Technical set up, strategies and processes in a new world of work

“New Work” white paper: How companies are overcoming the new challenges

Thanks to digitalization and technological advancements, the working world has changed around us. Working from home, for example, is not a concept that arrived as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – it had already firmly established itself as a new standard under “New Work”. What’s more, the way we work has also completely changed.

Download now: “New Work” white paper (PDF format)

The white paper explains how far along German companies already are where digitalization is concerned, what the biggest challenges in “New Work” are, and how employers can confront them successfully.

Digitalized work requires new skills, working methods and, ultimately, a brand-new mindset on the part of employers and employees alike – a real and significant stumbling block for companies. Lufthansa Industry Solutions and Corp News Media Thöring & Stuhr conducted a survey at the end of 2020 to determine how well the changes had progressed and to ascertain where there are still problems. Our white paper on the topic of “New Work” contains important insights on how to tackle your company’s new working reality successfully.

 

What digital services does your employer make available to you?

For the white paper, 1,011 employees in Germany were surveyed on behalf of LHIND regarding their changed working conditions – topics covered included options for working from home, digital services and support offered by their employers.

The survey revealed that the top three services already provided digitally within companies were: recording of hours worked (47%), vacation requests (43%), and then payroll (37%).


“New Work” as a digital ecosystem

For companies, “Digital Work” is much more than purely an IT project. It is a comprehensive topic that encompasses change, communication, and organizational development. It must be managed and maintained over the long term – as must, for example, a major construction site.

For this reason, the technological implementation of “Digital Work” projects, and the full establishment of the processes within the organization, can easily take between a year and a year and a half to complete. Only when this is done can business potential be unlocked in the future.

The success of both “New Work” and “Digital Work” is based on various parameters and can be divided into three major areas:

  • Technical set up
  • Strategy, adoption and change
  • Evergreen and processes

A prerequisite for the success of “New Work” or “Digital Work” is a well-functioning technical set up. Before a comprehensive rollout can occur, the technical foundations must be laid. To this end, the network’s readiness, the technical server infrastructure and the complexity of the on site data must be considered first. If they are not, there is a risk that things will not run smoothly later on and that usability and, in turn, user acceptance will suffer. New forms of cooperation are possible thanks to collaboration tools, mobile devices and need-based cloud scenarios. The following are relevant for technical set up:

  • Iterative introduction
  • Data protection, IT security and compliance
  • Infrastructure
  • Data storage in the cloud

This white paper will explain what you need to consider.

How close do our current working methods come to a digital, socially networked form of work? Only 18% of the employees surveyed said that their company provides targeted training on how to make the most of virtual working. However, the changes “New Work” brings for employees should not be underestimated – participation and genuine dialog are key for supporting the technical provision of apps and services in the best way possible. This ensures that new forms of work are successful far beyond the go-live date.

Companies need to ask themselves which supportive learning formats the workforce needs and the extent to which management involvement is required, as well as about the form community management must take. Can the organizations do all this themselves, or are there already standards and best practices that can be utilized? Where might the company itself require an individualized approach?

The following areas interplay with each other here:

  • Adoption and change
  • Work structuring
  • Project organization
  • Communication, training and use cases

This white paper will explain to you what is important.

One of the great new challenges “New Work” poses for companies is making the best possible use of an entire digital tool ecosystem and examining every technical innovation to ascertain its added value for the company. What new features or applications do the product manufacturers offer and in what context could and should these enhancements be used in your own company? Which processes are covered by special applications today and how could these be integrated into an Office 365 landscape, for example? How can applications from specialist areas, such as innovation management or crisis management, be presented in a more integrated manner?

If technical services, functions and apps are to be integrated efficiently and comprehensively into day-to-day work, the corresponding business processes should be considered from the outset. Only when collaboration and processes are linked can the full potential of collaborative environments be leveraged.

Consideration must be given to:

  • Digital ecosystems
  • Business processes
  • Adaptations

This white paper will show you what this means, and which tools Office 365 offers for this purpose.

Key facts from the “New Work” white paper

This white paper contains:

  • Survey results on the working situation within German companies
  • Interviews with experts on the topics of collaboration tools, HR self-services and leadership
  • Overviews and details of the most important parameters in the field of “New Work”
  • Insights and support in successfully establishing “New Work” and “Digital Work” in your company

Download the “New Work” white paper here.

“The problem of loneliness should, indeed, not be underestimated. We often see that some project teams leave their webcams on all day.”

Ralf Struckmeier
Vice President Logistics LHIND

Download now: “New Work” white paper (PDF format)

The white paper explains how far along German companies already are where digitalization is concerned, what the biggest challenges in “New Work” are, and how employers can confront them successfully.

“New Work” FAQ: Digital solutions for the new world of work

“New Work” is a new concept for working that focuses on autonomy and self-realization. It encompasses not only all modern and flexible forms of work organization in terms of working hours and location, but also fundamental corporate structures and progressive thought patterns.

Not least, digitalization and the shortage of skilled workers are contributing to the fact that companies are facing a certain amount of pressure to innovate as they compete to attract the most outstanding employees. “New Work” enables efficient collaboration and networking among employees; it creates more time, more flexibility and more freedom.

The different areas of “New Work” concern not only digital-technical structures (cloud and network solutions, collaboration tools and mobile hardware), rather also restructuring the working environment (open-space offices, working from home or crowdworking), as well as new corporate and process structures (agile working methods, diversity management and Leadership 4.0).

Special tools and programs that control the flow of information and make it easier to manage both tasks and projects are what make the new forms of “New Work” possible in the first place. These include communication tools with chat and comment functions, screen sharing for collaborative work on documents, and video telephony. Digital and cloud-based kanban boards, for example, are suitable for flexible task and project management.