses to foster smart and effective collaboration among their employees to help the latter thrive in an increasingly digital working environment. Remote collaboration requires your teams to leverage technology to nurture communication among their members to work collaboratively to complete projects.    

Here are 5 Tips to Improve Remote Collaboration 

1. Set clear-cut goals and allocate tasks effectively

Your employees must be given a clear idea of the goals set. Removing uncertainty around the goals would help improve remote communication, increase productivity, and track the progress of projects. Set periodic milestones in well-defined terms, the progress of which can be tracked and displayed on custom dashboards to be viewed by the relevant persons.

2. Plan and schedule regular meetings  

Meetings should be set in a recurring pattern such that your employees get to know beforehand about it and plan their home and work life around it. Video calls and meetings, single and group chats can be done in real-time on digital platforms and made more fruitful by the data sharing feature of digital workplace solutions.

3. Set boundaries for communication 

Timelines should be set for communication which the teams should strictly follow to avoid false assumptions and misconceptions that could adversely affect team relationships and dynamics. Respecting the timeline for communication is important because the line between personal and professional lives blurs when working remotely and because diverse teams would be working in different time zones. The importance of the matter to be conveyed merits the type of communication that needs to be used, like email, instant messaging, phone calls, etc.

4. Create a collaborative environment by setting up multiple communication channels 

A torrential flow of data through a single channel of communication can cause the information to get lost and people to disconnect. Your teams need a digital platform that streamlines communication by dedicating separate discussion channels for separate tasks such that the right set of data reaches only the relevant personnel. Smart digital workplace platforms offer a multitude of avenues for effective communication among teams, like email, audio calls, one-on-one, and group video calls, individual and group chats, etc. 

5. Create custom dashboards for smarter data analysis 

Creating a custom dashboard on your digital workplace platform is the smartest way to track the progress of your projects. A smart, personalized dashboard simplifies data analysis and displays the right sets of metrics to the relevant people, thus giving transparency to the progress of tasks. Your employees get to stay on top of company updates and seamlessly share data through standard and custom tiles on custom dashboards designed exclusively to meet your unique business needs. 

Read more: How Can Organizations Profit More from Collaboration Software?

Effective remote collaboration thus improves productivity and builds healthy relationships among your employees while keeping them engaged at work. Businesses must embrace smart digital workplace solutions to make them future-ready and create a smart digital working environment for their remote employees. The challenges of cloud technologies are ever-evolving, and so are your business needs. A smart digital workplace solution like InfinCE would be your best buddy to promote smarter collaboration among your dispersed teams because:  

1. Its feature-packed collaboration apps affect smarter and streamlined communication among your teams. 
2. The employee directory on the platform lists all details of your internal and external contacts, allowing you to initiate a call, chat, or email directly from the directory.
3.  You can choose the right collaboration application from our extensive collaboration suite to help your employees connect better with remote team members and work together to meet goals.  
4. Individual and group chats can be made more meaningful through seamless and secure sharing of files.
5. Build trusted relationships through the multiple communication apps integrated with the platform.
6. Leverage centralized data using custom tiles on multiple dashboards.

InfinCE is the one-stop digital workplace solution that can make your business future-ready with infinite scaling-up capabilities to meet the ever-evolving challenges of the digital ecosystem. Get in touch with our experts to know more. 

Changing market patterns, rising consumer demands, and gaining a competitive edge against the big fishes in the market have forever been challenging for small businesses. But as the economy tries to recover from the recent pandemic-driven recession, SMBs are predicted to foresee more challenges up ahead.

Since February 2022, inflation is known to have increased by 2.47% worldwide, making it the top challenge for SMBs in recent quarters. Subject to this, small businesses are now desperately trying to up their game by providing unique customer services, improved customer relations, and enhanced operational efficiency. However, COVID-19 issues stay relevant, disrupting the work patterns and productivity and creating a significant concern over employee safety, wellbeing, and morale.

Adopting the right technology seems like the only key to sustainability and resilience for small businesses. Yet, 80% of small businesses are not fully utilizing available technology.

Why?

This blog will take you through the top 10 challenges small businesses might face while adopting technology in 2022 and ways to tackle them. But before that, let’s look at how technology can benefit small businesses.

Top Benefits Of Technology For Small Business Owners

Considering today’s market challenges, small businesses must primarily prioritize: customers, employees, work efficiency, and profitability.

How can technology help achieve these priorities?

The rising capabilities of the cloud, artificial intelligence, and automation are impacting businesses tremendously, enabling operational efficiency, reducing human labor, promoting transparency, quick decision-making, and much more. Here’s a look at the top benefits small businesses can gain with the right technology.

“90% of CEOs believe the digital economy will impact their industry, but less than 15% are executing on a digital strategy.”
                         — MIT Sloan and Capgemini

Here’s a look at the benefits of technology for small business owners:

• Operational Efficiency: With tools to effectively collaborate, communicate, quickly track performances, and keep everyone on the same page, technology today contributes majorly toward operational efficiency.
• Improved Productivity with Automation: Eliminate redundant tasks with automation to save time and focus energy and resources on essential matters.
• Better Storage Solutions with Data Security: Deploying the rising capabilities of the cloud companies can resolve the most eminent issues of all – data storage and security.
• Remain Future-ready: With the changing market, especially work cultures, staying equipped with technology makes companies relevant and future-ready.
• Enhanced Customer Experiences: Woo today’s customers with services at their fingertips in no time with technology.
• Lower Cost and Improved Efficiency: Save costs on multiple resources, reduce downtime, improve efficiency and drive ultimate ROI.
• Digital Transformation: Deploying the right technology tools from the start of a business gives much ease to transform digitally and deploy rising technologies with time.

Why are small businesses still reluctant to adopt new technologies despite the benefits? Here’s our pick of the top 10 tech challenges small businesses face in their technology journey!

Top 10 Technology Challenges Of Small Businesses

1. Choosing the right software
2. Complexities with new technology
3. Easy accessibility
4. Keeping up with updates & integrations
5. Information security
6. Staying relevant to today’s changing work culture
7. Difficulties in integrating with existing systems
8. Offering employees a unified user experience
9. Cost concerns
10. Getting the right advisory

1. Choosing the right software

With thousands of vendors out in the market, selling more or less the same features, choosing the right software or technology solution itself becomes a major challenge. This challenge is especially major for small businesses due to the lack of proper information they are offered by the software vendors. Plus, today’s competitive work environment might prompt adopting multiple tools cause it’s hard to find all you need in one platform. But of course, investing in all the products that look suitable is quite unreasonable.

Tackling the challenge: It’s crucial that before SMBs make their decision on purchasing software, they thoroughly analyze their technology needs and identify their technology opportunities. Merely adopting technologies to match the competitors can result in huge losses, especially if your company is new to the digital transformation journey. Thus, choose a platform that quickly adapts to your ecosystem, is scalable with your changing business needs and tech capabilities, and can satisfy all your tech needs through a single platform.

2. Complexities with new technology

Adapting to a new digital tool takes time, be it a subtle or advanced technology. This is one reason why SMBs with fewer resources, less time, and more to achieve often hesitate to deploy new technologies. However, the right technology will eventually blend into your routine, making tasks more efficient and time-saving. But a technology that complicates your workflow further cannot be called the right solution.

Tackling the challenge: Invest in a technology that’s user-friendly, easy to navigate, can quickly be set up and get started with, and closely aligns with your workflow. Although, as mentioned before, the first few days of implementing new technology are always rough. Thus, try and invest in technologies that come with a tech consulting service or partner who can walk your company and your workforce through the transition.

3. Easy accessibility

Another reason why small businesses are reluctant to adapt to new technologies is due to a lack of accessibility. Tools or software that can be accessed from only certain premises limits its benefits and usability. Especially for SMBs that need their business up and running from anywhere are likely to lose interest in a platform that limits feature accessibilities.

Tackling the challenge: An apt software for small businesses would be the one that provides secure access to data, productivity tools, dashboards, performance metrics, and other features from anywhere. A platform enabling easy tracking, quick decision making, and effective and centralized IT management from anywhere can be called an ideal technology for small businesses. Plus, mobile support and accessibility are like the cherry on top of the cake!

4. Keeping up with updates & integrations

Most technology platforms come with subscription schemes that, after a while, turn out costlier than expected. There are monthly updates and integrations that one needs to keep up with, or it might affect the effectiveness of the tool. Imagine if you are using multiple apps for your business. Tracking the updates, subscription expiry, and integrations of all the tools would turn out to be a whole new task in itself, challenging the entire workflow and business effectiveness.

Tackling the challenge: Investing in a unified solution that integrates multiple features or functionalities into a single platform would be the best way to avoid such drawbacks. When you have all that you need under one platform, you have more visibility and can better manage your updates & integrations.

Read more: Why Does Your Business Need An Intelligent Digital Workplace?

5. Information security

Information or data security is the most crucial challenge for businesses today. Ransomware attacks were up by 150% in 2020 and grew even faster in 2021. And over 28% of such data breaches in 2020 involved small businesses. Ensuring one’s financial data, IP data, customer information, and other confidential data are safe can be challenging, especially when transitioning to new technology or using multiple apps. The fear of loss to such threats restricts small businesses from deploying new technologies. Also, secured data storage is often a concern for many companies

Tackling the challenge: Utilizing technology solutions that are known to provide effective data security would be the best way to tackle this challenge. Cloud technology is emerging to be most effective when it comes to information security and data storage. Thus, ensure to invest in technology platforms that guarantee data and IT security through virtual private servers, advanced firewalls, and access controls.

6. Staying relevant to today’s changing work culture

The changing work culture today is adding to the tech challenges of small businesses. Companies can no more fix solutions that are strictly apt for office workflow or remote work environments. However, the sudden and inevitable shift to remote work culture has shown an increase in the adoption of technology among small businesses. And that’s why it’s imperative that SMBs choose the right platform.

Tackling the challenge: Be it remote, hybrid, or office work culture, work efficiency, and productivity is what counts at the end of the day. That’s why it’s imperative that SMBs focus on technology that promotes effective collaboration, instant communication, easy and secured accessibility to tools and data, business transparency, and effective and centralized IT management from anywhere.

7. Difficulties in integrating with existing systems

Companies that may be using outdated systems are often reluctant to switch to new technologies, as this would need them to upgrade their entire ecosystem, losing time, money, and resources along the process. However, the reluctance or limitation to adopting newer tools and technology might end up affecting smooth functioning with clients and vendors or even a new digital opportunity.

Tackling the challenge: If your company is new to digital transformation, then choosing a platform or technology that scales with time is highly recommended. A platform that enables seamless third-party integrations and custom integrations will benefit in the long run. And if you are already using a technology that limits integrations, then it’s never late to shift to a solution that enables flexibility.

8. Offering employees a unified user experience

With staff working from various locations today, it has become challenging to keep everyone equally engaged, motivated, and on the same page. Of course, technology is doing much to solve this challenge, but what happens when your staff starts complaining of accessibility issues, incorrect credentials, or server errors?

Tackling the challenge: With the cloud, one can now enable easy and secured access to tools, applications, data, files, and more from anywhere. One can also grant temporary access to clients and vendors for further smooth functioning and unrestricted operations. And when such cloud abilities are added with Custom Dashboards, employees can stay engaged, updated, motivated, and remain connected from anywhere.

Read more: Driving Employee Engagement In Today’s Changing Work Culture!

9. Cost concerns

When running a business on a restricted budget, investing in technology platforms that may or may not be fully utilized for your operations might not be a wise choice. However, most SMBs end up paying on technology more than the benefits received, eventually prompting them to withdraw completely from the investment. That is why it’s imperative to ensure that the technology you invest in is 100% effective for your business.

Tackling the challenge: Invest in a platform that allows centralized IT management. When you have all your data, IT assets, storage, and even employee & client management done from a single platform, through a single login, you gain greater visibility and control over your operational costs. Moreover, let’s not forget the versatile storage management controls, enhanced security, and single sign-on convenience such a platform could bring to the table for your small business. Plus, in time, when you are thinking of expansion you can seamlessly and cost-effectively scale your server configurations and capabilities, and effortlessly power your business goals with technology.

10. Getting the right advisory

Most small businesses might not have an expert IT council or advisory panel within their workforce due to cost pressures. However, bigger organizations often have in-house technology advisory teams that can evaluate and select suitable technology solutions for their prevailing issues. For small businesses, getting the right IT advisory partner or consulting partner is often not considered an option for fear of escalating budgets.

Tackling the challenge: A tech partner is always an asset, whether a small or a big business. However, when the cost is a concern, it’s rational to depend on technology that comes with tech support or a tech partner who can help with the implementation or transition. If not, it’s always best to invest in a technology ecosystem with easy IT management, a quick setup process, and fewer or no complications when implementing.

In Conclusion!

The market is changing, and the competition is tough! If you need your small business to sustain and succeed, you need to invest in the right technology now! As discussed in this blog, deploying technology for small businesses might seem challenging. But if strategized the right way, it’s the best step you’ll ever take for your business. And that’s why we have platforms like InfinCE that makes transitioning to technology for small businesses quicker, simpler, and smarter!

Read more: How An Integrated Digital Workplace Solution Helps Mitigate Remote Work Hurdles

InfinCE is a complete digital workplace that allows businesses of any size and domain to easily adapt and deploy the rising capabilities of the cloud so that they can stay competitive and future-ready. Along with seamless communication, effective collaboration, business transparency, data security, and centralized management, InfinCE creates a secure environment for remote, hybrid, and office work cultures.

What makes InfinCE unique?

• Collaboration apps including video meetings, live chat & employee directory
• Online office tools
• Single sign-on
• Custom dashboards
• Application marketplace with custom integrations
• Centralized IT management
• Business Phone System with smart call management features
• Virtual private server
• Branded mobile app & more!

Read more: The Definitive Guide to Perfect Digital Workplace Solution

Transform your business with improved employee engagement and productivity.

Get in touch with our consultants today! Or just Sign Up for Free!

A Communication Board is a business intelligence tool that offers a peek at the key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics relevant to a particular objective or business process displayed on a single screen. It is a graphical user interface that lets business leaders track, analyze, and delineate their business processes’ relevant KPIs and metrics. Gartner defines dashboards as “a reporting mechanism that aggregates and displays metrics and key indicators so they can be examined at a glance by all possible audiences. Communication Boards or Custom Dashboards help improve decision making by revealing and communicating contextual insights into metrics to display indicators with intuitive visualization, including charts, scales , gauges, and traffic lights that show indicator progress toward defined goals.”

A modern Communication Board is interactive and capable of combining and analyzing data from multiple sources, including the data within the dashboard itself. It is a data visualization tool that can be configurable to suit your custom needs. A dashboard mines information from a linked database to provide relevant business intelligence inputs on the exact kind of data you want, in whichever form you need, be it charts or graphs. 

Read more: The Definitive Guide to Perfect Digital Workplace Solution

Why Is a Communication Board Important In Today’s Digital Workplace?

A communication board helps monitor performances, prepare reports, and set estimates and targets for future tasks. Digital transformation backed up by advanced technologies has enabled businesses worldwide to use company dashboards to maintain analytics successfully. They leverage analytics to identify trends, measure efficiencies, and pinpoint data outliers and correlations while providing an at-a-glance view of all systems, campaigns, and actions. 

Yes, custom dashboards provide access to functions and information critical to your business operations. They are your go-to tool for leveraging data visualization to boost your business performance. Dashboards help run your business operations well, but Communication boards help you run them better. The sophisticated Communication boards of the InfinCE digital workplace platform can help accelerate your business growth by improving business visibility and productivity.  

Business leaders make decisions based on data across multiple departments and cross-functional teams, which would require them to go through the laborious process of signing in to multiple systems, opening an endless number of spreadsheets to run reports, and managing multiple folders, notes, and emails. This is where an efficient service provider like InfinCE comes in handy by helping you create your Communication boards. In a better world of communication board, the sophisticated user interface would offer you the data of your numerous business activities at your fingertips, depicted graphically in a well-organized and uncluttered manner. 

I agree there is an umpteen number of off-the-shelf dashboard solutions that cater to a wide range of businesses. But, as the goals and objectives of companies differ, availing the help of a service provider like InfinCE to create your own dashboard configured to meet your exact specifications and designed exclusively ‘for your business would help you run your business operations much more efficiently than going for a standard off-the-shelf dashboard app meant just for ‘your line of business in general. A personalized dashboard would help your company create a unique space to visualize its data in ways that would help its growth, as different from standard reporting. In short, custom analytics dashboards would help optimize your business operations to ensure sustainable growth. 

Custom business dashboards help decision-makers glance through relevant data and help them make informed decisions at a faster pace, and optimize their business operations in more ways than one. Let us have a look at a few of them.

Read more: Merits and Demerits of Digital Workplaces – A Sneak Peak

1. Draws insights into your day-to-day business activities

A custom business dashboard offers deep insights into your business’s performance levels. As it sits on a single page, your Communication board can let you access the most valuable information on your business operations from a single hub, be it a mobile device or your desktop computer. They can help improve your KPIs and ROI and even integrate more business processes as you decide to scale up and quantify the results in real time. The communication board feature on the InfinCE digital workplace platform can extract information from multiple business apps and display it through pre-built tiles. The data, thus displayed in multiple colors, charts, icons, and other graphs, help you track projects and campaigns in real time and evaluate their progress against goals set. In short, InfinCE lets you visualize your business performance with application tiles that display KPIs and other metrics relevant to your business operations. InfinCE is a data-powered business dashboard software that offers a smarter analysis of your business data and helps you make faster decisions.

2. Inculcates accountability

Custom business dashboards give a clear picture of the success of your actions. They can help your employees, both individuals and teams, work towards accomplishing goals and expectations already established. The customized organization, team, department, and personal dashboards of InfinCE are powered by a variety of application tiles that offer enhanced visibility, thus enabling everyone to see for themselves the KPIs in real-time.                  

Everyone gets to see the progress they are making towards the KPIs, letting them know the performance of their work and how it makes a difference to clients, teams, and the organization, thus ingraining a sense of accountability in the minds of employees and increasing their productivity. InfinCE Communication boards provide the exact level of transparency that befits your business operations and saves huge volumes of human efforts and time spent on generating reports manually.

3. Gets to control all systems at a single point

The multiple working components of your business operations require efficient management. A custom business dashboard offers you the liberty of incorporating your multiple business functions and their data in a single place wherein you can control and manage each performance from a single system. InfinCE solution streamlines the management functions of your business and helps you make informed decisions with the help of highly efficient and communication boards.  

Read more: Five Myths Around Hybrid Workplaces Demystified

In a digital landscape where technologies keep evolving, businesses stand to gain huge growth and optimize their success by creating Communication boards as part of their digital journey. A custom business dashboard offers in-depth statistics and analytics on your business operations. At the same time, its multiple features help improve KPIs and ROI, increase your employee productivity, achieve goals set, and keep pace with the industry standards through automated reporting. 

To know more about Communication boards and how they can help you get an overview of your business, contact our experts.