Blog_New_Work_Nucleus
Posted by Kelly McGurk ● 7/9/20 5:48 AM

Demystifying The New Work Nucleus

Every year, Gartner introduces new terms into the mainstream vocabulary. This new vernacular is then distributed to information practitioners and business leaders around the world in the form of illuminating keynotes and analyst reports - and then, in theory, those leaders bring these words back to their office and actually transform the companies we work for.

From Gartner to Reality

My first taste of this phenomenon was in 2013 when I was consulting with an Automotive OEM. We were in the midst of a very delayed SAP rollout and all of a sudden they were going to restructure the entire IT organization into Plan, Build, Run (PBR) teams - Plan, Build, Run was Gartner’s flavor of the year. 

With about 5 months of planning, training, and change management, we were soon running on the new model - and to everyone’s surprise: It was pretty good. Where previously roles had been murky, it was now crystal clear - and efficiency was definitely higher. 

There were drawbacks though. First, PBR seemed to absorb the meaning from work and take us back to the assembly lines of an earlier era. Second, no immaculate reorganization could make up for failing leadership - which was what our project was actually suffering from. Success, but not a resounding one. 

Gartner is on to something

Fast forward to 2020 and today, the flavor of the year is “New Work Nucleus”. And although it has a relatively intimidating sound to it - it’s not actually as complex as it may appear on the surface.

What is the New Work Nucleus

According to Gartner, the new work nucleus refers to “a collection of ever-changing, multivendor, SaaS-based personal and team productivity applications that replaces decades-old on-premises applications centered around Microsoft Office.”

These would include products and tools such as:

  • Asana
  • Box
  • Dropbox 
  • Google Workspace
  • Microsoft Office 365
  • Slack
  • Workfront

Furthermore, Gartner predicts that these applications have not yet seen their full potential in the organization because: they’ve been ignored, users have not been properly trained, and as a result of the former, their more advanced capabilities (AI, ML) are not exploited.

Why is the New Work Nucleus important?

The New Work Nucleus delivers three key value propositions: productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction. 

Increase Productivity

Modern SaaS-based personal and team productivity applications boast loads of features that simply allow users to work smarter: in the office, on the go, and from the comfort of their own homes. Meeting solutions, live collaboration, and collaborative work management - these features just scratch the surface when it comes to the opportunities they unveil for the companies leveraging them. 

A recent ICP survey found companies that used Slack reported an average 49% reduction in email volumes, a 25% drop in the number of meetings, and a 32% increase in productivity.

Using Google Workspace, one company reports that each worker saves 20 hours per week - 20 hours per week! Can you imagine what your workforce could be doing with the additional time? I’ll tell you what: innovating. Which leads us to our next point. 

Unlock Innovation

When workers are able to manage their documents, meetings, email, and time smarter - they’re able to spend more time working on tasks of higher strategic importance, unlock their mental resources to think and innovate for the benefit of the companies who employ them. 

Not to mention, enabling smooth collaboration is a proven catalyst for change - which is exactly what these New Work Nucleus technologies deliver. 

Engage Better with Employees

Did you know that Gmail has about 1.5 billion monthly active users? And Google handles more than 40,000 queries per second – over 3.5 billion searches every day? The fact is, just about everyone is a Google customer in some way or another - and the very name “Google” has become a synonym for the internet.

These personal Google users have become so accustomed to a digitally connected, seamless, and quite frankly - modern - experience with technology in their daily personal lives, it’s difficult to sit them down in front of an outdated on-prem solution that has them losing time they know they could be saving if they just had access to better tools. Hence how Shadow IT is born, and high-performing talents find themselves in search of more agile employers that will offer them the tools they need to work smarter.

3 into 1 - SaaS-based Productivity Applications Equal Cost Savings

The three key value propositions of New Work Nucleus technologies inherently combine to illustrate a fourth benefit - cost savings. But let’s be more tangible. Yes, higher productivity, more innovation, retaining top talents, and eliminating shadow IT will improve your bottom line - but chances are you need to build a stronger business case if you want to take advantage of new technologies. 

The good news is, cloud-based applications are much more cost-effective than their on-prem alternatives. In one example, our client Arvesta was able to drive an annual savings of 2.25 Million Euros by moving off Microsoft Office and onto Google Workspace and AODocs. Other customers report similar cost savings, and if you want to know exactly how your savings stack up - Google Workspace offers an impressive business value calculator that you can try out, free of charge.

Next Steps

Now that you’ve mastered the New Work Nucleus, understood the value of these insights, and started to uncover the different SaaS options available on the market, it’s time to dive deeper. 

We’ll be continuing this discussion with a series of posts focusing on the Google Workspace environment, and more specifically: how to foster employee collaboration with Google Drive and how to further increase workplace productivity with enhancements for Google Workspace/Google Drive.

In the meantime, check out this complimentary report from Gartner to explore the role of Documents, Spreadsheets, and Graphics in the New Work Nucleus.

Download Report

Tags: Document Management, Technology