It’s no newsflash that technology is changing the way the modern workforce gets things done, and the rate of change at which technology is impacting business seems to be increasing day-by-day. The opportunities to improve productivity via innovative technology are growing, but so are the risks of failing to respond pro actively to the rapidly changing business landscape. In fact, according to a CEO survey by PWC, 86% of CEOs cited “digital disruption” as their biggest concern for 2018.

What is Workforce Transformation?

Workforce Transformation is a subset of the larger concept of Digital Transformation, which has to do with how organizations are responding to address the very real threat of disruption. Workforce Transformation focuses on the aspects of Digital Transformation that relate to employees, processes, and associated technology.

BDO Digital's deep experience in this area tells us that there are four critical elements necessary for successful Workforce Transformation:

• Productivity – Empower your users to get more done with less, while inspiring creativity and collaboration.
• Platform – Allow anywhere, any-device access to information and a great user experience, along with robust management capabilities for modern IT.
• Protection – Safeguard your organization’s digital assets wherever information is used.
• People – Enable your users to understand and even embrace change, and ultimately achieve real and lasting digital transformation.

Each of these areas can be further broken down into four key areas of focus, which are detailed in our Workforce Transformation model, as shown in the diagram below.

Facilitate Workforce Transformation with Microsoft 365

Workforce Transformation covers a lot of ground, and there are many vendors and products that offer solutions in each of the areas described above. Microsoft 365 suite is a great example of the value of integrating disparate products into a single platform. In doing so, Microsoft is able to provide a great productivity experience for users and teams, while helping ensure that sensitive data remains secure and well-managed.

When thinking about productivity in the context of the organization as a whole, it is important to broaden that conversation to include line-of-business tools, and how they all integrate together in order to improve automation and efficiencies. To help put this into context, let’s take a closer look at one of the most widely used applications for marketing and sales – Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Transforming CRM Integration & Automation with Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 is Microsoft’s solution for customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and more. While Dynamics 365 has been around for many years, Microsoft has recently made substantial investments that expand and enhance the offering. New capabilities around marketing automation, social engagement, field service and more provide comprehensive solutions for Workforce Transformation. Additionally, Relationship Insights is an exciting new way to leverage the power of analytics and machine learning to drive measurable improvements in the customer experience.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of Dynamics 365 is how it can easily integrate with other mission critical tools – helping to greatly boost work flow and process automation. Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to improve integration between the CRM solution and other related productivity tools (especially Office 365 and Power BI) has become a significant game-changer in how mid market organizations are driving Workforce Transformation.

Together, Microsoft's platform provides a rich set of capabilities that can really help mid market organizations increase revenue while decreasing cost in a variety of ways. Easy access to information and simple, yet powerful, analysis tools can substantially improve both the speed and quality of decision-making across the organization.

The Possibilities Seem Endless

For companies that are able to achieve Workforce Transformation, the possibilities seem endless. Of course, one of the biggest challenges will be understanding how to best apply the right technology solutions for your specific business needs, within your particular constraints, and keeping in mind your organization's culture and people.

BDO Digital has been successfully implementing CRM and related productivity solutions for more than 15 years. Many mid-market organizations have leveraged our deep experience, unique perspective and pragmatic approach to create new opportunities for innovation, improve workforce productivity, and ultimately improve the experience we provider to customers.

As always, BDO Digital stands ready to help you figure it out pragmatically and then to execute effectively on implementation, deployment, enablement, adoption, and long-term support. If you would like to learn more about our approach to Workforce Transformation or discuss how you can improve CRM integration and automation through the latest technologies, contact us to explore various scenarios based on your unique business objectives.