The Digital Workplace is one of the essential levers of a company's digital transformation. For employees, one of the essential elements of the Digital Workplace takes the form of a personal Dashboard. It is their dashboard to all their key applications and information.
The Personal Dashboard is the backbone of the Digital Workplace. It materializes the "I" of the employee in the application ecosystem of their company. Experts also call it the "Personal Productivity Hub The experts also call it the" personal productivity hub". But why is the personal dashboard essential? This is the question we will answer in this article.
Transforming Microsoft 365 into a true Digital Workplace
Many companies have chosen Microsoft 365 and in particular Microsoft Teams to create their Digital Workplace. In April 2021, Microsoft had 300 million paying users. And for good reason, the Microsoft suite is very complete and the tools communicate with each other. Thus, they form the Digital Workplace: a coherent workspace that can be integrated into Teams and SharePoint.
It can be used for a variety of purposes: HR intranet, IT help centre, internal communication site, knowledge base, everything is possible. To navigate more efficiently through all the content and applications available, employees have access to a personal Dashboard.
The aim of the Personal Dashboard is to become the homepage (the Landing Page) of the users. They find their profile, their tools and personalised content. It provides access to the services provided by Microsoft 365 and Teams, all the company's business applications, the latest news, the day's to-do list, etc.
In practice, the Personal Dashboard is a grid of Widgets. Each Widget provides a functionality: one displays internal communications, another shortcuts, the next the last consulted SharePoint documents. Together, they form a dashboard that is tailored to each employee.
The Personal Dashboard is modernising work habits. While we used to use a different software for each use, we can now schedule meetings in Teams, take notes in a video conference, send a message in a To Do List! The Personal Dashboard brings all these tools together on the same page with an ergonomics never reached before. A real gain in efficiency for each employee.
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Personalization, the real power of the Personal Dashboard
One of the foundations of the Personal Dashboard is personalization. This is done at two levels: at the company level and at the employee level.
π At the company level: Initially, the company will propose a Dashboard composed of a selection of preconfigured Widgets for each population. The objective is to provide the most relevant tools so that everyone can achieve their objectives in the best conditions. The Dashboard for Marketing and Communication will be different from that of Finance, which will itself be different from that of Sales and Logistics. These choices are not immutable. They are rather a starting point.
π To go further, don't forget to secure your employees' workstations
π At the user level: In a second step, the employee can review the layout of his dashboard according to his tastes and habits. The company nevertheless retains the ability to lock in certain elements. For example, internal communication could impose the display of corporate information and operational management could impose the display of the CMR to all sales staff. From an ergonomic point of view, these changes have no impact since each content will adapt according to the space available on the screen.
In any case, the contents displayed in the Dashboard are personalised according to the Personas. The company has the ability to choose the target of the posted content. One could imagine pushing financial data to management or market information to sales people in the field. The user himself can promote the information channels he deems most relevant by subscribing to themes.
This customisation of the interface by users will not only improve satisfaction, but also facilitate user adoption! They feel they can adapt the tool to their own needs.
π‘ To go further, find out how to boost the performance of your internal communication with the Digital Workplace