“Offices are the new cruise ships” – why it has never been more important to go digital

As COVID-19 gradually recedes, many are starting to imagine what the new post-virus world will look like.

With many now still working from home, one of the key questions has been around what a return to the office will look like.

But it seems that it will be far from business as usual in the immediate term and potentially in the longer term too.

This month, workplace design expert James Calder told the Australian Financial Review that he believes open-plan offices pose too great a risk for any employer to inflict on their staff.

Calder, who helped designed Australia’s first activity-based workspaces (ABW) in Sydney, said offices will have to be redesigned to allow for greater space and contain fewer people.

Until we have a vaccine, Calder said he can’t see how ABWs can be used at their full capacity.

“They’re just like land-based cruise ships. The circulation paths are intended to make people meet as many other people as possible – I know, because I’ve designed them,” he said. “They’re the perfect incubator for passing this thing around.”

ABWs, which feature open plan designs and shared areas, are not the only ones that are under threat by the virus.

Experts believe that all workspaces are going to be impacted by COVID-19 as businesses grapple with the best ways to balance productivity and employee safety.

 

Never a better time to try DocuWare

With people worldwide jumping headfirst into the new normal, solutions that enable them to work from home have never been more critical.

Most organisations were not really ready for this transition so IT departments have been scrambling to get new systems in place.

The good news is there are simpler, cheaper and more efficient ways to transition your employees to working from home or spending less time in the office. One such solution is DocuWare, a suite of tools that makes cloud document management and digital workflows easy.

Using DocuWare, you can securely store all of your documents in a central repository, providing access to those documents on a number of different devices.

As the only Platinum Partner of DocuWare in Australia, Docuworx is ideally placed to help you embrace the digital future. So what can you do with DocuWare?

A plethora of practical use cases

As noted by DocuWare UK Regional Sales Director Andy Barnett in a recent webinar, DocuWare has a number of practice use cases, including:

• Incoming invoices: Automate the digitisation, processing, and archiving of all incoming invoices and remove slow, manual steps in finance
• Employee records: Securely centralize all employee records and use workflows for onboarding, employee reviews, and more
• Customer files: Store all correspondence, manage versions of contracts, and set up workflows for digital signatures, create a 360-degree view of your customer
• Mail room: Digitize incoming mail for easy digital distribution and retrieval
• Sales operations: Keep marketing material and sales documents like proposals and presentations right at your fingertips – even while on the road
• Controlling: Archive critical planning documents, prepare and respond to audits, maintain regulatory compliance and privacy standards

When it comes to using DocuWare, Barnett says that the difference it can make to an organisation is crystal clear.

Scattered records and files become centralized and organised, overwhelming and time-consuming manual tasks become seamless workflows, and security gaps and painful auditing processes become audit readiness and improved compliance.

Find out more

COVID-19 has caused widespread disruption of the way we live and do business. It is highly likely that offices will not return as we know them for some time, if ever. It has thus never been more important for businesses to accelerate their digital transformations.

To watch DocuWare’s latest webinars, check out its official YouTube channel. For more on how Docuworx can get you started on your digital transformation, contact us today.