EMPLOYEE device security and customer experience are top priorities in Southeast Asia for both businesses and information-technology (IT) leaders, a research on workforce transformation commissioned by Dell Technologies Inc. revealed.
Firms in Southeast Asia are at the crossroads between meeting financial goals and creating a niche for themselves in the new age digital economy, Dell said on April 17, citing the results of the study.
Conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, the study investigated the key challenges and drivers that businesses are facing in the adoption of work force enablement technology.
Dell said 63 percent of respondents indicated that their top business priority will be to improve customer experience. The study revealed that 71 percent of business and IT leaders across organizations in Southeast Asia ranked prioritizing reducing costs for their organizations as the topmost priority.
“In the digital era, enabling the work force with technology is a deliberate strategy to foster high performance and excellence,” Dell said. “It begins with understanding that customer experience, devices that improve talent retention and demand for devices driven by better user experience are decisively linked.”
Device diversity
TO enable their work force effectively, understanding “device diversity” is also the key to talent retention, with 48 percent citing better devices as a pull factor.
According to Rakesh Mandal, Dell South Asia and Korea client solutions director and general manager, the current crop of workers are highly interconnected “with new technologies empowering people to perform at their best.” “IT and business leaders are embarking on a work force transformation strategy, as they need to equip their work force with the right devices and software to optimize productivity,” Mandal was quoted in a statement as saying. “Furthermore, employee experience is a critical factor in boosting financial revenue and enhancing customer revenue—a continuing priority for Southeast Asia companies as they move into the new age digital economy.”
Work force security
THE complexity of the IT environment due to diverse devices, coupled with growing sophistication of security threats, outdated security policies and easy information access have made endpoint devices increasingly vulnerable.
According to the survey, 81 percent of respondents are concerned about the legal liability issues arising from Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, while 44 percent said that organization-wide breaches originate from employee devices.
Despite their challenges, 75 percent of survey respondents said that replacing older PC hardware with newer PC hardware will significantly improve the security landscape for organizations, and 75 percent will look at resolving user authentication vulnerabilities.
Work force enablement
EMPLOYEES want to work from multiple locations and use several different devices, including their personal devices, at work. Thus, they are demanding faster refresh cycles, enhanced user experience and corporate support for all their devices.
However, organizations face challenges managing their overall PC lifecycle with 53 percent of respondents citing complexity from vendor management as an inhibitor for effective management. Meanwhile, the growing sophistication of threats has made old work force technology vulnerable. Fifty-three percent of respondents cited that the frequency of security PC breaches is a top concern for firms.
To overcome these critical challenges, firms need to partner with technology providers for holistic PC life cycle-management solutions, Dell said. Business leaders also need to focus on changing the way the company functions.
Growing challenge
TO complement this, CIOs must help with the challenge of employee productivity to in turn enhance customer experience, by providing the tools to better understand and address those diverse needs and requirements.
“Business leaders know that to succeed, they need committed and driven employees who understand the value their work delivers to customers and have the right tools to boost their productivity,” according to Forrester Consulting. “But attracting and retaining the best talent is a growing challenge, forcing many organizations to look to ideal technology partners that can help manage device lifecycles and, more specifically, PC life cycles.”
Dell said the research findings resulted from a phone-based survey of 327 IT and business decision-makers across China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore), Korea and ANZ (Australia, New Zealand). It was conducted at the end of 2016.