Building the modern workplace

Building the modern workplaceRichard Edwards

Principal Research Analyst, Ovum

Ovum | TMT intelligence | informa2 Copyright © Informa PLC


Every business wants to be consistently successful, but it is the ability to remain persistently relevant to customers and markets that separates the winners from the losers.

These "customer-adaptive" enterprises exhibit similar behaviors in a number of key areas, but they always try to maintain the kind of business agility that enables them to capitalize on new market trends and industry opportunities.

Modern business agility demands many things, but high on the list is the kind of digital workspace that employees want to use, that IT teams are able to support, and that organizations can afford.

Becoming a customer-adaptive enterprise



The composition of the human workforce is in flux, but the pace and nature of change varies by country, industry, and job.

It is 50 years since business guru Peter Drucker created the term “knowledge workers.” Such workers – typically white-collar, office-based employees – remain a minority in most countries compared to service and manual workers.

Traditionally, knowledge workers have driven business productivity and value creation within organizations, but digital transformation is disrupting class stereotypes.

New technologies are automating and digitizing an ever-wider range of work tasks, leading to job elimination and transformation across diverse skilled and unskilled occupations.

Indeed, some knowledge worker occupations are becoming obsolete, whereas other occupations – notably in services – are set to grow.

Besides technology, a changing age pyramid and rising wealth, particularly in emerging economies, are also important influences on workforce composition and restructuring.

Deconstructing the human workforce


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Human workforce: Distribution by occupation, selected countriesManagers

Professionals

Technicians and associateprofessionals

Clerical support workers

Services and sales workers

Skilled agricultural, forestryand fishery workers

Craft and related tradesworkers

Plant and machineoperators and assemblers

Elementary occupations

The human workforce: current class structure

In most countries, knowledge workers still account for considerably less than half of the active workforce; there are more service and manual workers.

Knowledge workers

Service workers

Manual workers

Source: International Labor Organization, Eurostat, Ovum


To seize digital transformation opportunities, enterprises and their ICT partners must recalibrate their perceptions of the 21st century workforce.

Traditional workforce segmentation is increasingly out of sync in a post-PC world where people and things contribute to business productivity.

Enterprises and their ICT partners should apply contextual segmentation in order to understand current work methods and identify areas for improvement.

Contextual segmentation examines how people perform their jobs, generating more nuanced insights than rigid demographic or geographic profiling.

A benefit of this approach is a better ability to identify friction points – inefficiencies in working practices – that digital technologies can correct or reinvent.

Increasing the productivity of knowledge workers has been a business imperative for decades, but digital transformation may deliver a superior outcome by empowering every employee to contribute knowledge assets, whatever their rank or occupation.

Although digital technologies are eliminating various functions and some occupations, collaborative workflows between humans and machines are also emerging.

Ovum view


The human workforce: occupation breakdown

Classes Occupations Jobs (examples)

Knowledge

Managers Ambassador, judge, mayor, secretary-general, managing director

Professionals Accountant, architect, dentist, doctor, engineer, journalist, lawyer, musician,management consultant, nurse, psychologist, software developer, teacher

Technicians and associate professionals

Electrical engineering technician, manufacturing supervisor, project manager, property manager, real estate agent

ServicesClerical support workers Bank teller, book-keeping clerk, contact center attendant, receptionist, secretary

Services and sales workers Building caretaker, childcare and home health assistant, cook, firefighter, hairdresser, policeman, security guard, shopkeeper, waiter

Manual

Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers Animal breeder, field crop/vegetable farmer, fisherman, gardener, hunter

Craft and related trades workers

Bricklayer, butcher, carpenter, electrician, glazier, painter, plasterer, plumber, repairer, roofer, tailor

Plant and machine operators and assemblers Assembly line worker, crane operator, driver, miner

Elementary occupations Cleaner, garbage collector, kitchen helper, laborer

Knowledge workers in offices are the primary beneficiaries of ICT and garner the most vendor attention. But ignoring other types of worker is a mistake, particularly given that many run small businesses that need ICT support.

Source: International Labor Organization, Ovum


Digitization impacts routine working tasks first

Tasks Jobs

CognitiveNon-routineDiagnosing, creating

Doctors, lawyers, financial analysts, computer programmers, economists.

Routinee.g.: Measuring, inspecting

Secretaries, bank tellers, retail salespeople, travel agents, mail clerksand data-entry keyers.

ManualRoutinee.g.: Parts assembly

Machine operators, mechanics, dressmakers, fabricators, assemblers, masons, butchers.

Non-routineCleaning, driving, gardening

Janitors, drivers, gardeners, manicurists, waiters, home health aides.

Source: International Labor Organization, Ovum

All jobs involve thinking (cognitive tasks) and doing (manual tasks), but the balance varies by occupation. Most jobs also include routine tasks – repeating structured movements, procedures, and rules. Technology can automate many routine tasks, but non-routine tasks that need creativity or the ability to react to unplanned events are tougher to automate. However, self-driving cars demonstrate that doing so is possible.

Highest impactfrom automationand digitization

RoutineMeasuring, form filling, inspecting

Secretaries, bank tellers, travel agents, mail clerks, data-entry keyers.

RoutineParts assembly

Machine operators, mechanics, dressmakers, fabricators, assemblers, masons, butchers.


The human workforce: global growth outlook

Classes Occupations Growth outlook Comments

Knowledge

Managers Industry/national

factors

Centralization and decentralization trends in larger firms and specific industries influence demographics. Status and local support for self-employed entrepreneurs also have an impact.

Professionals

Selected jobs

Continued demand/shortfall in some specialist engineering jobs (e.g., mining, oil and gas, power distribution).

Automation of data entry, quality control and auditing tasks reduce accounting, paralegal, real estate jobs.

Technicians and associate professionals

Services

Clerical support workers Computerization and digital collaboration tools eliminate jobs focused on structured data input and data distribution.

Services and sales workers Selected jobs

Developed economies: Rising need for care and health workers to support aging populations.

Emerging economies: Growth in middle-class consumers with disposable income who want to buy personal services and goods.

Manual

Skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers Global pattern of long-term decline as economies move from agrarian

to industrialized and services-led outputs.

Craft and related trades workers

National factors

Fluctuating demand in selected geographies and areas, including bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, expert repairers.

Plant and machine operators and assemblers Industrial automation continues to replace many jobs on production

lines and quality control.

Elementary occupations Pattern of long-term decline.

Over the next decade ICT will trigger restructuring of workforces in developed and emerging economies, but so will changes in wealth and age distribution.

Key: No major change Growth Decline Source: International Labor Organization, Ovum


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Manual workers Service workers Knowledge workers

The human workforce: class distribution by industry

*Based on workforce statistics in the UK, 1Q15. Source: UK Office of National Statistics, Ovum.

Industries that represent a large percentage of many countries’ workforces – such as retail and construction – employ a smaller proportion of classically defined “knowledge workers” than service and manual staff.

Developed economy*: Workforce distribution, selected industries


The post-PC world offers many connected contexts

Location

Fixed

Nomadic

Remote

Interaction

H2H

H2T

T2T

Dimension

1-D

2-D

3-D

Augmented

DeviceOwnership Form factor Power and reach

Connectedcontexts

Instead of static working environments, enterprises and their ICT vendors must support a fluid blend of connected contexts, including connecting with things.

Connected contexts include:

Multiple locations Fixed, nomadic and remote workforces

Formal and informal workplaces

Multiple dimensions

Voice, text, web, video, and augmented (blending physical and virtual inputs)

Multiple interactions

Human and machine interaction

Ad hoc, spontaneous, and planned interaction

Multiple devices

Corporate-liable and BYOD

Variations in size, power, and network/signal


Productivity contexts shape what value is delivered

Productivitycontexts

Processes

Transactional

Collaborative

Knowledge-centric

Economic statusFormal Informal

A job title does not indicate if a job is conducted efficiently. Doctor is a knowledge-centric job, but in practice, much time is spent on transactional administrative tasks.

Productivity contexts include:

Transactional processes

Low-value, high-volume routine and often manual activities

Examples include data entry and photocopying

Collaborative processes

Processes that involve groups of people

Examples include selling, training, and decision-making

Knowledge-centric processes

Processes that depend on expert knowledge and insight

Examples include diagnosing, designing, and creating

Economic status

People working and being paid via formally registered, tax-paying organizations versus people working in the informal economy of unpaid, cash, or barter-based work


21st century workforces operate in a post-PC world with far wider opportunities and methods for digital interaction.

The diffusion of broadband, wireless, smartphones, tablets, wearables, sensors, and other connected objects offers people new ways to be productive or contribute valuable intelligence, whether or not humans are proactively involved.

Digital transformation should support the democratization of knowledge creation and distribution beyond the few occupations traditionally viewed as knowledge-centric – such as doctors and lawyers.

With pervasive connectivity and digital tools, remote and nomadic workers can collaborate, contribute knowledge, and solve problems as swiftly as those at a desk.

To seize on new opportunities, enterprises and their ICT partners must evaluate context: the circumstances under which people work, including locations, processes, and tools, as well as their usage of time and relative economic value created.

A key goal is to identify friction points in day-to-day tasks – inefficient or unnecessary activities that digitization can improve, transform, or eliminate.

Why context matters in a post-PC world


A digital workforce manifesto


Products, services, and rewarding customer experiences are designed, delivered, and managed by EMPLOYEES, so businesses and institutions must do all they can to spark creativity and facilitate productivity in the workplace, wherever that might be and using whatever device is at hand.

Every organization has its own unique mix of line-of-business applications and packaged solutions, plus an array of productivity and collaboration tools. But as every CIO, IT manager, and business executive knows, provisioning, supporting, and integrating these IT systems in a suitable, safe, and secure manner can be a costly and complicated undertaking, especially in a highly dynamic working environment that is peppered with legacy applications and devices.

Bring your own device (BYOD), enterprise mobility, and shadow IT have added new dimensions to the "digital workspace challenge," which means that business and IT managers must reexamine their end-user computing strategies to ensure they are fit for purpose.

A digital workspace manifesto


Digital Workspace


Future competitive advantage will be created through data and analytics; business models will be shaped by cloud; and engagement will be powered by mobile and social technologies.

Continued growth in the use of employee-owned devices and self-selected applications is changing the face of the end-user computing environment.

This should not obscure the fact that most knowledge workers in established economies expect their employer to provide the tools and technology required for the role or business activity.

A workspace that promotes productivity, collaboration, and business innovation


Employees, especially knowledge workers, are the fountain of ideation, innovation, and business growth. They spot the new business opportunities, design the next product or service, and ensure customer satisfaction.

Organizations should not ignore the developing digital workstyles of other segments of the workforce, especially where service and manual workers represent a significant proportion of the workforce.

SOEs can be useful in reducing cost and complexity, but only when they are applied to a role in a considered and contextual manner.

A workspace that suits an expanding range of digital workstyles


IT consumerization continues to spread throughout the workplace, with employees often having to service their own IT needs as IT departments focus on patching, protecting, and upgrading technology.

While IT departments are primarily concerned with technologies from the past, employees are using technology from the present (and often it seems from the future) to get work done.

Accommodating and managing new technology at enterprise scale is a challenge that would stretch any IT department, but it is essential to do so.

A workspace that scales to meet real enterprise dimensions: identities, roles, devices, applications, and data


When it comes to employee engagement, many organizations have lost the full attention and commitment of the workforce: Low levels of investment Clunky software Ill-suited devices Draconian IT policies

The mobile-first, cloud-first world has crept up on many enterprises because executives are focused on business survival and IT budgets have been reduced or flat for a significant period of time.

A workspace that enhances the employee experience, rather than detracting from it


Provisioning the modern digital workspace requires an effective end-to-end understanding and management of the deployment stack: Connectivity and communications

management Device, storage, and compute

management Application management Information security management Service management.

Few IT departments have the resources to keep up with best practice, new developments, and IT process optimization. This is where ICT partners add value.

A workspace that is flexible, mobile, and agile


Employees generally appreciate the need for information security management systems, but this can wane when the implementation results in cumbersome processes, additional burden on the business, and a poor IT experience.

A fully managed digital workspace solution has to : Free business leaders so they can better

focus on identifying new business opportunities;

Free employees so they can better focus on serving customers;

Free IT departments so they can better focus on adding value to the business

A workspace that preserves the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of corporate data and information


BYOx is the manifestation of liberal IT policies designed to attract tech-savvy employees to innovative business start-ups and forward-thinking enterprises that are open to new ways of working.

The liberalization of corporate IT policies can raise significant governance, risk, and compliance issues which then inhibit efforts to design new ways of working.

System integrators, system outsourcers, and IT suppliers need to "step up to the plate" and help their enterprise customers discover and implement new ways of working, sharing some of the risk while gaining some of the reward.

A workspace that is compliant


Design, deployment, provisioning, and migration

Ongoing support and workspace development

End-user training and support Information security management Bespoke integration of line-of-business

applications Application packaging and modernization Device management Application management System outsourcing Managing end-user computing costs

A workspace that is well implemented, well supported, and always up to date


Consider time and motion studies to identify inefficiencies Early productivity specialists such as Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and Frederick Winslow Taylor

observed work using stop watches and clipboards. Modern enterprises possess many digital observational tools – including a growing social media

culture of providing frank feedback – yet most do not use them to improve productivity or reduce employee dissatisfaction.

Focus on jobs to be done, not just job elimination Digital transformation discussions often focus more on how ICT can displace workers than on

finding ways to help everyone improve how they work. A human-centred examination of job tasks delivers a richer perspective on the opportunity to

implement new digital services. Value ICT partners that want to discuss your business processes

Fruitful discussions begin with gaining an understanding of how a business works and why, not what technology is used.

A vendor that can initiate and sustain a dialogue about working contexts is more likely to be able to execute a digital transformation initiative.

Recommendations for enterprise ICT decision makers


Documents

Building the modern workplace