Workplace from Meta has undergone a ton of change over the past few years. During the Pandemic, it has seen some of its most-sizable shifts. The platform consists of a business communication solution that combines: chat, video, groups, and more.
One of its most unique features is that it serves as a hub for HR and other departments to measure employee engagement, interest, etc. Accordingly, there are numerous integrations to third-party tools for advanced analytics, polling, file sharing, CRMs, no-code bots, and even with video conferencing platforms like Zoom.
You name it - the platform can likely help an organization pull it off. All this - says Forrester, in a 2022 total economic impact report commissioned by Workplace - creates a lot of customer and employee value.
That total economic impact: some 207 percent in the form of a return on investment. Regarding productivity and the future of work, Forrester further found that organizations that leveraged the tool would benefit from better organizational communications and collaboration.
"This delivered benefits of nearly $1.6 million to the composite. By finding information faster and communicating more effectively, knowledge-based workers save thirty minutes weekly while frontline employees save an hour each week." Forrester wrote in the report.
Forrester Total Economic Benefit, Workplace from Meta 2022 GetVoIP News
The firm unearthed that thirty-two percent more ideas get captured, leveraging the workplace platform, noting that it drives better product and process innovations. Regarding cost savings: Forrester notes that the platform comes with no shortage of those, making a case for "decommissioning legacy communications tools and from reduced email and intranet use."
Furthermore, HR managers and communications professionals (were found to save) some five hours per week because of the platform's adoption.
Employee Lifecycle Management, a Big Plus
Sometimes quantifying the total economic impact of technologies can be difficult. But Forrester determined from survey respondents that Workplace from Meta extends better employee lifecycle management and improved employee experience.
It, therefore, delivers $1.4 million to the composite - because it can assist in easing complex processes during recruitment and onboarding - to even internal promotions. "Workplace boosts the employee experience throughout a worker’s lifecycle," the report's authors wrote.
Forrester Total Economic Benefit, Workplace from Meta 2022 GetVoIP News
And all this does wonders for things like workplace morale, according to Forrester. It also enables employees to work more efficiently and effectively and extends something else we miss: having-mostly working from home - a platform for cultural exchange.
This could be anything from employee recognition; to company successes, diversity and inclusion, social events, distribution benefits (meal vouchers, etc.), and support for various causes.
Powering the Future of Work
The question on everybody's mind- what will become of the future of work? I believe that global employees are living it right now, with ebbs and flows of in-and-out-of-office workers and hybrid meetings.
Some folks work in-office, some folks at home. Another thing that is also for sure is that there is a ton of collaboration within those interactions. Those interactions must be engaging and impactful, which Forrester says Workplace facilitates, along with improved customer experiences resulting in incremental customer metric enhancements.
When it comes to IT, it can be difficult and expensive finding the right talent. Therefore, automation and low and no-code tools have become increasingly significant to SMBs and enterprises. Forrester found in its survey that Workplace helped reduce the use of shadow IT.
Longer employee retention:
Forrester Total Economic Benefit, Workplace from Meta 2022 GetVoIP News
"Many survey respondents reported that in some cases, there was a reduction in the use of unauthorized tools, such as messaging applications."
With more global firms merging - faster and lower-cost mergers or acquisitions are also top-of-mind. For firms leveraging the Workplace tool during times of acquisitions and mergers, they found that things went smoother thanks to a centralized hub for all employees to communicate.
That came with several other implications, such as faster and better information sharing for unexpected events. And in the event of (unplanned) events, Workplace has features like Safety Check: a feature that identifies which employees need urgent assistance.
Adding that all up - Forrester says; (equates to) a net present value (NPV) of $2.03 million and a 207 percent ROI.
Workplace from Meta's Ultimate Goal
It seems that is to give the knowledge worker, HR professional, and other employees the tools they need to have solid experiences in the workplace.
For companies like Slack, which remains on a mission to replace email with Channels, Workplace from Meta seems to have similar aspirations; as for many of its users, the platform has replaced email; and they no longer use the company-wide intranet.
In a world of hybrid working: Forrester says that the most sizable benefit of the workplace management tool is improved efficiency for knowledge-based workers.
Forrester Total Economic Benefit, Workplace from Meta 2022 GetVoIP News
Survey respondents, according to Forrester, shared that a lot of time - by more than half an hour per week on average could be saved because they could better find information via groups, crowdsourcing questions, the mobile app, using chat, and from the knowledge library.
Forrester added that these efficiencies are also supported when users integrate Workplace into other third-party tools.
"This adds to our insights from a previous study which found that knowledge workers are eight percent more efficient during a meeting and decision-making, reducing the post-meeting time by nearly 20%."
And access to accurate information has led Workplace users to make fewer mistakes and a reduction in the time it takes to resolve any errors made.
It has become increasingly evident throughout the Pandemic that such tools are essential. And they enable things previously unimaginable. Workplace from Meta is one of the many providers in the space, making moves to ensure employees stay connected across the globe, and the total economic impact that it spews off is immense.
Employees crave the tools they need to communicate with management about how they feel regarding policies; and how they feel personally. If an employee needs help with issues - they need a safe space to do that.
And it seems that Meta also wants to offer that up, moving deeper into the employee management and HR space, further blurring the lines between collaboration and other areas in the UCC arena.
