The wave of digital transformation is revolutionizing the way we work. Overview of open source (or not) solutions for new “digital workplaces”.
The advent of the digital workplace
The wave of digital transformation is revolutionising the way we work. According to an 2019 Alfresco survey, 83% of workers say that they depend on technology to collaborate. Remote work, mobility, immediateness, BYOD, new tools… offices are no longer a physical space but a whole permanently connected environment known as “digital workplace”. Gartner uses the term “digital dexterity” to talk about “the ability and desire to exploit existing and emerging technologies for better business outcomes”.
According to analysts and in-company results, digital workplaces boost interaction, increase commitment, improve employees’ digital experience and overall has positive effects on productivity.
The 3 keys to a successful digital workplace strategy
To make the most of a digital work environment, organisations need easy-to-implement, flexible solutions they can adapt to their own needs. Digital workplaces entail a deliberate, continuous commitment that combine:
- Culture: Digital workplaces imply a cultural change. This means taking in the fact that the way we work today and what we used to think of as our place of work has changed, and that change is the result of new — digital — technologies.
- Technology: A digital workplace isn’t restricted to an intranet. It is a portal to a combination of platforms and countless applications that facilitates communication and offers an enjoyable and effective work experience.
- People: While tools are key, the people who use them and how people and tools come together to create a successful digital workplace are equally important.
A digital workplace strategy is more than a mere set of tools. It must anticipate the risks and constraints of work digitalisation: an increasingly blurred private life-work line, inappropriate use of tools – in particular email, which is often confused with an online chat or document storage tool -, or constant distractions and interruptions that hurt productivity.
Implementing a digital workplace strategy in your organisation
Digital workplaces allow individuals, teams, colleagues, clients and partners to share and communicate in almost real time and collaborate with little or no friction, helping all parties work more efficiently.
In this context, email – which continues to be the most widely used communication tool in the workplace and keeps growing – is often viewed as the lynchpin. Everything goes through your business email: orders, invoices, contracts, appointments, meeting notes, etc. It is key to your organisation and your employees cannot forgo it.
Email is indeed the cornerstone of any digital workplace, but for it to be part of a true strategy, it will have to be integrated into a comprehensive collaborative suite.
Since its inception, BlueMind has positioned itself as a sovereign, long-term open-source alternative mail solution. We work with a network of technological partners from all walks of the European open-source ecosystem. Today, we are proud to present their BlueMind-based unified collaborative suites.
Open-source digital workplaces
W’Sweet, by Worteks
W’Sweet is an open-source, collaborative applications solution developed by Worteks. It is based on BlueMind as well as LemonLDAP::NG, Rocket.chat, Jitsi Meet and Nextcloud. It gives all employees unified access to their company’s internal ressources.
Beyond typical on-premises or web-hosted solutions, Workteks has built an innovative SaaS solution that ensures and controls data location. It offers potentially limitless storage and power, i.e.: no limits on the possible number of users.
Its objective is to compete with US solutions and offer a sovereign alternative for both public and private organisations with a strong focus on data geolocation and confidentiality.
Find out all about W’Sweet here
My B’Suite, by FactorFX
My B’Suite is a SaaS solution that integrates the collaborative tools best-suited to today’s work methods. My B’Suite adds complementary bricks to BlueMind’s collaborative mail, thereby fitting it into organisations’ daily uses.
In addition to BlueMind’s collaborative mail suite (email, calendar, contacts, tasks), My B’Suite includes services such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation slides, cloud file storage services, chatting and videoconferencing. My B’Suite users can create and share anytime, anywhere and on any device.
My B’Suite brings many advantages: instant activation and availability through simple internet access, secure data hosted in France, a single software version, no maintenance operations — automatic backups and updates –, no hardware expenditures and a subscription-based model meaning reasonable, controlled costs.
EORIS
EORIS has developed a collaborative platform based on open-source tools that includes:
– BlueMind for email, calendars,
contacts and tasks
– Online file management with Nextcloud
– Enterprise team chat with Rocket Chat
– A videoconferencing solution
All are accessible via a simple url and single authentication. BlueMind’s webmail is fully integrated into the EORIS user interface. With a simple click, you can toggle between contacts, calendars and shared files where you can edit any document in your browser and collaborate with others.
The platform also includes a private and public multichannel enterprise chat as well as a videoconferencing tool which can be used both with internal and external users. Productivity is increased as all are available to users with a simple click.
Other Digital Workplaces
We also work with technical partners able to work with BlueMind to provide a complete collaborative suite. The following solutions have a specific Digital Workplace mission: GoFast for a sovereign and innovative EDM, Jalios and Jamespot to fluidify and enhance collaboration and the team spirit.
GoFast, by CEO Vision (Open Source)
GoFAST Digital Workplace and GED Collaborative provide an innovative solution built on the best of open-source technology through a symbiosis of Alfresco, Drupal, Bonitasoft, OnlyOffice, Solr, Jitsi Meet, etc. Based on a disruptive approach, it is the best on-premises, sovereign and open-source alternative to SharePoint/Office365/Teams.
Its key features are: GED, Collaborative
Office Suite, workflows, a powerful search engine, tasks management (Kanban), web-conference,
chat, delegated administration with content access separate from system
administration, etc.
GoFAST offers a solution to many issues:
- File server replacement,
- Implementation and optimisation of collaborative work in the office and on the move,
- Fewer document management errors – GoFAST’s goal: no duplicates or version errors,
- Dematerialised and optimised business processes (workflows),
- Fewer emails – in particular internal emails – and banned attachments,
- Document lifecycle and data security – version management, secure GPRD access, on-premises hosting, audit trails, etc.–,
- Improved productivity, time and cost savings,
- Pulling out of expensive proprietary or SaaS platforms – and in particular non-sovereign options.
GoFAST incorporates many business uses,
e.g. mail/invoicing, contracts and public procurement, quality/strategic/certification
processes, knowledge bases, legal references, budgeting, sharing with
government officials, employee files, distance/offsite/home working, etc.
Key clients: AIFE
(French Ministry of Finance), Occitanie Region, Botanic, LNE, Republic
Technologies International, INSA Lyon, Loos City Council, Unedic AGS, etc.
JPlatform, by Jalios
All-in-one, modular, comprehensive and scalable, JPlatform allows you to create your digital workplace, collaborative and social intranet or GED collaborative platform so that you can work together more effectively. JPlatform transforms employees’ experience by offering each of them more autonomy, comfort and efficiency in their daily tasks and by encouraging collective innovation.
What makes JPlatform special is its exceptional range of features. Modularity, scalability and component consistency enable it to meet companies’ needs as implementation can be complete, gradual or partial and it can integrate with other existing services. It has already been proven successfully at major companies as well as SMEs or public entities.
As a pioneer in Intranet/Extranet innovation, JPlatform is constantly enriched with new features to improve collaboration and communication. In a nutshell, JPlatform helps you work together more efficiently.
“The key benefits of the platform? To strengthen connections by offering more interactivity between contributors and users and making sales teams work more effectively through a single platform for everyday uses”, Estelle QUENCEZ, “Link’Co” Digital Marketing Platform Manager at SFR Business
Smart Place, by Jamespot
Smart Place provides you with a single digital workplace that lets you access all your business applications. Inspired on mobile uses to bring a straightforward, user-friendly interface, Smart Place is a true revolution in the world of digital workplaces. Combine Smart Place with your Jamespot enterprise social network and make the most out of a productivity-centred SaaS solution.
The application has several levels — organisation, team/business and individual – and lets you build portal pages – called desks – where specific applications and widgets can be found. Smart Place is equipped with a whole set of business applications developed by Jamespot and currently has more than 100 connectors to key business applications (e.g.: Sindup, Trustelem, Zapier, etc.).
With Smart Place, organisations take full advantage of Jamespot’s collective and collaborative intelligence via widgets that are synchronised with system applications — e.g. email, calendars, reminders, notifications, drives, etc. — And the mobile application lets you take all your Jamespot’s digital workplace’s business information with you.
