In the era of hybrid work, establishing robust digital workplace governance has become more critical than ever. As businesses navigate the complexities of remote and in-office collaboration, the need for effective management, optimization, and security of digital platforms is paramount. Unisys is one of the market players, offering comprehensive range of solutions to enable organizations efficiently govern their digital workplaces. In an exclusive interview, Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal spoke with Moses Lalithanand, Senior Director, Digital Workplace Solutions, Unisys. They delved into how Unisys is driving innovation in digital workplace governance and what it means for businesses navigating today's hybrid work environment.
Rajeev: How can limiting tool sprawl optimise IT operations and ensure robust data security within the enterprise?
Moses: Organizations resort to several collaboration tools to keep up with digital trends, leading to data and tool sprawl. However, transitioning toward standardizing a core set of integrated tools can significantly streamline data flow across an organizationโs infrastructure. This shift away from excessive tool diversity not only enhances the overall business efficiency by simplifying processes and boosting productivity but also plays a crucial role in mitigating employee fatigue. Especially among new hires. Further, by limiting tool sprawl, organizations can effectively avoid functionality duplication, reducing operational costs and improving collaboration dynamics.
Emphasizing a focused toolset also translates to faster decision-making and better performance, which is essential for expansion-ready organizations. Maintaining a flexible and scalable tech stack with a smaller software footprint reduces the total cost of operation (TCO) over time. Organizations with fewer and more effective tools will have better security and enhanced threat detection and protection capabilities. This optimization allows teams to concentrate more effortlessly on core tasks, increasing overall productivity and establishing a more robust framework for sustainable growth. Digital workplace governance promotes responsible data management and curbs data sprawl. It mitigates risk, ensures regulatory compliance, and encourages cross-functional dialogue
Rajeev: How does governance add to the sustainability of the workplace?
Moses: As reliance on digital collaboration platforms increases, it is crucial to customize these solutions to meet specific enterprise needs, ensuring that productivity and security not only coexist but enhance each other.
Security and infrastructure stakeholders recognize the importance of information governance, including lifecycle and records management, in risk mitigation and user experience enhancements. As Generative AI gains rapid adoption, governance aids in long-term strategy planning, focusing on reducing sprawl and increasing integration rather than running multiple parallel AI initiatives. Effective digital workplace governance enables business agility to bolster long-term resilience.
Rajeev: Why is it important to educate employees about workplace governance and equip them with the right skills to follow it?
Moses: Informed employees make better decisions about data creation, storage, and disposal. This reduces the burden on IT teams and encourages data accountability among employees. Understanding the organizational priorities and perspectives of other business units helps create a more harmonious IT environment, especially in the developer community, where specialized tools are preferred.
More informed employees are also better equipped to identify and respond to potential cybersecurity threats, mitigating data breaches or unauthorised access risks. Workplace governance policies should be communicated to the employees through recurring training sessions and internal updates such as newsletters, emails, videos and short social media posts. Leaders should be proactively communicating to prevent any compliance lapses and be ahead of evolving compliance requirements and technological advancements.
Rajeev: How can businesses adopt effective data governance practices?
Moses: There are five important steps that organizations can take to ensure data governance practices are solid:
Define Clear Policies: Establish data handling, storage, and access policies.
Assign Ownership: Designate data stewards to oversee data integrity and compliance.
Implement Technology: Use tools for data classification, encryption, and monitoring.
Train Employees: Educate staff on data governance principles and practices.
Regular Audits: Conduct periodic reviews to ensure compliance and address gaps.
Rajeev: How is Unisys helping businesses manage, optimise and secure collaboration platforms to enhance digital workplace governance?
Moses: Our solutions are based on an in-depth understanding of different employee personas and expertise in organisational change management.
Our digital workplace solutions provide our clientsโ workforce with the right mix of personalised tools and device management, driving seamless collaboration and improving productivity. According to research from Unisys, 49% of employees lose 1-5 hours of productivity weekly due to IT issues and our solutions aim to address this issue. โ
We assist our clients on several areas including:
Governance solutions to establish clear policies and procedures.
Collaboration platform expertise to ensure optimal platform configuration and use.
Consulting services focussing on customer ROI metrics to reduce tool sprawl.
Security services to protect collaboration platforms from cyber threats.
Training and support to empower employees with data governance best practices.
Consulting services focussing on customer ROI metrics to reduce tool sprawl.
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