This article was originally written by Avanade alum Dave Carmichael.

There was a time when the ‘workplace’ meant the desktop, the service desk, IP telephony, remote working. It was a necessary investment to operate the company and many strategies (outsourcing, offshoring, new technologies) emerged to drive down cost.

This was the domain of the IT organization and IT still is an essential part of the modern workplace.

But it’s digital technology that is now causing the most disruption to the workplace. Social media, AI, analytics, cloud, mobile devices etc didn’t just change our customers’ expectations, they changed our employees’ expectations, impacting the culture of our organizations and how we operate them.

It’s the workplace experience (WX) that has changed and it’s a massive challenge to get it right. One things for sure, getting it right involves a lot more than just IT. As the diagram below shows, transformation is required in three areas:

• For IT - Modernized platforms
• For HR - Reimagined culture and employee experience
• For the business leaders - Optimized operations

Organizations that get their workplace experience right, are starting to realize their workplace is the new frontier for competitive advantage.

You’ll be hearing more from Avanade on this new approach that embraces the entire workplace to drive sustainable value. It combines technology, operations, culture and employee experience in a holistic approach focused on cost efficiency, productivity and growth.

But if you happen to be in London on Monday and Tuesday September 24-25, come along and hear for yourself at the Gartner Digital Workplace Summit. We’ll be there sharing a booth with our partner Accenture and we’ll be talking more about the importance of the employee experience with our other partner Akumina, sharing insights from helping global enterprises on their journey to making the workplace experience a creator of sustainable value. Hope to see you there.

Sessions not to miss:

1) Mon, 24 Sep 2018: 14:35 - 14:55 Session together with our partner Akumina: “There’s a New X in Town. WX – the Advent of Workplace Experience” with David Maffei (Akumina) and Stanley Louw (Avanade)

2) Mon, 24 Sep 2018: 16:00 - 16:30 Session from our partner Accenture: “Have It All. An Operating Model That Embraces Change”