Think your company is a digital workplace? Think again.
A new survey conducted by IT consulting firm Avanade shows that companies believe employee engagement impacts the bottom line, yet are unwilling to invest in the technology to improve on this.
A key problem, according to the report, is a lack of understand of what a digital workplace involves. The survey revealed that 91 per cent of Canadian companies believe that using email and social media alone would imply a digital workplace.
This, according to the Mississauga-based Microsoft-oriented IT provider is far from the truth.
“Avanade defines a digital workplace as one that brings together applications, information and collaboration in an intelligent context that is tailored to the individual employee’s role, location and tasks,” the company said.
In practical terms, this would involve digital workplace technologies, which 55 per cent of Canadian companies still lack, according to the report. Meanwhile, just over one in ten companies say their software and applications can be accessed outside of the office. Over one in four companies are completely unsure of their capabilities in this regard.
Unfortunately due to cost barriers, this goal is, on average, four years away for enterprises, Avanade said.
Among those surveyed, including 42 C-level executives and IT decision makers in Canada, 94 per cent have experienced growth in at least one area including increased employee engagement, productivity, and revenue growth.
“Sixty-seven per cent of large enterprises indicated that their company is currently experiencing business challenges related to data and analytics, yet only 33 per cent indicated that investments in access to business insights and information was a very important priority for their company in the next 12-24 months,” Avanade said. “Companies have an opportunity to better align technology investments with their strategic objectives.”