Decision makers and employees are increasingly at odds over technology
Technologies bring vast benefits for companies, but only if employees are able to use appropriate digital tools
ICT improves productivity
Decision makers believe that the increasing use of ICT is one of the most important work trends since the pandemic began, and they have noticed a change in their teams' behavior. With this shift, 62 percent of decision makers report their teams do most or all of their work using digital tools, and 59 percent claim that greater technology use has improved their organizations' productivity. As a result, decision-makers have a newfound appreciation of technology.
Decision makers need to walk the talk
Although businesses are aware of the benefits of digitization, only 2 out of 10 employees feel they have access to the necessary digital tools at work, and 6 out of 10 companies claim they have not set up the necessary technology for their employees. Consequently, companies are predicting additional investments in workplace technology, and decision makers believe these investments should benefit the employees. A staggering 71 percent say it is crucial to prioritize investments in new work tools and technology to aid employees, even over other areas like marketing, consulting services and new business ideas. However, when it comes to making the investment choice, decision-makers fall short of their commitment and put cost- and time-saving strategies ahead of the preferences and demands of their workforce
The most obvious course of action for decision makers is to prioritize operational benefits and the direct impacts on their company's financial success. However, by neglecting what employees need and feel most comfortable using, they fail to fully capitalize on digitalization's impact on productivity. This discrepancy on technology is causing distrust and information silos between employers and employees.
Misalignment in technology is causing friction
The digitalization of work processes in response to remote work and flexibility demands companies to increase their use of ICT applications. Gartner research shows an average user will use up to 40 different applications daily or 6 to 8 applications for a single process (Gartner Digital Friction Survey 2020).
However, as businesses deploy more ICT applications, digital friction – the additional work needed to use data or technology – is becoming a bigger issue for employees. The friction caused by context switching and toggling tools to search for data and collaboration hinders productivity gains. When work is fragmented among various unconnected tools, there is a risk that employees will become stressed and inefficient and that they will duplicate tasks and information. Already 40 percent of employees struggle with overlapping technology and tools that are too complex to use or have too many unnecessary features.
Turning friction into an opportunity
Decision makers have a genuine opportunity to cooperate with employees as they now consider digitalization a game changer in driving productivity and employee wellbeing. Focusing on the digital employee experience rather than short term cost savings could result in long term wins, resolve conflicts between employers and employees, and lessen digital friction. As a result, efficiency would rise and reduce duplication related costs.
Another good starting point for reducing friction in the era of hybrid and remote work is ensuring that employees have devices fit for remote work and steady and reliable connectivity regardless of where they work.
Decision makers believe fast connectivity and business agility go hand in hand. Over half of them say faster internet connectivity would improve their business agility. Focusing on this increased connectivity can lead to employee and customer experience advantages as decision makers understand that this will boost internal collaboration and customer experience.
Companies cannot always control the availability of high speed connectivity, but they can ensure data subscriptions and devices are ready to take advantage of existing and new network capabilities. For instance, providing 5G enabled devices and e-sim could make remote work seamless for employee's and elevate the discussion on who should carry the cost for a remote employee s home network.
