In today’s digital climate, a growing proportion of the workforce is made up of knowledge workers, or employees who incorporate changing information into their daily roles. As technology continues to evolve and influence the way we work, knowledge workers are especially poised to benefit. By strategically implementing intelligent automation, decision support, and collaborative tools, business leaders can unlock latent worker productivity and facilitate cross-functional collaboration. The ultimate outcome of such initiatives is a bolstered competitive advantage in the marketplace, and improved employee satisfaction.
To flourish in a hybrid workplace, knowledge workers must work collaboratively across digital platforms. Teams, a business communication platform from ACG partner Microsoft, is designed to integrate people, content, and tools through a central hub. This allows for instant messaging, meetings, and seamless integration with decision intelligence tools such as Microsoft Power BI dashboards. The Institute for Corporate Productivity of Babson College, led by Professor Rob Cross, carried out a study involving 1,100 companies to examine the effects of implementing such tools. The team found that collaboration platforms like Teams are five times more likely to result in higher company performance when compared to relying solely on email and traditional messaging platforms. A central collaborative environment also lowers costs and shortens project timelines, whereas a lack of collaboration leads to misunderstandings, delays, errors, and inefficiencies. By specifically using Microsoft Teams, companies see a 18.9% reduction in meetings each week and a 17.7% improvement of time-to-decision made by executives. While collaboration is a necessary ingredient of any successful digital organization, additional tools take the benefits knowledge workers experience a step further.
Resources:
