Is designing a digital workplace worth the effort?

Peter du ToitI'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.

When discussing the work involved in designing a digital workplace I can often see the look on some executives faces, a look that says “is this really worth the effort?”

One example we often refer to is the early pioneer in digital workplaces, Sun Microsystems (which was bought by Oracle)

The cost saving and environmental impact of their flexible/remote work capability as a result of having a digital workplace is a real eye opener.

They estimated that:

1. It saved them $70million in real estate costs per year.
2. $24million In IT costs per year.
3. Employees save up to $2,000 in fuel costs per year.
4. Employees reduce their commute time by 160 hours per year. (That’s 20 8-hour days!)
5. A reduction of 52,000 metric tonnes of CO2 a year mainly as a result of less time in traffic.

And I haven’t even mentioned the rise in productivity, employee well-being, business agility and more!

Just imagine what this evolution of work could do for you business?