Photo: Fujitsu
Every employee is a knowledge worker – this motto is based on the growing importance of data. A CFO works just like a marketing expert. That’s why companies need to provide their workforce with secure access to high-quality data anytime, anywhere.
Because even after the pandemic, colleagues in the office will not work from nine to five again. A study conducted by techconsult in collaboration with Fujitsu documents how German companies run hybrid business. Decision makers from more than 200 companies, mainly responsible for information technology, participated in the event.
First of all, the advantages are clear: brain workers are more productive if they can also contribute their ideas in the evening at the kitchen table using collaborative solutions. The demand for a better work-life balance can also be fulfilled more easily in this way. This increases employee loyalty, especially in times of shortage of skilled workers.
24 percent of companies say they have already introduced flexible and permanent workplace concepts. Another 56 percent are already beginning to switch to hybrid business models, and 14 percent are still in the planning stage. Only a minority of 6 percent (still) stick to the traditional workplace.
But IT decision makers rightly see challenges in terms of security, services and operations. Because what does “mixed work” mean? For more than nine out of ten participants, data protection and secure access to data — as well as process digitization — top the list (all 93 percent are mentioned). This is followed by new demands for flexibility, flex-work, intuitive use of apps, and navigation (between 89 and 82 percent).
In practical terms, this means that companies first analyze the needs of their employees (56 percent). They modify organizational processes and structures (53/49 percent). This is not possible without training and education (45 percent are stated).
What does that mean technologically? First of all, the reference model changes. 90 percent of those surveyed put New Work directly connected to the cloud. Here are some numbers: 43 percent are moving more workloads to the private cloud, 37 percent use hybrid cloud and 33 percent use public cloud. Analysts from techconsult are convinced: “As the workplace changes, cloud technologies will continue to establish themselves in businesses.”
Photo: Fujitsu
The study clearly indicates that finance is a pressing issue for those surveyed: 58% see purchasing the budgets needed to implement digital transformation in the workplace as a problem. Not surprisingly, security tools are very popular (63 percent).
The demand for mobile devices continues to grow, but hybrid work also touches on points such as collaboration solutions, VPN (Virtual Private Network) and artificial intelligence. On the infrastructure side, storage, servers, and network access are on the shopping list. For decision makers, it comes down to points such as scalability (59 percent of mentioned) and the issue of sufficient bandwidth (53 percent).
Companies have understood how much change in the workplace requires managing IT services. More than one participant in the second study (55 percent) describe managing end-to-end IT services as a challenge. In order to meet the new requirements, companies must organize support and operations more efficiently.
This means that those who control services centrally are more likely to ensure smooth operation. Given the ongoing pandemic, analysts identify automation as a lever to successfully adapt to new realities: “Companies that increasingly rely on process automation are getting through the crisis relatively well,” according to techconsult.
Not every company masters change with its own resources. External IT service providers provide support and expertise. Together with the user, they analyze current and future requirements in order to develop, implement and operate individual solutions.
“The change will not be smooth,” techconsult says. However, analysts identify benefits for employees and employers through mixed business models. This includes not only gaining freedom and flexibility, but also a distinct advantage when there is a shortage of skilled workers: someone who enables employees to work remotely does not force needed specialists from the other side of the country to relocate – a gain in the attractiveness of the employer and thus a competitive advantage .
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