PHOTO:
Jouwen Wang
COVID-19 forced us to ask: How fast can we reorganize for a new model of work? We ve had to reimagine what we do and how we do it. Work is now less time- and place-based to be more flexible, more digital and more outcome-based.
Many companies turned to robotic process automation (RPA) as a digital transformation hack. Itâs faster and cheaper than a complete platform overhaul, and it reduces dependence on human workers for high-volume, menial tasks. RPA cuts costs and distances people. No more bullpens of human automatons grinding out 8-hour shifts. RPA seems to fit the business needs of the pandemic moment. Gartner predicts double-digit growth through 2024. But is the tech meeting the hype? How much is there to gain from these notoriously brittle robots that can contribute to technology debt?
Collaboration platforms (e.g. Teams or Slack).
As you can see, this is quite a short list for a specific example. Many of you who may feel as if you re drowning in tool options may likely read that list and wish yours was that short!
So the digital workplace can be a broad, expansive and complex environment, well beyond the idea of an intranet site with some linked applications.
No-Code Tools and the Digital Workplace
One place where we may see some continuous evolution this year, helping to move the needle on improving productivity is the continued acceptance of no-code or low-code development platforms and the idea of the business user as âcitizen developer.â My column last October covered, The Risks and Rewards of the Citizen Developer Approach. If we follow the approaches described in that article to mitigate risks, no-code platforms can bring great potential to the workplace, allowing business subject matter experts to develop business logic to improve specific