EDITOR ’ S COMMENT a positive user experience leads to greater productivity , engagement , motivation and satisfaction .
The starting point is to develop personas based on how and where a person gets work done . This persons mapping will enable your organisation to create the optimal experience at the lowest cost . With too few personas , you will overprovision resources that could exceed the needs of users with the simplest requirements . If you make too many personas , it won ’ t be manageable . With the right number of personas for your organisation , you can provision the right type of device , accessories , connectivity , apps and data for each , creating the best user experience in the most cost-effective way . For example , your personas could include desk centric users , on-thego-pros or technical users . The needs of each persona such as the environment they work in and the app they require would differ and therefore so should the technology they use .
The future of work must be secure and agile
Optimising your infrastructure with reliable and secure access to applications and data – whether running on-premises , in the cloud or both – is necessary to support users who are working and learning remotely .
The threat landscape , which continuously grows and evolves , is taking advantage of the vulnerabilities caused by remote work and school . According to research conducted on behalf of VMware Carbon Black , there has been a 148 % spike in ransomware attacks on global organisations amid COVID-19 . You need to stay ahead of the cybercrime curve to keep your endpoints and infrastructure protected . In fact , according to the Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index Report 2020 for South Africa , data privacy and cybersecurity is cited as one of the top five barriers to progressing Digital Transformation agendas .
What can we do now to help us in the future ?
The organisational Digital Transformation we are embarking on today will equip us with the flexibility we need to adjust to the demands of the future . Adopting and adapting technology will allow for geographically diverse , empowered workers to do more with less . Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and cloud are already rapidly changing how we work – from needing to deploy , secure , manage and support devices from the cloud to automating redundant processes and tasks that will free up employees to be more innovative – businesses need to seamlessly adapt to a new world of work that ’ s constantly evolving . However , we must ensure that we approach change carefully . Digital Transformation can be technologically complex and financially challenging . To ensure that we succeed now and beyond these uncertain times , we need to start small which we call ‘ do it light ’ then evolve by putting together an end-to-end remote work strategy that includes defining your personas , required applications , devices , accessories , security and deployment , and manageability . This is what we call ‘ do it right ’. This will lay the foundations for success .
At the start of the pandemic , we saw companies quickly transform to enable their staff to work from home so that business could continue . Now , companies are putting a greater emphasis on this pivot – reprioritising tech investments in securing remote workforces , implementing tools to keep staff working productively from home and more .
There is no doubt the hybrid workplace model is here to stay . To navigate these changes now and into the future , we need to adopt adaptable technologies that accommodate new ways of working seamlessly and securely . •
The organisational Digital Transformation we are embarking on today will equip us with the flexibility we need to adjust to the demands of the future .
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 40
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