Each employee needs a digital workplace that helps them be productive, collaborate efficiently and improve their work/life balance. However, there are different job profiles in every company, each with their own specific needs and preferences. Realdolmen has solved this problem with Workplace as a Service.

Rumors about Skype for Business have been flying around for some time now. For example, Microsoft is said to want to stop supporting the communication platform for businesses, preferring to focus exclusively on its Teams alternative. This would signal the beginning of the end for this popular communication service. Will this familiar brand truly soon be over and done with, after decades in which it grew to be so popular that it even became a verb? It's time to get down to the details!

Tim Lemmens is our new Chief Digital Officer. This is a new and essential role within our company, not least given that we are now firmly in the digital age. Tim will be a driving force behind our Digital Flow philosophy and will help to further shape our internal digital reflexes. In his own words, he likes to tackle all challenges with open arms. Before he arrives, we'd like to get to know the person behind the expert a little better.

Over the past few weeks, it has become clear that we cannot put our masks into storage just yet. Some people are even predicting that they will become a permanent part of our outfit. We all now know that wearing a mask is an important shield in the fight against the coronavirus. However, in practice there are still people who do not wear them or at least not properly. We trained an algorithm to detect this. By installing a smart camera, you can send targeted passers-by or customers a message to say that a mask is mandatory or even deny them access if they are not wearing a mask.

Industry 4.0 has the capacity to improve a company's sustainable growth, competitiveness and capacity for innovation. New opportunities may also open up for employees; it is highly unlikely that they will simply be replaced by robots. Where robots and automation cannot deliver – especially where there is a need for complex action, creativity, experience or decision-making in unexpected situations – human workers will still be essential. In other words, Smart Industry is not solely about technology. It is also important to focus on the other – and probably more significant – added values.

Realdolmen becomes Inetum-Realdolmen. #WeAreInetum #Positivedigitalflow

The Big Data trend several years back was interpreted by many as a plea to store as much data as possible, as a precondition for doing big things. Unfortunately, that isn't how it works. The quantity of the data is not nearly as important as quality and usefulness.

It's true that data can act as a lever to achieve your business objectives. Always start with a business case that you believe has value.

Is Smart Industry (SI), also known as Industry 4.0, only available to large industrial corporations with sky-high budgets? Many SMEs and smaller industrial companies may feel this way. Who can blame them? Innovation has been synonymous with expense for decades, whether this concerns the first DVD player or a robotic arm. Furthermore, media attention and hype often inspire companies to an opposite response, causing them to decide to wait and see. There's no need for that, though.

Digital evolution is indeed required to keep the industrial sector up to date in terms of efficiency, sustainability and innovation. Merely experimenting without embedding it is not enough. It's all about adopting a digital attitude. While starting small is certainly possible and within reach, the main keywords should be 'scalable' and 'affordable'. Digitalization is not hype; it is a basic necessity.

A Smart City is one that uses data obtained directly from the city to come to better policy decisions. To gain the right to call itself a Smart City, it has many challenges to overcome first. Our webinar (available to watch) discussed these issues, and much more besides. We provide the key takeaways here!

People make a difference every day, and this has particularly been the case recently. Employees agreed to be more flexible and adapt to a new workplace as well as a new, virtual way of collaborating. Employers, in turn, needed to come up with new ways of keeping the connection alive even when working remotely. It was no different for us. It is precisely in turbulent times such as these that we need to stick to our principles. Our Employee Centricity philosophy is one of them. By offering our employees a Flex Income Plan (FIP), starting from this week, we are also deliberately choosing to take a next step to turn our vision into reality.

Power has shifted from companies to customers. The traditional marketplace has become a network economy, driven by the customer. All companies can do is to transform themselves as quickly as possible in network organizations and stay one step ahead of lurking wolves.