Identify Opportunities to Implement Digital Technologies for Workplace Collaboration

Now you have sufficiently reviewed the collaborative processes which are currently in place, along with the digital technologies being used to facilitate workplace collaboration, it is now time to perform a detailed review of the technologies available to you. The purpose of this step is to learn more about them, and later, select the technologies most suited to your needs.

Choosing the best digital technologies for collaborative work

There are several considerations you must make when identifying and selecting between the digital technologies available to you. Aside from factoring in the budget that is necessary for you to acquire these technologies, it is important to analyse both the dimensions of your organization's commercial strategy that relate to the use of digital technology and the characteristics of these digital technologies themselves. Let us look at these.

Alignment with organisational strategy

Among your organisational requirements, it is most important that you establish an alignment between your digital technology usage and your organisational commercial strategy. As the name would suggest, your commercial strategy is the plan of action your business would follow to become commercially successful. Commercial strategies vary from business to business depending on the market, objectives, principles, and resources available to a business. The following features of a commercial strategy must be considered when selecting digital technologies. Click on each to learn more.

Features of digital technologies

Different digital technologies have different features. In selecting the technologies that are most suitable for your needs, it is best to both compare and contrast the features of the available options – weighing the pros and cons of each.

The following table presents a comparison between two web conferencing applications.

Feature	Web Conferencing Applications
	Skype	Zoom
Video	Supports local, domestic and international calls Limited number of participants per call.	Using free mode, you can have up to 100 participants in a single call; you can pay to add up to 1000 participants in a call.
Messaging	Supports instant messaging through a fully functional platform Can be used for sending lengthy bodies of texts.	Has a chat-box feature that enables you to send instant messages in-call More ideal for short-form messages.
Sharing	Screen-sharing is supported File-sharing of large documents is supported.	Screen-sharing is supported
Other Features	White-board feature Polls and Question and Answer Sessions are supported.	White-board feature Screen-recording is supported. Access to analytics

The following table presents a comparison between two cloud-based office suites.

Feature	Cloud-Based Office Suites
	G Suite	Office 365
Email, Calendar, Contacts	Gmail More user-friendly interface Easy-to-use tools Calendar and contacts are separate functions with their own applications	Microsoft Outlook More advanced features Integrates contacts and calendar functions
Chats and Video calls	Google Hangouts, Meet and Chat Option to have separate platforms for video calls (Meet) and messaging (Chat) Simple, straightforward, easy to use	Microsoft Teams One platform that integrates all features such as chats/instant messaging, video calls, shared file repositories and customised workspaces More advanced features
Documents	Google Docs More collaboration-friendly	Microsoft Word More advanced features (e.g. built-in templates, figures, styles)
Spreadsheets	Google Sheets More collaboration-friendly More powerful tools More easily accessible	Microsoft Excel More advanced features (e.g. figures, styles)
Presentation	Google Slides More collaboration-friendly Easier to use	Microsoft PowerPoint More advanced features (e.g. Quickstarter which makes the process of making a presentation more efficient)
File storage	Google Drive Files are stored in the cloud by default	SharePoint Files are stored in every device and then synced into the cloud Has additional management tools
Security and Management	Supports key management features	More advanced security and management systems
Other features	Google Forms For creating various forms More advanced features Google Keep For note-keeping More straightforward Google Sites For creating websites	Microsoft Forms For creating simple forms OneNote For note-keeping More sophisticated

Key information regarding digital applications and options specific to the business

In order to learn more about the digital applications available to you and sufficiently choose among these, you must determine the key sources where you can find more necessary information about these applications.

Generally speaking, key sources of information are the first sources that you think to check when you need information about the applications. These sources are easily accessible to you and, most likely found within the applications themselves, an internal source. They have been created by the application developers for users to refer to if they need guidance in using the application. These are typically found in the ‘Help’ tabs of your applications; this is true for G Suite and Office 365 platforms. Official product pages are also key information resources that application developers make available for their users. These are found outside of the application but are likewise easy to access, such as: 

• SharePoint Glossary
• What is SharePoint?
• New and Improved Features in SharePoint Server 2019

On the other hand, your assessment of the available options may lead you to check external sources. These would include reviews published online and given by people you trust, online and offline journals and other print media. The most important thing to remember is that you should seek multiple references to make a well-informed decision that considers as many perspectives as possible.

In the process of identifying your opportunities to implement digital technologies for workplace collaboration, you may find yourself needing specific technical information and advice. When this need arises, it is best to seek assistance from specialist advisors. By definition, a specialist advisor is a person with a specific area of expertise. By virtue of their extensive knowledge in this field, they can be trusted to give reliable advice on matters within their expertise.

Specialist advisors

There are different kinds of assistance that you may require throughout your process, and these would all depend on your needs. It is important to note that for each kind of assistance you seek, you would require a different kind of specialist. To better assist you in understanding your options, let us consider some examples.

IT personnel within the organisation

Your internal IT personnel can give you sufficient advice in selecting the digital technologies that would be most appropriate to use in your organisation. Among all the specialist advisors you can reach out to, they represent a balance between organisational interest and technological expertise.

Given that they work with the existing systems within the organisation, they would best understand the technical needs and areas for improvement. They would also be of great support regarding how the digital technologies you are considering could be integrated along with helping you in deciding which of your viable options can optimise your collaborative processes.

Supervisor

Supervisors are considered specialist advisors. Their main area of concern would be ensuring the sufficiency of your efforts in promoting and improving collaborative processes. They are first and foremost interested in prioritising organisational needs with their focus being on ensuring that all your efforts are aligned with organisational requirements. In this context, they should help ensure that you are able to balance all the technical advice you receive with the overall objective of your goal – that is, to enhance your collaborative processes within the organisation. It can be said that the advice you will receive from them serves as the ‘human touch’ that will ground you in the overarching goal of your process.

Technical support/customer service representative

This professional advisor refers to individuals whose primary aim is to offer advice to future and current users of emerging technology. They are the best people to reach out to if you have specific concerns or questions regarding any of the digital technologies you are considering. They would have more than enough information on very specific matters such as features, system requirements, costs, troubleshooting, etc.

In seeking their advice, however, it is best to remember that they are first and foremost concerned with the digital technology they represent. This means that they will most likely attempt to persuade you to choose them over the other choices. As a consequence, it is vital that you seek out other sources of knowledge and advice in order to avoid being swayed by them.

Developer

Your creators, including your technical support/customer service reps, reflect unique digital technologies. They are specifically affiliated with the technologies that they helped to build in this case. Given their direct stake in the task at hand, their knowledge of the digital application you are considering is unparalleled.

Developers would be able to provide the same information as technical support/customer service representative. They may also provide additional tips on maximising the use of their application, including hacks and tricks that may be obscure. It is important to note, however, that they might have prejudices against their technology. Given this, it is best to seek out additional information so that you can weigh different points of view when making your decision.

IT specialist or consultant

IT specialists or consultants are experts who specialise on matters relating to information technology, including software, hardware, systems, security, and networks. They have technical expertise on various aspects of managing IT systems – from planning and implementation to monitoring, maintenance and evaluation. You can rely on them for being able to appropriately evaluate the digital technologies you are considering and advise you on which option would be most viable for you to choose, given your needs. The benefit of seeking their expertise is that they are a third party who advocates for neither the digital technologies nor the organisation. Given this, you can be assured that their advice would be relatively unbiased.

Andrew considers whom he may consult with when considering new digital technologies within ACE Finance. He determines this by considering questions such as:

• Who would be the end-users of these technologies?
• What functions or aspects of these technologies are new to the business and therefore would need to be well understood throughout the decision-making process?
• Who would be the most informed specialist advisor(s) to consult with?
• Would there be any bias to consider when consulting over certain technologies, such as those which may arise when working with the developer, for example?

After having gathered sufficient information on both your collaborative work processes and the digital technologies you currently use and could use to facilitate collaboration, you can now move to the next order of business – that is, to assess these processes against the technologies.

In making your assessment, you simply need to match the collaborative processes with the technologies that ought to be used for these. The following table outlines the digital technologies that you can use to facilitate collaboration.

Collaborative Work Processes	Digital Technologies that can be Used to Facilitate Collaboration
Communicating updates	Google Hangouts/Chat, Microsoft Teams  One integral way of collaborating is keeping each other updated on the progress of projects. Instant messaging platforms such as Hangouts/Chat or Teams would enable you to easily check on team members and quickly reach out to them for any questions or clarifications you would need.
	Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel  Part of keeping tabs of progress is having progress sheets that employees can constantly update and managers can track. Setting up digital worksheets to manage this progress is both effective and efficient. These files will easily be accessed and quickly be updated.
	Gmail, Microsoft Outlook  Emails have become an integral method for communicating in almost every organisation today. There is a level of formality associated with using the platform, and in this context, sending emails regarding your updates would be likely be done for major breakthroughs or milestones, as well as crucial issues and problems that you would encounter during your undertaking.
Coordinating team schedules	Asana  By the very nature of the application, Asana can be considered the ideal platform for coordinating schedules. Through the platform and its many features, you can sufficiently ensure that everyone is on the right track and likewise adjust as necessary.
	Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel  Just as worksheets can be used to track project updates, they are also ideal for easily setting up team calendars. Creating shared calendars is an important step in coordinating schedules. Having a worksheet that everyone can collaboratively update will enable each member to get an idea of how everyone’s progress and schedules look like in comparison with one another. This would help them align their deadlines and agree on dates convenient for everyone involved.
Facilitating meetings	Skype, Google Hangouts/Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom  Now, facilitating virtual meetings is easy and convenient. With video calling and web conferencing applications easily available, you can choose the platform most suitable for your needs. These platforms can even allow you to engage in specific meeting tasks, such as brainstorming (through the whiteboard feature of Skype and Zoom). Moreover, you can easily present slides and documents through the screen-sharing feature available in almost all video calling platforms.
	Gmail and Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook  In scheduling both virtual and physical meetings, sending out email invites is a necessary task. Thanks to integrated features of applications like Gmail and Outlook, once an invitee has responded to the invite, their calendars would automatically be adjusted, and reminders for the meeting would even be sent.
Facilitating document reviews	Google Docs, Microsoft Word  The collaborative features of word-processing platforms like Google Docs and Microsoft Word enable you to easily review documents. One feature that is especially important is the capability to make ‘comments’ in documents. This enables you to make detailed suggestions and even ask inquiries about certain parts of a document you are reviewing that the original owner can respond to.
	Skype, Google Hangouts/Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom  Through the screen-sharing feature available throughout the many video calling applications available to you, you can easily review a document while in-call with the relevant personnel. Moreover, if the document you are reviewing is made available through a collaborative word-processing platform, you can easily work together in revising the document in real time.
Seeking document approval	WeTransfer  File-sharing applications like WeTransfer have made it extremely easy to send files to the relevant personnel for their approval. The biggest advantage of using such platforms is their capacity to send files of large sizes without compromising the quality of the original documents.
	Gmail, Microsoft Outlook  Email is perceived as the most formal way of digitally communicating within the workplace. Given this, sending an email to request the approval of your documents is an essential way through which you make use of digital technologies to facilitate collaboration.
Reporting sales, project results, etc.	Google Docs, Microsoft Word  Writing your reports has become easier to do with the help of collaborative word-processing platforms like Google Docs and Microsoft Word. This is especially true when you are working with team members in a single project and need to collaboratively write your reports.
	Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel  When it comes to computing figures and executing math-related functions, collaborative spreadsheets like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel have made the work easier than ever. These platforms have many useful features like automatic formulas that enable you to quickly make the necessary computations. Moreover, their collaborative nature enables you to work with others in making these computations in real time.
	Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint  When it is time to formally present your results, having visual aids is a key factor that would enable your audience to better understand what you are discussing. Presentations are a reliable way of integrating the use of visual aids into your reporting. Making these has become quicker and more convenient thanks to collaborative platforms like Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoints that come with templates and guidance.

Andrew, when assessing the current technologies used for collaboration at ACE Finance, makes note of which processes are working effectively within the company. He discovers, through discussions with peers and colleagues, meeting collaboration through Skype is working well and people have few issues, however, notes that certain processes, such as file sharing through WE Transfer, are more efficient at sharing large files than can be attached to an email; however, WE Transfer does not have an electronic sign-off feature. This means individuals are still required to follow several steps and use another platform to sign and then send back through WE Transfer. This raises the question of whether there is another tool we can use that can seamlessly execute all of these functions, streamlining everyday tasks, saving time, and being cost-effective? Andrew can now consider this along with other findings in his research in order to ensure the most effective collaborative technologies are in place to meet the needs of the organisation.

Now that you have assessed how you can integrate digital technology into your collaborative processes, you can move on to determining your opportunities and priorities for using digital technologies for collaboration. In this process, you must remember to keep yourself grounded into the organisational strategies that are relevant to the undertaking. This is to ensure alignment with the overarching goals of your business – the fundamental reason for workplace collaboration.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of your Digital Technologies

Determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with your digital technologies into your existing systems is a crucial part of planning for their use. For you to do this successfully, you must perform a SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis is a technique that helps you determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with a certain aspect of your business. In this case, SWOT enables you to determine such elements associated with your digital technologies. This tool helps you determine the overall merit of moving from your existing technology to your recommended digital technology.

The four steps involved in performing a SWOT Analysis are:

1. Identify the strengths of your existing digital technology
   In this step, you will analyse the strengths of the current digital technology you are using. This would involve noting the key features which make it ideal for use in your workplace. For instance, you are using Gmail as your current email provider in the organisation and would like to shift to Microsoft Outlook as it is part of the Office 365 package. You note the strengths of Gmail, which include high storage space (15 GB for messages), user-friendly interface, and easy access across various devices.
2. Identify the weaknesses of your existing digital technology
   Along with the strengths of your current digital technology, it is likewise important to identify the weaknesses associated with it. These would reveal the reason there is a need to replace this technology and upgrade to a new digital technology that would enable better workplace collaboration.
   Along with the strengths you have noted, you identify the weaknesses of Gmail as an email platform. These include its lack of integration for related functions such as calendar and contacts. Such functions have separate applications, which makes it more difficult to set-up reminders and save data.
3. Determine the opportunities of your recommended digital technology
   In this step, you will analyse the opportunities associated with the new digital technology that you are recommending. This is the highlight of your SWOT Analysis, for it is in this step that you recognise the benefits that upgrading to a new digital technology would provide your company. Your new digital technology which would replace Gmail is Microsoft Outlook.
   Among the opportunities it provides, the most important is that it supports the integration of email and related functions (i.e. calendar and contacts) and allows users to access the platform offline as well.
4. Determine the threats of your recommended digital technology
   The final step in your SWOT Analysis attempts to ensure transparency and fairness. Just as you identify both strengths and weaknesses in your current technology, it is important to sufficiently assess both opportunities and threats associated with your recommended technology.
   One threat that you may experience in implementing Microsoft Outlook is data loss. This essentially means that not all the data currently saved in Google may be moved to the new platform. However, it can be noted that this threat is common to any system change.

Priorities for introducing digital technology in collaborative processes

Priorities are matters that you put first and consider to be more important than others. In deciding how to go about integrating digital technologies into your collaborative processes, you must sufficiently assess your priorities and consider these in making subsequent decisions relevant to your process. In the context of the organisation, your selection of priorities is founded on your organisational strategies. Two major considerations are involved in determining your priorities – these are urgency and importance.

1. Urgency: Matters that need immediate attention and action. If you are unable to attend to these matters, the consequences are not only negative but also immediate.
2. Importance: Matters that are vital in enabling us to achieve the goals and objectives you have set. If you fail to address these matters, you will not be able to achieve your goals and objectives.

In order to understand your priorities for using digital technology in collaborative work, you must clearly determine which of your goals and objectives are to be prioritised based on these two factors, urgency and importance. Using Eisenhower’s Principle will enable you to clearly recognise the difference among your set objectives. Using this principle, you must simply employ the definitions set above and determine if your set objectives fall under both, either, or neither of the two.

To better aid you in this process, it is useful to map out your objectives within a matrix. A sample with guidance is presented below.

Let us look at each quadrant of The Eisenhower Matrix:

DO FIRST quadrant: these tasks are important and urgent. They require your immediate attention and should not be skipped. For example, submitting projects to a deadline and responding to urgent emails.

SCHEDULE quadrant: these tasks are important but less urgent and may include scheduling meetings and replenishing supplies.

DELEGATE quadrant: these tasks are urgent but less important. For example, you may request a team member to attend a meeting instead of you or assign tasks to your teammates who also have knowledge of what you want to accomplish. 

DON'T DO quadrant: in this quadrant, you would place tasks that are not important and not urgent. Some of these tasks may be considered your 'distractions'. Examples that fall into this quadrant might include spending time on formatting an email that is not necessary or procrastinating by surfing the internet for information when you have sufficient to complete the task at hand.

The following video provides a handy and informative overview of the purpose and usage of the Eisenhower Matrix.

Other considerations for adopting digital technologies

Additional essential considerations when adopting new digital technologies are the costs, risks, timing, and business protocols involved in your undertaking. Let us look at each of these in more detail.

Costs

Costs refer to the sum of all resources you make use of in any given task or process. The costs you're dealing with when implementing digital technology are your actual and expected costs.

These would include:

Monetary costs

This refers to all the money, namely financial resources, you spend on the maintenance and monitoring of your current systems. Likewise, this would also refer to the expenses you would make in the process of acquiring and setting up new digital technologies.

Labour

This refers to the human resources that maintain the operations of your systems. In the adoption of new technologies, this would involve the human resources it would take to set up and introduce the new system to employees.

Infrastructure

This refers to the physical structures required in the upkeep of your current systems as well as those that you would need for the establishment of new ones.

Time

Time is essentially the means to measure your progress through a continuum (i.e., past, present, future) using relevant units (e.g., hours, days, weeks, months). Perhaps your most valuable resource! This cost refers to how much time has been spent setting up, using, and fixing your current system as well as how much time you are projected to spend engaging in the same processes for your new technologies.

Risks

It is important to think of all of the potential risks in a project. Risks refer to all the possible negative outcomes you expose yourself to. Risks may be small and easy to overcome or large and require additional resources, they may have little to no likelihood of happening or may be very likely, it is important to capture and be aware of all possible instances and have a game plan to reduce their impact or avoid completely. In this context, the risks you are concerned with are those that you are vulnerable to, should you continue using your existing technologies as well as those you are susceptible to as you make the switch. These would include:

System failures

This refers to data loss and corruption due to bugs in your system. Additionally, these failures may be caused by malware (malicious software) or viruses that interfere with your systems.

System underperformance

This risk is associated with outdated software and systems, these can experience lag and encounter errors which lead to underperformance. You expose yourself to this risk if you fail to keep your systems up to date as technologies become obsolete as time passes.

Privacy concerns

Privacy is concerned with how data is being used. Privacy concerns would, therefore, involve mishandling or misuse of pertinent business data.

Security concerns

Security concerns refer to how data is handled and protected. These would, therefore, involve security breaches that compromise business data. These typically occur as a result of unauthorised accessing of your networks. If your security is breached, your privacy is automatically leaked as well.

Non-compliance

This refers to your system’s inability to comply with laws and regulations for the management of organisational networks and technologies. Failure to comply with the necessary legislation may lead to fines, penalties, or legal action as well as damages to your company image and reputation.

Human error

This refers to mistakes in encoding, securing, maintaining, and monitoring data or systems made by the employees who use and manage the systems. This type of risk is more likely to occur when adopting new technologies.

Timing

It is also important to consider the timing of introducing new digital technologies in the workplace. Failing to conduct this at the right time, could end up making the current collaborative processes less effective due to the learning curve involved in introducing a new system. Some of the most optimal times for introducing new digital technologies include:

Before the start of a new project

One of the best times to introduce new technologies for collaboration is right before the start of a new project. At this time, everyone involved in the project is starting off fresh, with an open mind and an eagerness that will make them more likely to accept trying out a new way of doing things.

During breaks, holidays, shutdowns

During prolonged periods of time wherein your business is not operational, for example, holidays and shutdowns, it would be ideal to schedule the set-up of new systems. Doing this would make the process more efficient since there would be fewer people directly in the way of the process and time allowed to perform any necessary performance tweaks and gain a thorough understanding of the operational basis of the technologies. Moreover, once the break is over, everyone is likely to be in a calm and well-rested state, promoting a smoother adjustment to the new technologies.

At the end of the financial year

Like any other organisation, your official new year begins at the start of the financial (or fiscal) year. Given this, an ideal time for integrating new technologies into your current systems would be at the end of the financial year. Doing this would allow employees to sufficiently adjust to the new systems, so by the time the new financial year starts, they would have overcome the learning curve. This would allow them to start the year with the ability to use these technologies more efficiently.

Upon the implementation of a major organisational change

Whether it is a change in management, a merger, or acquiring a new subsidiary, undergoing a major change in the company provides you with the sufficient backing to implement a change in the systems currently in place. You can use this to your advantage and introduce digital technologies for collaboration. Since everyone within the organisation is likely to be more alert to changes, they would likely make a conscious effort to assess and accept changes.

As a response to an issue

Although this situation is unfortunate, sometimes the best time to make a change is in response to an issue with the current systems. If, for instance, you are compelled to introduce new technologies as a response to an issue that you have encountered, you must not waste your opportunity. Ensure that your selected technologies will sufficiently address the issue at hand and quickly implement the necessary changes.

Business protocols

When making your choice among the digital collaborative technologies available, there are many considerations you should keep in mind. These include not only the technical aspects of the technologies but also the attributes of the providers themselves. In deciding if a provider is the most suitable and capable choice for your organisation, there are several business protocols to follow. These involve consideration of some key attributes, which are:

Capacity

You must assess the capacity of the provider to offer their service. Do they have sufficient resources and processes to address any concerns that would arise such as staffing stability, training, and support as well as security and privacy protocols? Likewise, it would be beneficial to evaluate the rate at which they would respond to market influences.

Commitment

How committed is the provider in giving high-quality service? Determine how they set their standards or if they have certifications from external bodies. Moreover, you must also determine how much they can commit to your organisation – from the planning and setting up of their technologies until the implementation of these, and when you may need ongoing support from them.

Communication

Evaluate the communication protocols that the provider has in place, especially when a crisis that affects their clients would occur. Check on the channels they use and determine how effectively you think these would work to support your needs.

Competency

It is important to assess the provider’s ability to sufficiently deliver their services as they have been advertised. If you can, seek the feedback or reviews of past and existing customers to determine their satisfaction with the quality of service the provider gives.

Control

You must clearly establish control over the service, specifically in terms of how it will be managed. Who would be responsible for controlling and managing the service? Who do you reach out to when you need assistance?

Environment

It is crucial to evaluate the practices of the provider in relation to environmental issues and concerns. Do they adhere to the relevant policies and regulations? Do they appropriately manage their systems and services to minimise their carbon footprint? You should also check on how they impact the communities they are a part of.

Financial liquidity

Make an effort to assess the financial health of the provider. This means looking into their records, assets, statistics, track records, etc.

Price

As with any new venture, it is important to evaluate the costs of selecting a particular provider. Determine the value you are likely to get from them, and if they are worth the investment, you are to make. How much would your business benefit from obtaining their services?

Reliability

You must ensure that the provider can be relied on to deliver their services as promised. Can they consistently provide service of quality on time? Additionally, you may like to review customer feedback and reviews along with their overall reputation within the industry.

The last order of business involved in identifying opportunities to implement digital technologies for workplace collaboration is to develop a business case for the digital solutions you want to implement in your organisation.

A business case is a document that outlines the specific details of your undertaking. This can be far more detailed than a plan, which just offers a high-level description of the most critical information. It is important that your business case is reviewed by the necessary personnel before you present the digital solutions for approval.

Writing a business case

When writing your business case, you must remember to utilise all the available information you have previously gathered and collate these accordingly. Your business case should showcase your research and findings along with the reasons why you have opted for the selected technologies. The sections you should include in your business case are:

Executive summary

This section serves as an overview of the business case. Here, you would state the reason for this business case, that is, to implement new digital technologies for collaboration in the workplace. You should also mention the current digital technologies being used in the organisation, highlighting the limitations in these, and identify the digital technologies that you would like to implement in their place. Your introduction sets the tone and provides context for your business case, so it is important that you write it convincingly.

Finance

In this section, you will detail all resource-related matters of your project. This is meant to provide sufficient budgetary data and projections for those who will be approving the funding of the project. This section includes two subsections, namely:

Project definition

This section is the heart of your business case. As such, it is also the largest and most detailed section. It goes over the specifics of your project and has several subsections, namely:

Project organisation

The final major section of your business case will explore how your entire project is set up. It has two subsections, click on both terms below to learn more:

Format and layout of a business case

In addition to these, it is also useful to note the format of a business case. This includes font selection, font colour, font size, line spacing, page size, page borders, etc. As such, it is recommended that you become familiar with any style guides, rules, or conventions that your organisation uses when writing business cases.

It is important to ensure your business case:

• Is presented in a logical manner
• Flows in a fashion in which the reader can follow the development of your proposed plan
• Is pitched at a level that is appropriate for your audience (executive level) ensuring tone, grammar and punctuation are without error
• Follows the company style guide.

Ace Finance has its own style guide which covers a multitude of business-related activities and documents, with a business case being just one. See the following table which provides an overview of the layout and formatting requirements of a business case. The information contained within is an extract from the style guide, be sure to obtain a copy of your company’s style guide when developing and formatting business documents to ensure they adhere to the company’s requirements.

Ace Finance business case template

Executive Summary
This section must contain a summary of the main points of the business case. This section must cover all the important information covered in your business case and provide sufficient context to your reader.  Refer to the ACE Finance Style Guide for further formatting guidance.
Finance
Your finance section must be on a new page and already includes the page header (described above). In this section, you must include two subsections: Financial appraisal Project/budget risks Refer to the ACE Finance Style Guide for further formatting guidance.
Project Definition
This is the largest part of the business case. This section contains details relevant to the project sponsor, stakeholders, and project team. This section must also answer the why, what, and how questions about the project. Here your business case should: Identify available digital technologies by accessing relevant sources of information, Highlight that you have (or have considered the need to) seek assistance from specialist advisors, where required. Outline your assessment of existing collaborative work against available and existing digital technologies. You should also identify opportunities and priorities for digital technology in collaborative work. Refer to the ACE Finance Style Guide for further formatting guidance.
Project Organisation
This is the last section of your business case. When writing your project organisation, you must describe how the project is set up. Refer to the ACE Finance Style Guide for further formatting guidance.

Integrating organisational commercial strategy

It is critical that you remember to base your business case on organisational requirements, it is especially important that you assure alignment with your organisational commercial strategy.

When you detail the reasons and motivations behind your business case, you should refer to the relevant features of your strategy that would explain the necessity for your undertaking, essentially validating your reasons and research. For instance, if you are trying to replace existing technologies because they have become outdated, you must reinforce the value of innovation in keeping your organisation digitally competitive.

Technology is an essential element that contributes to the commercial success of your business. You must, therefore, recognise its value and likewise be willing to invest in it, as necessary. All these ideas must determine your business case and your initiatives in adopting new digital technologies to facilitate workplace collaboration.

Look at the following video which explains more about the purpose and how to compile a business report.

Presenting your business case

Once you have finished writing your business case, you are now ready to present it to the relevant personnel. As with any presentation, it is important to effectively deliver your business case to ensure its approval. Here are some useful tips to remember as you present your case.

Lead with the need

Start your presentation by discussing the need for implementing new digital technologies. Highlight how this would be relevant to your organisational commercial strategies and establish the value in doing so. It is essential that from the very beginning, you can sufficiently capture the attention and interest of the relevant personnel you will be presenting your business case to.

Breeze through your risks

As you go over the sections of your business case, it is important to remember that you frame your information in such a way that good points are highlighted, and less desirable ones are not given more attention than necessary. This means that in discussing your risks, you must simply make mention of them and then move on to how you have considered and accounted for each one. Remember to focus on how the benefits and opportunities outweigh the risks, just as you did in writing your business case.

Showcase specialists

Throughout the process of preparing for the use of digital technologies for workplace collaboration, you would have worked with experts and key personnel whose insights would prove to be invaluable in supporting your case. Use this to your advantage and cite the specialists that you have collaborated with, highlighting their merits and significance to the undertaking.

Address concerns

It is crucial to remember that your presentation does not end with you laying out the facts. The personnel you are presenting to are likely to have questions and concerns about your business case, and you must sufficiently address these. Before your presentation, it is best to prepare responses for questions you are likely to receive. The way in which you address the concerns of the relevant personnel affects the likelihood of them approving or disproving your business case.

End on a high note

Finally, it is important to end your presentation on a high note. Re-establish the value, benefits and positive impact that adopting new digital technologies would have. Relate these once again to your organisational commercial strategy, highlighting the key alignment between your initiative and the strategy. Doing so will leave a good impression on the personnel; it would positively impact their perception of both you and your business case.

Seeking approval

In the process of writing and presenting your business case, it is vital to recognise your target audience, i.e., the person whose approval you seek. In most cases, the approver of your business case would be personnel from top management such as your direct supervisor, manager, superior and/or even the owner of the business. Remember to keep them in mind as you create your plan and tailor your presentation to address relevant stakeholders appropriately as it is their approval you would be seeking at the end of the day.

Techniques for implementing new digital solutions to support collaboration

Introducing new methods and systems in the workplace is always challenging. To help you overcome and even minimise the problems involved in implementing new digital solutions, here are some tried-and-tested strategies you can use. These include:

Pilot test

Prior to implementing new technologies, it is wise to run a pilot program to assist in determining how to best transition from old to new technologies. This will help you predict and resolve key discrepancies and problems that can arise.

Do not rush

Though it may seem straightforward and implied, the tendency to rush the implementation of new technologies is actually quite common. Remind your employees to prioritise learning and fully adapting to the new technology, giving them the allowance to work their way through the new technologies. Productivity and efficiency will eventually be learned once employees have fully adjusted to the new technologies.

Provide the necessary support

Aside from telling employees that it is okay to take their time adjusting to the new system, you must also provide the necessary support to make it easier for them to overcome the learning curve. This would most often come in the form of training initiatives. Additionally, you may provide simple mechanisms and accessible materials they can use as references.

Be transparent

It is important to always remain honest with employees. In the context of implementing new digital solutions, you must clearly inform them about the reasons for the changes that are being implemented and tell them of any other essential information, i.e., problems and issues they may encounter in using the new technology. This will help them be more open to accepting new digital solutions.

Maintain the momentum

Sometimes, implementation would be successful and strong from the beginning then quickly fall apart later on. It is crucial that you ensure that you maintain your momentum throughout your implementation. It is therefore wise to set up systems and mechanisms that will enable you to consistently monitor the use of the new technology, this may include seeking feedback or having random checks.

Key points

• To determine which digital technologies are best suited to fit your needs, you must establish alignment with your organisational commercial strategy
• In learning more about the digital technologies available to you, you should seek key sources of information and the help of specialist advisors, as necessary
• In assessing your existing collaborative processes against digital technologies, you must consider how these technologies are or can be used to facilitate collaboration – highlighting how such technologies would enable efficiency in your processes
• In identifying your opportunities and priorities for adopting digital technology, you must consider the positive and negative aspects involved in the process and how you can use these to your advantage and address these accordingly
• The creation and presentation of a business case that collates all the information you have gathered is the cumulative step in identifying opportunities to implement digital technologies for workplace collaboration.

The final activity for this topic is a set of questions that will help you prepare for your formal assessment.