Paul Deur
According to Gartner, the digital workplace “enables new, more effective ways of working; raises employee engagement and agility; and exploits consumer-oriented styles and technologies.” Yet I&O leaders are struggling to automate workplace experiences, negatively impacting budgets and employee experiences.
With an increasingly dispersed end-user base and talent shortage, I&O leaders are being challenged to enhance the workplace experience and provide employees with everything they need to work from anywhere, over any device. As IT capabilities evolve to enable and optimize this ‘digital workplace,’ many are unable to take full advantage of the hybrid digital infrastructure management (HDIM) tools they are using to deliver it. They may be able to deliver simple automation such as ticket creation for password resets, but they’re finding it harder to automate workflows across larger, more complex programs.
The reason for this? First, think about where you have already introduced new functionality or areas you want to improve in the future:
Each requires a distinct HDIM tool, which in turn increases complexity. While these tools assist you in managing a particular area, they don’t talk to each other, preventing a unified, automated approach as you roll out change.
For any IT change program, you’ll need to interact with multiple HDIM tools. When addressing automation, you should focus first on the workflows where human input offers the least value before implementing more complex cross HDIM tool orchestration. Consider the following:
One way of leveraging both simple and cross HDIM tool automation for complex IT change initiatives is to use a digital platform conductor (DPC). The term was coined by Gartner in April 2021 to describe a tool that allows I&O leaders to see across their hybrid digital infrastructure to understand what they have and ensure that it delivers value. DPC tools have been recognized as transformational in four Gartner hype cycles.
A DPC connects to your disparate HDIM tools, including those managing your DaaS, ITSM, ITAM, UEM, DEX, CSAM, GRC as well as any other data store and leverages the information held within them to enhance the digital workplace experience. It uses pre-defined event rules to orchestrate workflows and implement changes across those tools. This allows you to take a more agile and proactive approach to achieving IT and organizational goals and reducing risk as changes are implemented.
Because a digital platform conductor connects to and orchestrates your disparate HDIM tools, you can use it to enhance their value and deliver any IT program faster with less risk and cost. A DPC scales to meet your needs as your organization grows and, as you evolve, it continues to cut through IT complexity, connecting to new tools as you add them.
Using a DPC you can reduce the effort of simple cross HDIM tool workflows, moving your team focus away from managing repetitive tasks to more valuable work. You can also leverage complex HDIM tool orchestration to deliver on new business initiatives. One compelling use case is for the delivery of an enhanced end user digital experience throughout the employee journey from onboarding through to offboarding. Connect IT and other business units digitally to streamline the process of building, provisioning, and delivering technology for new hires and recouping it from leavers to optimize asset management. Leverage monitoring tools to highlight issues and trigger the opening of tickets and assign tasks to resolve them before the user becomes frustrated.
Book a demo with ReadyWorks to understand how a digital platform conductor can help you can enhance your digital workplace operations.