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

  • 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 […]

  • Two female nurses having a virtual conversation through Microsoft Teams

    Belfast Trust: Reimagining patient care

    “There have been many heroic actions by our staff but we’re not heroes for what we’ve done – I’m just glad we could do our bit to help.” Paul Duffy, Co-Director of IT and Telecommunications at Belfast Trust, is talking about the monumental impact COVID-19 has had on the healthcare sector and how virtual consultations […]

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

  • Ineco

    Ineco improves employee productivity with modern tools and AI

    Struggling with software doesn’t help people get more done. Likewise, if sharing files and collaborating on documents is difficult, productivity takes a hit. Ineco, a Spanish public sector company, understands this, which is why it set out to change the way employees interact with technology and one another. By deploying Microsoft 365 to its over […]

Digital Transformation

Press

Security & Privacy

Tips

  • 5 ways to keep employees engaged and productive

    5 ways to keep employees engaged and productive

    Your business will never possess a more powerful competitive advantage than your employees. Are you making the right choices to take full advantage of that value – or even to hang on to it? Help your employees stay engaged, satisfied and productive Just 13% of global workers are highly engaged and highly satisfied with their […]