Don’t get left behind in the digital age

Digital Workplace Ireland, the conference that focuses on digital transformation, is returning with three half-day events taking place in Dublin and Cork in November.

The event, which is the only one of its kind in the country, focuses on helping organisations set off on the correct digital workplace strategy from the beginning to avoid making expensive and time-consuming mistakes.

Aside from its uniqueness, there are some major elements that make it worth considering.

For one, the three events only last half a day. That makes it easier to fit into a busy work schedule as well as ensuring that attendees get the maximum out of the time they have dedicated to it.

It’s something the organisers are excited about, including Niall McConnell of Convergent, who is both a speaker and part of the organising team for the events.

“Anyone from an organisation that wants to streamline and automate their business processes while reducing their reliance on paper and email needs to attend,” he said.

The conferences are in response to how the traditional workplace is being revolutionised by a new generation of workforce and customer who think and communicate in a digital way.

Not only is managing this change challenging, organisations are now also constantly battling with the unprecedented amount of information and content that is being generated, and the chaos that it’s causing.

It’s an area that the conference has placed a major emphasis on in terms of the speakers they have chosen on the day – how to start, where to start, what to look out for, the dos the don’ts and a fascinating insight from an end user on how they succeeded in achieving true digitisation for their organisation.

Many organisations have tried to overcome these challenges by investing in various software systems and apps, but the same old problems of manual business processes and a continued reliance on paper and email still exist.

And with the explosion of information and associated silos, organisations are now struggling to find the right content.

Much of the battle surrounding these issues is figuring out where to start, what is required and how to achieve an organisation’s digital workplace goals, but for many, that’s the part where they falter by placing too much faith, time and money in numerous system deployments only to find that the same fundamental problems still exist.

The quality of speakers and the variety of their topics is another major attraction.

For the keynote session, Nik Healy of Convergent will discuss the effectiveness of the digital highway approach and the simple basics of how to get a project off the ground, where to start and who to involve – all of which are fundamental considerations to ensure you are on the right path from the beginning.

From there, Abby Brown of United Planet will explore the benefits of social collaboration tools and self-service portals that can help your business digitise and automate routine business tasks, both for your employee and customer.

McConnell will talk and demonstrate how finance and account payable automation can save your finance department vast amounts of time and reduce financial risk, while acting as the perfect starting point for your entire organisation’s digital workplace strategy.

And finally, Chris Holly of IGas UK will give a case study on his company and how it dramatically reduced paper usage and automated businesses processes.

“The automation of key business processes is vital for any business to succeed in today’s marketplace,” said Holly. “It’s easy to invest in numerous systems with each one performing a different function but, in our experience, a truly digital goal is only achievable when you have seamless business processes between business departments or functions.

“However, seamless business processes are just not possible when you have too many systems that don’t talk to each other. Our strategy has made it easier for our business to operate while drastically reducing operating costs.”

McConnell said the story Holly will tell is very relevant because he’s actually coming from the perspective of one of the attendees of these conferences.

“He’s not here to sell anything or convince the attendees that he’s right . . . he’s just giving his first-hand view of what they did, how they did it and the huge successes they had as a result,” he said.

With the accessible venues in Dublin and Cork, a half-day format and relevant speaker topics, there’s no reason why representatives from any business in Ireland can’t attend, especially if digital transformation is a strategic goal of the organisation.

For those attending the event, McConnell recommended doing so with another colleague to help get the most out of it.

“It’s always easier going back to your organisation with the enthusiasm that comes from a conference like this when it’s shared by another colleague who also attended. So my advice is to invite a colleague, preferably from another department who can also benefit from digital transformation but in a different way.”

Attendees should leave the conferences feeling optimistic, enthusiastic and much more informed about their digital workplace journey. Realising the journey is not as complicated as they first thought is one of the main goals of the day.

If you’re interested in attending the events, McConnell strongly recommends people to book early, and for a good reason. “Like our event in the Aviva Stadium last year, we’re expecting very strong interest and full houses,” he said.

“I know all events will say there are limited spaces to get attendees to register early, but in this case, it’s true because the smaller set-up and more accessible locations mean we have less physical space and fewer seats. So if you want to attend, book immediately to avoid missing out.”

Digital Workplace Ireland Conference is taking place in the Radisson Hotel, Cork on November 13, the Clayton Dublin Airport Hotel on November 20, and the IMI in Sandyford on November 21. For more information, booking and details on early bird tickets go todigitalworkplace.ie