While many of us have been adjusting to work from home life over the course of 2020, not all organizations were prepared to make the shift to life outside the office. Raise your hand if you are among those companies that struggled to make the shift (this is a shame-free space, after all). First, know you’re not alone. Many companies had issues adjusting their organizations for digital workspaces. In fact, many still are.
Second, transitioning your office to function digitally can benefit you and your bottom line. With security training, automated workflows, collaboration, file sharing, and storage, SmartFile can help ease the challenges of remote work on an organizational level. Today we’ll discuss digital workspaces and how you can transition your workplace to one. Here’s what we’ll get into:
- What are digital workspaces?
- Why are digital workspaces important?
- How do I implement a digital workspace in my organization?
- How can SmartFile help me prepare for the transition to a digital workspace?
What are digital workspaces?
Before we dive into how you can optimize your digital workspace, let’s get clear on what digital workspaces are.
The term “digital workspace” is relatively new to our vernacular but it’s easiest to think of it as the virtual or digital version of our physical office. Digital workspaces empower employees to be location-independent and give them the tools and systems they need to work from anywhere on any device. They also keep things like water cooler talk, employee morale, and team building going when teams are dispersed. Over the course of the pandemic, digital workspaces have become essential to our economy as businesses try to stay afloat through remote work.
Why are digital workspaces so transformative?
Digital workspaces are transformative as they not only help companies stay afloat but give employees greater autonomy over their workdays. During the pandemic, digital workspaces have protected the health and vitality of people while they earn incomes from home. They’ve also helped workers ditch their commutes and find greater work-life balance in allowing for location-independent work. Therefore, an organization that can offer a digital workspace is a very attractive one for job seekers in 2020 and beyond.
Aside from helping us through a global pandemic, digital workspaces are good for the environment as they eliminate the need to use so much paper. Gone are the days of disorganized stacks of paper sitting on our work desks. There’s also less of a need for bulky, old school technology like paper shredders, filing cabinets, and physical storage units. Less paper also translates to more security and less waste. All of these things can help cut unnecessary costs for both the organization as a whole and its employees.
How do I implement a digital workspace in my organization?
There are a few key areas to consider when transforming your organization from a physical to a digital workspace. All of these aspects can help ensure consistent and undisturbed productivity and security across teams.
Security training
In order for digital workspaces to function properly, they need to be secure. And, employees need to be armed with the knowledge of what steps they can take to make sure their own work is secure. Most importantly, clients need to feel that their data is safe with your company, else they be tempted to take their business elsewhere (and we don’t want that for you!). Finally, with your workforce operating remotely, your employees can become even more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
So holding regular security trainings can help counteract any potential cyberattacks your staff might face while working on dispersed teams. You could create a cybersecurity training plan that specifically caters to your company’s digital workspace.
Be sure to involve your IT team in the process of figuring out how you’ll educate staff on security issues. Your IT team should also brainstorm ways for staff to report a cyberattack, how they can report lost or stolen devices, and who they should reach out to in case of an emergency. You can also test your staff by sending out fake phishing emails to get everyone on the same page about security issues. SmartFile allows users to access their files and information securely from anywhere in the world.
Automated workflows
Technology is all about innovation, and in recent years, we’ve been able to use tech to simplify daily tasks like checking out at the grocery store or getting directions. Automated workflows have the same effect. They can help save you time, energy, and money, allowing teams to work on the projects that truly matter. Through rules-based logic, workflow automation technology can do things like:
- Email notifications
- Auto-archive files (move files based on date or action)
- Auto-delete files (delete files based on date or inactivity)
- Auto-copy files to other storage
- Recycle bin (move files to trash folder when deleted)
- Deactivate users (based on date or inactivity)
SmartFile’s automation technology can help you create complex workflows to use throughout your organization. This can in turn make your team more productive and encourage team members to focus on doing their best work.
Collaboration
Teamwork makes the dream work. Yes, even in the digital office this statement rings true.
Just because your team is dispersed doesn’t mean they can’t work together. Collaboration tools like Slack allow your team to communicate through chat and direct messaging. You can also humanize these digital workspaces through the use of GIFs and providing channels specifically for water-cooler conversation.
Meanwhile, video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet empower teams to have face-to-face virtual meetings so you can hash out ideas on an upcoming project in real-time.
Additionally, SmartFile makes collaboration easy peasy while operating a digital workspace. You can use it to share files securely across multiple devices and team members, use virtual data rooms, and branded UI to get team members aligned on goals, files, and company culture.
File sharing and storage
File sharing and storage are a big part of digital workspaces. Gone are the days of bringing a briefing to a colleague’s desk or distributing meeting notes in-person to your team. But, digital file sharing can be mundane as many platforms and email hosts come with attachment size limits and other minor headaches.
That’s why SmartFile is essential when it comes to operating digitally. With its unique file sharing and storage features, your employees can store both personal and professional files separately and without limits. This will empower them to make the most of their time at work, minimizing workplace distractions.
How can SmartFile help me prepare for the transition to a digital workspace?
Now that you know all about how digital workspaces work and why they’re important to create a thriving workplace, let’s discuss how SmartFile can help you prepare for the transition to the digital workspace.
With SmartFile, you can take advantage of our innovative automation workflows, file sharing, virtual data rooms and so much more.
To share, users can implement the browser interface on any device, access data via an FTP client, map it to a drive letter, or even use the API. Any size file can be sent and you can even maintain your online brand by using your own URL and branding the UI.
Here are some of SmartFile’s key solutions that can help you transition to a digital workspace:
- On-premise file management with FileHub: SmartFile’s FileHub is a self-hosted appliance that enables you to securely manage files both inside and outside your organization. You can connect to FileHub through your preferred method whether it’s SMB, direct, FTP Cloud, or desktop connection. Employees will have a branded UI to share files while IT staff can use a single management point to have an overview of file and user activity.
- Global File Transfer: FileHub makes updating files between home offices around the world a breeze. With just one point of access, users can connect network storage, FTP servers, Windows servers and application storage internationally and at the home office.
- Internal File Server: Did you know that SmartFile helps reduce shadow IT and file sprawl? Well, it does! When overseeing a digital workspace, employees will benefit from not having to use their own personal cloud storage, email storage, and filesharing hosts.
- FTP Hosting: With SmartFile’s FileHub, you gain access to secure FTP hosting with unlimited users, file size, and connections. Scale your company quickly without worrying about the little things like attachment size limits and unwieldy email chains.
- Managed File Transfer (MFT): Security is a top priority at SmartFile. That’s why we’ve made it easy to use monitoring and reporting tools so IT departments can easily set permissions, file password protections, and user roles. They can also monitor activity via a visual dashboard and detailed logs so any security risks can be spotted before they become an issue.
- Virtual Data Rooms (VDR): Emulate the privacy, efficiency, and security of real-life meeting rooms with SmartFile’s VDR feature. Whether you’re in healthcare, academics, or pharmaceuticals, you need a safe digital space to share files and meet with other teammates. Virtual meetings and file sharing get a one-stop-shop at SmartFile.
- Private Cloud Environment: A private cloud environment means you won’t share resources with anyone else. Since the hardware focuses only on your tasks, you’ll feel a boost in productivity. Employees will also feel an extra sense of security in having their own private digital space.
- Hybrid File Management: Failovers happen but with SmartFile, you can rest assured your data and files are safe. The hybrid file management model lets you back up your files on SmartFile’s public cloud or Amazon S3. No panic necessary when hardware fails.
- Branded UI: While the office may be virtual now, it doesn’t mean you can’t have cohesive branding. Showcase your company through the use of custom logos, colors, and CSS in the SmartFile web browser.