Better IT for a brave, new remote work world

Wind the clock back to early 2020. Back then, it may have been difficult to see opportunity at a time of such rapid disruption. The widespread shift to remote work was hard and fast, and it was a matter of keeping the business running as best you could.

How far have we all come since then? Perhaps further than you think.

We can see that organisations are experiencing direct benefits from the workforce transformation programs that were so quickly put in place. And while they’re seeing cost savings, they’re also realising that these savings can be put to work in other parts of the business. That’s a win on multiple fronts.

What’s driving change?

IT leaders must step up if they are to take full advantage of the opportunities. The pressure is mounting to deliver to the demands of today’s distributed workforce.

To help us and our customers better understand these demands, we commissioned a survey of IT, HR and business decisions makers, together with VMware. Conducted by Vanson Bourne, the survey gathered responses from 5,700 professionals in July and August 2020.

The survey report, The New Remote Work Era: Trends in the Distributed Workforce, makes for compelling reading and provides highly relevant insights for those of us in the EMEA region, where around half of the respondents are based.

Make it stick

The survey reveals – much to my own delight – how organisations are improving their ability to support diversity and inclusion initiatives; how they are better able to attract and retain the best talent; and how they are boosting the productivity, engagement and profitability of the workforce.

This requires technology that glues the parts of the distributed organisation together, enabling resilience in a fast-changing environment and building competitiveness.

Overall, organisations need to focus on an increasingly important competitive parameter: employee experience. With the right technology in place, organisations can establish attractive remote work policies that enhance the employee experience in a digitised environment.

What does the distributed workforce need?

There are distinct advantages to a digital strategy that activates greater workforce flexibility and agility, but today’s digital organisation has its work cut out. The survey gives us insights into some key success factors:

  • IT needs to be able to scale up – and down – to meet rapid changes in demand and provide workers everywhere with secure access to resources, on any device.
  • Employees want the freedom to work on personal and company-owned devices. They need access to IT support and to all necessary apps from anywhere, from any device.
  • Management needs to make sure the right employees have the right access to what they need to do their best work. They want a digital workforce working at maximum productivity equipped with flexible, uninterrupted service.

Learn more about what every distributed workforce needs (infographic).

Cultivating inclusion

It’s clear that the shift to remote work has led to significant cost savings, and prudent business leaders have been putting them to good use. Savings in the areas of employee travel, office space and office maintenance costs are leading to reinvestments in technology upgrades, innovation and employee experience.

But personally, I’m happy to see that many organisations are taking the opportunity to move diversity and inclusion up the agenda. And it seems that smaller organisations of less than 1000 employees are jumping at the opportunity, as they’re showing a keen interest in redeploying funds to employee-focused programs, giving them more power to compete against their larger counterparts.

Learn more about why distributed work boosts the bottom line (infographic).

Success depends on a digital-first strategy

But an organisation’s ability to truly benefit from the savings and reinvestments depends so much on the technology that can empower the distributed workforce.

The technologies must give employees continuous access to apps and data, delivering an exceptional and secure employee experience wherever they are, from any device. At a minimum, we’re talking rapid set-up, instant scaling, full support and unquestionable security.

This is possible with the Dell Technologies’ Unified Workspace and Cloud solutions. Built on a unified foundation spanning from cloud to device, this strong portfolio of solutions enables you to implement robust remote work strategies. With it, you can scale access to vital apps and data, ease the management and security of all endpoints, and optimise your network edge.

The time has come to transform your organisation and become a leader of the new distributed work world. But first things first. Look to the right technology.

To read more about Dell´s remote work solutions click here.

Pascale Van Damme image

About the Author: Pascale Van Damme

Vice President EMEA VMware at Dell Technologies