We give space to the future
09.09.2021
Digital Workplace @ECE - driving transformation with Microsoft 365
Whether in retail, in the shopping centers, or at the workplace: Digitalization shapes working life at ECE. Our aim: To expand future-proof concepts that combine online and offline – and which were already in development and implementation before the Corona pandemic – as quickly as possible. Working models that combine the best of the digital working world and personal exchange on site are also more in demand than ever.
ECE combines a wide range of employees, tasks and processes in different companies. This makes it even more important for us to continue to drive forward the modernization of the virtual workplace for our diverse employee profiles. In recent months, many ECE employees have had to work together almost exclusively digitally. An IT project team around Kristoffer Mandelbaum, Head of Digital Workplace & Service Management, is dealing with the question of how to further optimize the digital workplace for ECE colleagues.
"We recognized early on that a modern digital workplace can only be successful if technology and people work together. For this reason, we decided to introduce Microsoft 365 as a central collaboration platform within ECE. Introducing such a platform and getting our colleagues excited about it is a complex and challenging project that I am leading with a dedicated team. From the very beginning, we focused on the needs of the employees as well as the requirements of the ECE companies," Kristoffer Mandelbaum summarizes.
COLLABORATION AS A DRIVER FOR INNOVATION
In order to demonstrate the diverse possibilities of Microsoft 365 and train colleagues to work with the platform, the project team launched an internal campaign under the motto "Microsoft 365 - Your Upgrade for a New Us". It is focused on applications that enable fast and targeted communication, collaborative work on files and the tracking of shared tasks. The employees learn about the most important functions of the collaboration platform via short video trainings and live demos and how they can optimally use them in their daily work.
"The new Microsoft 365 applications prepare for the future of work and form the basis for leveraging the overarching potential of the cloud. Together with the employees, we as a team experience the modern forms of collaboration - secure, fast and simple," Mandelbaum is certain.
Everyone benefits from the numerous advantages: the linking and simple integration of applications creates synergies. The efficient collaboration increases productivity and know-how management at ECE, with more flexibility and agility, colleagues act in a more targeted manner. The introduction of Microsoft 365 is to be completed by the end of 2021 and, as an overarching platform, will form the basis for digital collaboration at ECE.
Ingo Fiss, Director Information Technology
Gradual introduction in the divisions
Creating acceptance among employees for new ways of working is the key success factor for achieving the positive effects such as productivity, efficiency and transparency with the help of the "Digital Workplace". Listening, advising and removing uncertainties – the daily routine of the project team. In addition to training modules that build on each other, adoption formats have been established. These formats show different use cases from everyday work, provide quick assistance, and support the managers in their role as coaches and role models in the digital transformation – a change that affects everyone, significantly develops the corporate culture of ECE, and sets the guidelines for modern work concepts.
"ECE's vision 'We give space to the future' can also be found in IT: in spaces for digital collaboration, especially in the realignment of hybrid forms of work, which we map in Microsoft Teams, for example. Explicit on-site or mobile-only working will no longer be sustainable after Corona, the third scenario of hybrid working will be an integral part and thus more relevant than ever for ECE's working and corporate culture", says Ingo Fiss, Director Information Technology.
Where is the journey to after Corona?
The journey will definitely not come to an end, but will really pick up speed when the "Digital Workplace" has arrived and is lived in all companies, i.e. ECE Marketplaces, ECE Work & Live, ECE Real Estate Partners and ECE Group Services. Each team decides how best to combine mobile and face-to-face work according to its individual work requirements. Gathering experience, constantly adapting working methods, remaining agile, optimizing the working environment, being supported with the best platforms: This creates the basis for our goal of completing every task in the best possible way, day after day.