The challenges healthcare organisation Waardeburgh tackled with a digital workspace

Waardeburgh was struggling with a host of digital challenges, including an outdated Citrix environment that prevented employees from working anywhere, anytime and on any device. With the help of Aspect IT, the healthcare organisation migrated to Microsoft 365, transformed to the cloud and switched to Workspace 365. As a result, employees have a single environment for all applications, communication and information. The outcome? They work smarter, with greater satisfaction and more efficiently, but in addition, they have added time for their core tasks. And thus for the clients.

A modern digital workspace for contemporary healthcare organisation

Stichting Waardeburgh is a care organisation with over 900 employees and 600 volunteers. We provide care for the elderly in their homes, as well as from four care centres, with the aim of allowing people to be independent for as long as possible.

It is especially important for caregivers and other remote workers to be able to use and access the applications and information they need for their work from anywhere, at anytime and from any device. The old Citrix environment did not suffice, ultimately Waardeburgh chose Aspect IT as its partner for migrating to Microsoft 365, transforming it to the cloud and integrating the digital workspace Workspace 365.

Challenges faced by Waardeburgh

Waardeburgh – like basically every healthcare organisation in the Netherlands – was facing a number of challenges that made considerable demands on the new workspace environment. Besides having many different types of employees, Waardeburgh also has a high staff turnover and wanted to be able to easily scale up and down, both in terms of applications and users.

Most important functionalities

The following functionalities and features of Workspace 365 have been the main keys to success for happier and more productive employees, a more efficient organisation and a higher return on investment (ROI) from the IT environment:

Everything in one place

It is important for all types of Waardeburgh employees to be able to access all applications, communication, information and processes from one place. Web-based, from any device. Importantly, Workspace 365 is more than just an application portal; it allows employees to search for information, perform tasks and view data from systems and the intranet directly from the workstation.

Tailor-made and personalised

Would employees see all the tools and information in their workspace? If so, this would be counterproductive and cause a lot of stress. Instead, Workspace 365 offers a customised and personalised experience for users, user groups and even situations, with different Shared spaces set up for user groups. Conditional Access is also used for personalisation. In other words, access to and visibility of specific applications and information changes based on the device, network and browser, among others. So, the workspace automatically adapts to specific situations.

Secure and easy access via Single Sign-On

To do their jobs, they need a wide range of passwords: a major annoyance for many healthcare employees. Thanks to Workspace 365, Waardeburgh employees only need one password and an additional authenticator. This is a huge improvement in terms of security as well as giving employees more peace of mind.

Simpler processes and increased productivity

Workspace 365 is much more than a portal through which an application can be opened with a single click. Through Micro Apps for example, numerous business processes can be accessed and completed directly from the digital workspace. For example, opening tickets, consulting rosters and searching and opening information such as client files or care protocols. In addition to the usual micro-applications for e-mail and calendar, Waardeburgh also has micro-app integrations with Vilans KICK for quick access to protocols and policies and with Nedap Ons for direct access to client data and rosters, among others.

Integrated intranet

Waardeburgh has integrated the intranet into Workspace 365 to optimise communication with and engagement of caregivers and remote employees. Through the Hub (announcement centre) they see, company news, success stories, policy changes or HR news, for instance, which can be shared organisation-wide or just with specific groups or individuals.

General search functionality

Simple but super effective: there is a search bar in the workspace header, which allows employees to search the entire digital workspace for applications and information. Once all of Waardeburgh’s documents have been migrated to the cloud, the content of all documents can also be searched with a single action.

Maximising value with Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is unparalleled in terms of the number of functionalities, but precisely thereby it can sometimes be perceived as complicated or overwhelming. Workspace 365 is a simple layer over it, providing all functionalities in a simple way. This increases user adoption and maximises the value of Microsoft 365.

Discover the full case study: A future based workspace for Waardeburgh

The many benefits for organisation, employee and client

Implementing Workspace 365 has many benefits for Waardeburgh. We list the key ones.

Employees: more focus on core tasks, better informed

The biggest impact the solution makes is on employees. They can now work anywhere, at any time and on any device, focus more on their core tasks and increase their productivity. Caregivers, for example, can save time in crucial situations because they can look up information including protocols, patient information and their work schedule via a single dashboard. Overall, this saves Waardeburgh employees around half an hour a day.

In addition, employees are well informed and more engaged, especially by integrating the Hub into the dashboard. Right when they start their working day, they see company news or internal updates from their department, for instance.

Finally, Workspace 365 also increases their self-reliance as they can more easily find all information themselves via the search function and support page.

Agile organisation

Importantly for Waardeburgh, it chose a solution that creates an agile IT environment resulting in business agility and thereby ensuring a future-proof approach. The platform is vendor agnostic. Regardless of the underlying technology chosen by the healthcare institution, the user-friendly interface always remains the same.

Compliance

In healthcare especially, compliance is paramount. Before this, it was difficult for Waardeburgh employees to quickly find protocols and policies. Partly thanks to the integration of the Vilans KICK protocols, employees can now quickly and easily find the right protocols and policies, by using the general search function, for example.

More time, resources and budget for IT

The introduction of Workspace 365 has had a major impact on Waardeburgh’s IT department. It allows them to deliver more business value and contribute to organisational goals by optimising business processes and increasing both employee satisfaction and productivity. Not only does IT now have a more cost-efficient environment, they also spend less time resolving support tickets and updating and maintaining the IT environment. Result? They can focus more on more important projects as well as making the organisation more innovative and future-proof.

A boost for internal communications

Via the Notifications Centre, which has become an integral part of the digital workspace, and through notifications in the Activity feed employees immediately see the latest news. Waardeburgh can even display pop-ups for really important information. As a result, internal communication has become more effective and the reach has increased within the organisation.

ROI and reduced staff turnover

Last but not least: the transition from Citrix to Workspace 365 with Microsoft 365 licences and the increased efficiency and productivity deliver a much better ROI. In addition, the digital workspace is expected to eventually reduce workloads, increase productivity, deliver an optimal  digital employee experience and therefore also reduce staff turnover.

Lessons learned and best practices

Waardeburgh and Aspect IT applied a number of smart best practices and learned valuable lessons throughout the implementation process. Combining the intuitive design of the workspace with the deployment of instructional videos and on-site support ensured that employees could get up and running quickly and easily.

A key focus during development and roll-out was that not only the IT department would be involved in the digital workspace project. On the contrary: from the very beginning, people from all layers and disciplines within Waardeburgh were involved. The wishes and needs of both end-users and all kinds of stakeholders from different departments were taken as input. Collaboration on a peer-to-peer basis was the starting point.

The result is a digital workspace that not only meets all wishes and requirements, but also saw maximum adoption from the first phase of the roll-out.

Many opportunities ahead

Now that Workspace 365 has been implemented, Waardeburgh continues to focus on the future. Thanks in part to the platform’s vendor agnostic architecture, they can continue to improve and adapt the workspace. For example, the organisation is currently integrating the internal document management system from the file server to the cloud.

In other words: Workspace 365 as a digital workspace is well established, but Waardeburgh will always keep looking at how the digital solution can continue to provide even more added value for employees, the organisation, volunteers and, of course, clients.