| | August 20168CIOReviewf someone asked what you consider to be one of the top competitive differentiators for today's enterprises, what would you say? Business model innovation? Highly differentiated products or services? Attracting top talent? Something else?What about a digital workplace? If that was on your radar, you'd be in good company. At Avanade, we consider a digital workplace to be a modern work environment where employees are more engaged to make faster decisions and achieve greater results­something that organizations are increasingly making a priority. Recent studies have shown that more than half of CIOs now place employee satisfaction in their top three metrics. Why? Because they are coming to terms with the fact that employee satisfaction/engagement and effectiveness of the workplace are inextricably linked, and they are making investments in solutions that help drive employee engagement. These investments are paying off. Avanade's own research has shown that 99 percent of organizations that have adopted digital workplace tools have experienced business benefits, including increased efficiency, improved employee engagement and accelerated revenue growth. A digital workplace also reduces costs through self-service access to applications and systems that traditionally required involvement from IT.CIOs and IT leaders are hardly the only stakeholders who benefit from a more effective workplace. Other stakeholder groups are able to work smarter and more efficiently with the right tools in place. Consider the following business functions and their digital workplace needs: ·Sales ­ Only 58 percent of sales directors are expected to reach their annual quota, according to research from Accenture. That's because sales pros spend too much valuable time manually gathering the customer insights needed to close a single deal. Tools and applications­such as smart technologies, which allow computers or machines to do work or make decisions traditionally done by humans­provide relevant market research and customer data at the salesperson's fingertips, helping ensure that they can concentrate on giving the customer a better, more personalized and seamless experience, leading to higher sales and increased brand loyalty.·Operations ­ Today's customers have endless choices ­ meaning that in order to win their loyalty, the onus is on the brand to ensure that they are satisfied at every interaction. This goal becomes difficult, if not impossible, to achieve when you consider how much data is often disconnected, outdated or living in a silo. A digital workplace helps enterprises create a connected Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem that maximizes business value by integrating all the right pieces: technologies, data, processes, insights, action and people. It increases How CIOs Can Power a More Effective WorkplaceBob Bruns, CIO, AvanadeIN MY OPINIONBy I
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