NEWS RELEASE: Paul Miller, founder of the Digital Workplace Forum, predicts the Digital Workplace will “start to be regarded as a major business opportunity” in 2012

NEWS RELEASE
22^nd December 2011, New York

Paul Miller, CEO and Founder of the new ground-breaking organization Digital Workplace Forum (DWForum), had made his top ten predictions for the “Digital Workplace” for 2012. These include how the Digital Workplace will affect disciplines like HR and Real Estate, the delivery of workplace technologies and how work itself will be organized.

Miller, whose brand new book “The Digital Workplace” will be launched in New York next March, said “2012 is going to be a pivotal year for the Digital Workplace.  Work is undergoing a seismic shift as it becomes portal and mobile, and it is inevitable that this will start to transform every aspect of organizational life. As CEO and founder of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum each year I predict emerging intranet trends, and for 2012 the time was right to do the same for the wider Digital Workplace.”

“Some of the trends we’ve already seen in 2012 will accelerate. For example I believe the policy of “Bring Your Own Devices” (BYOD) in organizations will expand and deepen. We can expect more announcements of innovative office redesign projects such as the recent one at Rolls Royce which shape the physical workplace around the way people actually want to work. But perhaps the deepest changes are going to be around awareness of the Digital Workplace.  Governments are starting to promote initiatives supporting new ways of working, CEOs are realizing the massive opportunities in this area and staff will be voicing their opinion on the poor usability of the Digital Workplace.”

Miller also predicts that the Digital Workplace may start to influence the shape of organizations. He believes some will follow “the way Facebook, Google and Twitter are organized as companies – with very few people producing huge amounts of financial value – with major traditional corporates trying to re-shape how work happens.”

Miller’s ten predictions are listed below. The full explanations can be found on www.ibforum.com.

Trend 1:  The Digital Workplace will cause a wave of physical office re-design projects with real estate leading the shift

Trend 2:  The cultural impact – based on fears of isolation and fragmentation – in the Digital Workplace will surface as a key human resource challenge and opportunity

Trend 3:  The tragic state of the usability of the Digital Workplace will start to be noticed as an obstacle to efficiency

Trend 4:  The “digital examples” to follow will be the way Facebook, Google and Twitter are organized as companies – with very few people producing huge amounts of financial value – with major traditional corporates trying to re-shape how work happens

Trend 5:  Governments will lead the drive at policy levels for a fundamental shift to digital working and mobility with organizations struggling to match the pace of change

Trend 6:  The Digital Workplace will grow and develop as a more general world of work and technology and not as a “bigger, better intranet”

Trend 7:  Working across geography and time-zones will increase and power the expansion of the Digital Workplace with new innovation and collaboration opportunities

Trend 8:  “Bring Your Own Device” trends will drive the Digital Workplace towards mobile services accessed via single log-in details secured at the point of entry

Trend 9: The Digital Workplace field will create increased anxiety and risk management concerns at senior levels leading to more strategic controls

Trend 10:  The Digital Workplace will start to be regarded as a major business opportunity – rather than simply a replacement for physical offices

About the Digital Workplace Forum

The Digital Workplace Forum (DWForum) is a confidential, invitation-only grouping for major organizations that are committed to share, investigate and measure the performance and business value of their digital workplaces. The purpose of DWForum is to radically improve the performance, scope and impact of the digital workplaces of member organizations – positively impacting recruitment, retention, productivity, environment, travel, real estate and HR.

Further details about the format and members of the Digital Workplace Forum will be released shortly.

About the Intranet Benchmarking Forum

IBF is the world leader in intranet and digital workplace benchmarking, research and interaction with offices in London and New York. Its 100 plus members are all Fortune 500 and equivalent organizations including AT&T, BP, Citi, Deutsche Post/DHL, Ernst & Young, Exxon Mobil, Kraft, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, Total and Verizon.

Since 2002, IBF has been helping members maximize the effectiveness and value of their intranets through benchmarking, interaction and research. Only major companies and public-sector organizations are eligible to join. Members agree to strict confidentiality on joining.

For more information contact:

Paul Miller
CEO and Founder
T: +44 (0) 20 7722 8726 | + 44 (0)7785 255883
E: paul.miller@dwforum.com
@paulmillersays

Nancy M. Goebel
Managing Director
T: +44 (0) 20 7722 8726 | +1.866.903.0232
E: nancy.goebel@dwforum.com
@pw2dw