Microsoft’s Approach to the Digital Workplace
A successful digital workplace is built to empower employees and maximize their productivity. At Microsoft, a key focus is ensuring employees are connected across teams and organizations, and with customers, partners, and vendors. These connections need to function whether employees are in the office, working remotely, or doing a bit of both. A strong partnership between Microsoft Digital Employee Experience (MDEE), the organization dedicated to powering, protecting, and transforming Microsoft, and Global Workplace Services (GWS) is pivotal for creating an integrated digital experience. This collaboration leverages physical infrastructure, devices, and cloud services to create a unified experience, deeply integrated with Microsoft products like Azure IoT, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365. This integration boosts productivity, efficiency, and accessibility, while reducing friction.
Nathalie D’Hers, CVP of Microsoft Digital Employee Experience, emphasizes the importance of this collaboration with Michael Ford, CVP of Global Workplace Services. “A commercial real estate leader and a technology leader see things from a slightly different lens,” D’Hers says. “Aligning on a shared vision and then determining how to achieve it is most important.” This involves formulating a vision both teams are comfortable with and agreeing on a path forward.
Keeping up with the evolving hybrid work environment necessitates significant, ongoing investments in employees. This digital workplace investment serves as a leading example of how companies can transform. This article demonstrates how these digital workplace experiences can be securely deployed at scale, making them inclusive, accessible, and manageable, while driving employee satisfaction and productivity.
This shift was accelerated by the pandemic, forcing a re-evaluation of the digital workplace. Even before COVID-19, Microsoft was already working to become more open, transparent, and collaborative. As the pandemic prompted workforces to quickly adapt to become more agile, the MDEE and GWS teams grew closer. “There’s beauty and power when people work together in a moment of crisis,” D’Hers says. “Prioritizing deliverables and budget alignment was easier because we were working as one team.”
As employees return to the physical office and explore what hybrid work looks like, employers must ensure an environment that empowers employees while keeping them safe. Microsoft’s teams are adopting a holistic approach to improve how employees access, engage, and work on campus. Microsoft Chief Digital Officer Andrew Wilson states, “The digital employee experience is the employee experience.”
Establishing Priorities for the Digital Workplace
Microsoft Digital focuses on three essential priorities:
- Putting Employees First: Prioritizing employee safety and efficient movement throughout the workday. This extends from commuting to navigating buildings and returning home safely.
- Creating Compelling Experiences That Matter: Providing employees with flexible, pre-pandemic experiences, including dynamic access to services and tools for effective collaboration.
- Measuring the Value of Efforts: Implementing solutions for collaborative and individual work. This involves increasing real-time analytics and metrics for building health and utilization.
Priority 1: Putting the Employee First
Employees are empowered to manage their interactions on Microsoft campuses through technology. This shift includes:
- Adapting workplace tech to social distancing requirements and focusing on employee health and well-being.
- Onsite food and beverage programs to streamline ordering, payment, and catering.
- Resources to help employees manage their time, take breaks, and maintain fitness.
- Health self-attestation apps, optimized environmental controls, and social distancing measures.
- Updated transportation options with fewer occupants per vehicle.
- Multimodal journey planning and tools to monitor crowding.
- Touchless visitor check-in and guest Wi-Fi access.
Key benefits of these initiatives include:
- Improved commuting decisions
- Space for recharging and wellness
- Order-ahead dining and cafeteria indicators
- Clear access to health attestation
- Touchless visitor experiences
Priority 2: Creating Compelling Experiences That Matter
The physical spaces employees encounter, particularly meeting rooms, are critical differentiators as employees return to worksites. This section focuses on workflow improvements (how employees arrive, engage, and work on campus) and meeting room enhancements.
Workflow improvements are provided through a variety of interfaces, including:
- A company-wide employee mobile app
- Smart building kiosks
- Desktop applications
- AI/bots
Smart building capabilities provide employees with flexibility. For example, smart parking and badgeless entry enhance the employee experience.
As employees begin returning to work sites, they will utilize smart recommendations for their commute which includes:
- Seamless commute and fast parking.
- Badgeless entry.
- Clear and visible wayfinding.
- A move toward smart building capabilities.
Meeting room improvements address challenges by simplifying joining and sharing content, improving audio, and driving video adoption. Computer-driven systems are deployed cost-effectively, as nearly 16,000 meeting spaces are in use at Microsoft. The aim is to provide a simple, consistent experience, globally.
Microsoft Teams is used to enhance the meeting experience, creating a friction-free remote connection experience. Technical improvements ensure remote attendees are included equally. Automated notetaking, task creation, and better integration of meeting information are essential.
Key initiatives include:
- Deployment of Microsoft Teams Rooms.
- Decommission old conferencing technology.
- Improved meeting space reservation time.
- Ensured inventory accuracy and device visibility.
Priority 3: Measuring the Value of Efforts
In a hybrid work environment, determining space utilization is more challenging. Microsoft uses data science and modeling to make decisions about workspace use. This uses badge swipes and IoT sensors to collect real-time data.
MDEE and GWS collaborate to improve facilities and operations. This includes efficient facility management, energy-smart buildings, and back-office processes. The team is building a state-of-the-art system using Dynamics 365 Field Services, Azure Digital Twins, and a real estate data lake.
Key initiatives include:
- More precise occupancy planning.
- Increased use of real-time data.
- End-to-end facility management.
- A digital twin of a building.
- Quick onboarding of data.
Conclusion
Microsoft’s investment in the digital workplace prioritizes employee experience, providing simple, consistent, and reliable technologies. This approach offers productivity and ease of business. A strong partnership between IT and real estate teams yields benefits. Experimentation on a small scale helps to prepare for a wide range of possibilities, so that the employee is put in control of their environment through a hybrid experience.
