I'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to design digital workplaces or “offices in the cloud.” These environments enable companies to allow flexible and remote working for their teams. I also teach the digital literacy, fluency, communication and collaboration skills needed to work in these modern technology-rich workplaces.

n 2016 the European Commission released its Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) The research found that the UK was lagging behind the rest of Europe when it came to the digital workplace and digital literacy. (Source: UK ‘lags behind’ Europe in digital performance)

Commenting on the findings an analyst made this observation:

“Our digital economy is growing rapidly and we simply do not have the supply of the right digital skills to meet demand… And this is impacting on Britain’s ability to compete on a global stage.”

Research from Vodafone, released a few days ago, highlights the impact of falling behind. The Vodafone survey found that in the UK almost a quarter of workers (7 million employees) felt unproductive at work. The biggest culprit? Not having the right technology to do their work effectively.

The conclusion from the research:

“To drive up productivity, UK businesses need to look at how they create a digital workplace.”

Not sure what a digital workplace is? I like to use this definition:

“The digital workplace is a concept that describes how technology is increasingly creating a virtual equivalent of the physical workplace, and how that trend allows businesses to rethink traditional processes and increase efficiency.”

This is a macro view of the situation in the UK. But let’s bring it down to the micro level view of your business.

Is your business falling behind? What is the impact going to be?

These insights can be of huge value when you apply them to your situation. You can dramatically ramp up your teams productivity and profitability by taking the time and trouble to develop a digital workplace, as well as developing the teams digital literacy skills so they can work in this advanced environment. The truth is digitally enabled businesses (and countries) are leaving those not enabled in the dust.

How far are you in the process of developing a well designed digital workplace?