a person holding a phone in front of a window
Read Time, 2 min.

In today’s increasingly competitive world there has never been a more important time for businesses to be aligned in their ways of working.

Success demands that everyone within the organisation is pulling in the same direction but as Microsoft’s Work Reworked report reveals, there is still much room for improvement.

This is highlighted in the discrepancy between how managers think the implemented technology is being used by employees and the reality of the situation. So what exactly does the report reveal and what can be done to improve business efficiency?

Make the objective obvious

Unless the goal of the deployment of a specific solution is  made crystal clear across the organisation , your employees are unlikely to use the solution as you intended. Perhaps because managers are closer to the corporate mission, they are 20% more likely to use a collaboration tool than an employee and 12% more likely to get the most from a tool’s functionality.

Make the benefit personal

Change is easy to adopt if it’s apparent what’s in it for us. Since a manager’s performance is only as good as their team’s, it can be no surprise that they view collaboration tools to be more important than employees do. 22% of managers gave it the most importance, compared with 16% of employees.

Make technology accessible

Investment in technology sometimes favours the more senior staff but seamless collaboration demands everyone has access to the same tools and devices. 66% of all employees regarded lack of access to the right tools as a major obstacle to effective working while just 17% of managers believed this to be an issue.

Make it easy

Human behaviour dictates that unless migration to new ways of working is made simple, we will default to what we know. With employees more likely to feel that there is insufficient training, the use of non-compliant applications remains commonplace. This not only poses a security and compliancy risk but can also dramatically impact productivity.

As the headlines of this report imply, it is not enough to have the best technology for your business. You need to implement fit-for-purpose technology that addresses the needs of your business and the mindset of your employees.

Microsoft Teams does it all. As a tailored collaboration tool it is designed to enable the new culture of work, by breaking down silos and empowering everyone to work the way they want, wherever they are in the world.

Discover what makes teams work better in our new eBook

Free eBook: The Psychology of Workplace Collaboration

Discover more related articles per industry:

Education

  • A guide to GDPR for universities

    A guide to GDPR for universities

    With the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation coming into effect on May 25, understand how universities like yours can take the right steps towards compliance with this free eBook – and other useful resources. Your university on a journey on a journey Your university is on a journey with lots of ‘data subjects’. They’re […]

Government

Healthcare

  • logo

    Why trust is the essential ingredient in healthcare digital transformation.

    My phone had scarcely stopped ringing for weeks. Now it was ringing again. “Veronica,” said the voice at the other end, “we have an idea!” Immediately, I recognized who it was. I’ve known Carlo Tacchetti for almost as long as I’ve been at Microsoft. He’s a professor at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and the […]

  • The ‘Big Bang’ approach to digital transformation – and how to make it work

    The ‘Big Bang’ approach to digital transformation – and how to make it work

    These days there’s no such thing as ‘business as usual’. Change and disruption are the new normal. Just think of the changes affecting your organization right now, with new technology and techniques driving new attitudes and expectations from employees and customers alike. Everything is changing. And the one thing all those changes have in common […]

Manufacturing

  • Etex

    Etex uses modern tools to unite its business and better focus on customers

    When it comes to construction, all components must come together in a timely manner in order to produce the optimum product. While Etex, a Belgian building solution manufacturing company, helps make this a reality on a day-to-day basis, it wanted to find a way to enhance productivity and collaboration internally. With locations across more than […]

Retail

Discover more related articles per dossier:

Customer Stories

Digital Transformation

Press

  • 2 people meeting with two surfaces on the table

    Winning the war for talent – the power of digital culture

    Winning the war for talent – the power of digital culture For the first time in history, we now have four generations in the Irish workplace – some organisations have as many as five generations working together. For business leaders, it means that finding and cultivating the best talent has never been more important – […]

Security & Privacy

  • 4 Steps to GDPR compliance with Microsoft SQL Server

    4 Steps to GDPR compliance with Microsoft SQL Server

    Is your organization prepared for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)? If you do business in Europe, you’ll need to be aware of this new privacy law and take a fresh look at how your company gathers, uses, and governs data – and soon. The GDPR comes into effect on May 25, 2018. To help […]

Tips

  • Top tips for smarter remote working with Microsoft Teams

    Top tips for smarter remote working with Microsoft Teams

    With remote working becoming the new normal for many, people are having to find different ways of effectively functioning as a team. Microsoft Teams is designed to keep colleagues productively connected and ensure that everybody can continue to work as collaboratively, efficiently and securely as in the office. So, whether you already use it or […]