A new study has shown that 33% of UK office workers have problems with their workplace technology. It can take up to three days for the problem to be fixed.
This is good news for IT departments that are already in trouble. 8 out of 10 UK citizens agree that flexible work is here to stay. This means IT departments must be smart about how they support employees – and do so quickly.
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These findings are part of an independent report entitled ‘Changing behaviours and flexible workforce in 2022 & beyond’, which was commissioned by Smart Locker Provider Velocity Smart Technology. This research examined how offices will change by 2022 and how business leaders could support the future IT support.
Nearly 4 out 10 UK workers said that their IT department’s support has improved despite the obvious strain they have experienced over the past two years.
Anthony Lamoureux is the CEO of VelocitySmart Technology. He stated, “Minimizing employee downtime because of an IT failure was a constant struggle when the majority of our workforce was office-based. Now it’s almost impossible to condense as the workforce can be scattered over 100s, sometimes 1000s, of miles.”
It takes an average of three days to get replacement hardware from the IT department. Sometimes, this still requires face-to-face interaction with IT consultants in order to access new or substitute hardware. 52 percent of UK workers reported that they had to collect the hardware from the IT department or have it delivered by a member the IT support staff.
This unnecessary interaction is both extremely frustrating for the IT support team, who are acting as delivery men or women, and a serious detriment in overall productivity.
Lamoureux adds that “More often than you think, replacement laptops and tables can be set up online. So why is it necessary for expensive IT resources to act as a post office? This is more than a waste of time for employees. It is also inefficient and costly IT support model, especially when there are better options.
Velocity Smart’s 2020 survey revealed that 19% of employees said they would rather collect hardware from a smart lock – and this is for good reason.
Smart lockers are not just a logical extension to the trend towards self service access to IT services, but flexible working is here to stay. Companies need to adapt further to support an extended workforce.
Employees have access to the new kit in 45 minutes, rather than three days. This minimizes downtime and impacts on productivity. It also saves time for support staff. This option is much more efficient than traditional methods, but only 1% of UK companies offer it. Lamoureux concludes that now is the right time for businesses to invest more in robust technology to support remote employees over the long-term.”
According to the latest survey, 34% of UK employees were positive about smart lockers as a way to replace IT equipment. This approach allows employees to have 24/7 access to IT equipment and also assists IT support in meeting the challenges of supporting a flexible, mixed workforce.
