5. IT leaders see the link between technology and working smarter.
Finally, and not surprisingly, findings reflect a strong correlation between workplace technology, productivity and collaboration.
- 9 in 10 survey respondents say their end-user computing systems and technology have resulted in productivity improvements within the company.
- More than half say their technology has helped facilitate this improvement to a great extent.
- Those who perceive their technology investments to be worthwhile also say workplace technology has enabled high levels of collaboration.
Software company SAP America Inc., for example, realized huge productivity gains after introducing Apple iPad and iOS to its teams. The new tools give workers centralized access to business data, pulling directly from business systems, and the results have been empowering.
When end users don’t need to wait for specialists to pull reporting, and everyone’s looking at the same data, collaboration happens around a single source of truth — and things get done faster.
Michael Golz, chief information officer for SAP Americas, reflects on the impact: “Giving people direct access to the data in your core systems, and to responsive applications that allow people to do analytics right on the front end, really changes the way people interact with analytics, how they find the answers to the questions that they have, and their ability to collaborate. It’s had a massive impact on productivity and accountability. It’s taken lag time and latency out of our business processes.”
Reaching the summit: What’s next?
The Harvard Business Review report in its entirety captures valuable anecdotes and use cases from IT leaders, where companies are planning to invest in the future and tactical recommendations for creating a more connected workforce.
We love a good success story. Seeing our clients win drives everything we do at Insight. Here are some of our favorite case studies.