Offices are usually inter-connected via vast networks and various endpoints. Of course, the latter – comprising emails, chat groups, and collaborative systems – are the ones that keep organisations running. Other platforms, mostly social networks, do not have a place in the office. That is the understanding before Facebook, in wanting to be inclusive, put together an initiative that improves workspace processes.

PC.com sat down with Luke McNeal, Director of Workplace Asia Pacific, Facebook, to learn more about this business focus programme. Key points to this discussion focuses on how Workplace is very much different from Facebook; this includes plans to be a dominant force in collaborative processes and integrating critical industry trends into its offerings.

PC.com: How is Workplace different from Facebook? With similarly named features, one can easily presume it is the same – how different are the two?

Luke McNeal: We believe that people achieve more when they work together; thus, coming up with the Workplace concept to help people connect and discover new ways of working together. While Workplace has a similar look to Facebook, it is a dedicated and secure space for employees at companies; it’s the place for them to connect, communicate and collaborate.

Workplace is an ad-free space, separate from your personal Facebook account. It simply allows you to collaborate with co-workers, both locally and world over, from wherever you are. Rather than having friends as your audience, you create and join groups with your co-workers. We know that collaboration is important on Workplace, and organisations can make use of the work-specific features. This includes bot integrations, integrations with productivity tools and a desktop app for Workplace Chat.

PC.com: Workplace feels like a combination of a few competing platforms; just that somehow Facebook manages to streamline it all into a cohesive service. What more did Facebook do to encourage this convergence?

McNeal: Workplace is changing the way work gets done as it helps people move faster and access more information; in many ways, the platform will allow them to make better decisions and have greater impact at work. In developing Workplace, we brought more than a decade of experience building products; specifically, from the one platform that billions of people around the world know, love and use every day. We’re taking that same focus on bringing people together and using it to improve efficiency and transform culture within organisations.

In Malaysia, Workplace is helping bring real business benefits to companies through reducing costs and time wastage. We achieve this via increasing efficiency through faster collaboration among employees. Take AirAsia for instance; it has been using Workplace to connect their 22,000 employees and nine airline affiliates across six countries.

Through Groups and Workplace Chat, AirAsia operation teams can connect to with people; usually from the terminal to the apron at airports across Asia and Australia. The interdependent teams could be more effective, rather than looking through email distribution lists. This ensures they have access to more accurate information about changes to flights; having that knowledge will allow pilots and operations teams to solve problems in real time.

Similarly, AirAsia Foundation, the group’s social enterprise arm, uses Workplace to raise awareness about issues of human trafficking. This gives staff the right information and tools to report any suspicious activities.

PC.com: What is Facebook doing to make its Workplace offering more compelling than its immediate rivals? Partners on the platform are not entirely part of nor an entity of Facebook, how does this collaboration work out?

McNeal: Different companies have different needs, but any company can use Workplace because it’s flexible, customisable and easy to use. It also has similar features from consumer Facebook, meaning it requires minimal training. With Workplace, employees can quickly and easily access the information they need about their team, company, and industry. This makes internal collaboration easier and simpler.

We find that companies use a combination of Workplace features to best fit how they work. For instance, groups for teamwork; chat for real-time communication; videos for storytelling; and integrations like Box and Microsoft Office365 for everyday work – or build custom integrations with our APIs. The concept of integration is easier than one would imagine. In fact, companies can even build bots on Workplace to automate processes and make things faster than ever.

PC.com: Besides workflow automation and collaborative improvements, what other innovations did Facebook include to make Workplace the ideal platform?

McNeal: When we launched Workplace in 2016, there is only one focus. It is our mission to give the world a better place to work together. Today, we continue to take inspiration from our customers and partners.

We find a lot of this is easy to adopt because people are familiar with the features that Workplace offers; like News Feed, Groups and Messages. All these functions make the collaborative platform easy to use. In a work context some key innovations that have made a difference include:

• Bots: They help businesses speed up simple workflows. We have found that people can manage more routine tasks, such as sharing feedback and booking office resources; communicating with employees; share content and respond to questions – ensuring people get updates when they need them – without delay.
• Finding the right people: Sourcing the right folks within an organisation can be challenging; especially for companies with large mobile workforces or offices in many cities/geographies. One key function, Organisation Chart, helps visualise the company structure and identify people and teams.

• Multi-Company Groups: For most business, work involves working with people from other departments and service providers. Having a service like multi-company groups, people can create secure collaboration units to share posts, photos, videos with anyone; even if they don’t have a Workplace account. Our customers use this service to get ensure all is well with vendors, agencies and contract staff.
• Create Docs: This feature allows users in groups to share updates and information; usually it will be directly with group members and encourages easy collaboration.
• Auto translation in Workplace Groups: This feature enables everyone to be part of the conversation; with it, they can collaborate regardless of their language capabilities.