When employee technology doesn’t work, neither does your business. Imagine trying to call into a video meeting and being unable to multitask with a document or having an unstable connection, while your email won’t load properly, and your computer fan sounds like a jet turbine. These kinds of technology malfunctions or inadequate compute power can create frustration and an inability to work productively—or at all! And the people waiting for your input are left in limbo as you try to sort it out. While an extreme example, this kind of scenario can be routine for today’s employees. And it forms their employee experience, meaning their overall perceptions and day-to-day attitude about working with your organization.
Technology is the essential tool employees now use in their daily work, especially given the increase in remote work opportunities. As such, it affects employee motivation, long-term retention, and their willingness to engage fully in their work. If the employee experience is not positive, you could lose the benefit of their talent, knowledge, and expertise. In fact, Intel survey results show that 42 percent of the younger generation will quit their job if they feel unsatisfied with technology.1
The importance of the PC in employee experience is that it is a portal through which employees experience their work every day. Their device is their tool for attending meetings, getting work done, and using applications for productivity, collaboration, and reporting. According to a recent Forrester report, 77 percent of full-time employees surveyed view PC devices as a critical factor in their engagement and ability to succeed in what they are being asked to do in their work.2 Employees need to be satisfied with the collaboration technologies they use, have easy access to the information and tools to do their job, and be satisfied with the overall technology portfolio on the devices they use in their work.2
Survey respondents agree that PC devices are critical for increasing customer satisfaction (69 percent), revenue growth (62 percent), and employee retention (55 percent).2 That means investing in a well-powered, reliable, functional PC is an investment in your employee(s). By purchasing appropriate PC devices to meet employee needs, IT decision makers support—and can even drive—employee satisfaction. Satisfied employees create quality work, which, in turn, means greater customer satisfaction for a stronger bottom line. When you reframe investments in technology as simultaneous investments in employee experience, the link between technology and business outcomes becomes evident.
The Disconnect between Requirements and What Employees Need
Interestingly, 62 percent of surveyed employee respondents agreed that PC devices are critical for revenue growth, but only 33 percent of respondents said they were extremely satisfied with their company-provided device.2 Half of respondents even said they thought their computer was insufficient or out of date.2 This demonstrates that IT decision makers and employees have a disconnect when it comes to the requirements that employees actually need with their device. IT leaders usually focus on manageability, security, and stability. And while these can impact employee experience, there are many more PC purchase considerations that can improve a business’s overall employee experience.
Remote work also brings new challenges for IT staff employees. When employees move from working in an office environment to working remotely, they have different experiences based on different conditions. And IT often struggles with a level of visibility into how and where tech or user experience problems may be happening. For example, it can be hard to know if a problem is related to the application or related to wireless connectivity. IT staff need greater visibility for device management wherever the employee and their device are located to be effective in their work.
The Benefits of Investing in Technology for Employee Experience
Eighty-eight percent of IT decision makers recognize that investments in employee experience are critical to build resilience.2 As a result of investing in technology for employee satisfaction, nearly 60 percent of IT decision makers have seen a more than 10 percent improvement in their employee experience scores.2 Even more, IT leaders are reporting a fivefold return on their employee experience investments. That means that, for every $1 USD spent on employee experience investments, companies are seeing $5 USD back in increased employee productivity, organizational agility, and customer satisfaction.2
When you’re considering technology investments to benefit employees, the quality of the PC and how good the fit is for the way employees work matter. The experience with consumer-grade laptops for work is not as good as enterprise-grade devices because enterprise-grade equipment is typically more durable and more resilient, offers valuable features like fingerprint authentication for log in, and accommodates emerging technologies, such as Intel® Connectivity Performance Suite (ICPS) Wi-Fi 6E.
Investing in modern devices means taking advantage of the latest capabilities offered by manufacturers, like faster, more reliable connectivity or longer battery life to enable remote work. A key consideration for device type is form factor, meaning laptops, 2-in-1s, or desktop workhorses. In all cases, you want to right-size the processor for compute power because the more powerful and updated your processor, the faster your computer can complete its tasks. Again, it is also important the IT team be able to empower remote and hybrid employees efficiently and effectively to support their experience with your organization.
Technology Solutions that Meet Today’s Employee Expectations
Other qualities that employees are looking for on their devices include rapid start up, lasting real-world battery life, collaborative productivity apps, reliable wireless accessories, a sleek and stylish form factor, and dynamic displays and visuals. To help IT decision makers more easily purchase standout business devices that align with today’s employee expectations, the Connection team can introduce you to Intel® Evo™ laptops.
Intel Evo laptops are designed from the ground up with employees on the go in mind, so they have the features today’s employees want from their PCs. User needs drive the innovation encompassed by Intel Evo devices, including remarkable responsiveness, an immersive visual experience, instant wake, and long-lasting battery life.
To help the IT team support remote workers with visibility into their devices, the Intel vPro® platform addresses enterprise concerns around performance, security, and PC fleet stability and manageability. The platform offers technologies such as Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) and Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel® EMA), which enable IT staff to remotely assess, monitor, repair, and update PCs quickly and efficiently, reducing downtime for IT and employees. These capabilities streamline IT processes, allowing IT staff to quickly fix any device issues employees may face when working remotely, which also improves the overall employee experience.
How to Begin Improving Employee Experience with Technology
Supporting the wellbeing and productivity of your employees by making smart technology investments attracts top talent and drives positive outcomes. When these investments are made with proper planning and execution, you can significantly reduce costs by shortening the purchasing and deployment processes, which enables employees to have more time and focus on mission-critical projects that grow the business. Connection’s team can help guide organizations in their purchasing decisions. We offer persona-based bundles that help you procure and deploy the hardware, software, and services your teams need to be successful.
1. Intel Mobile Go-Getter Attitudes Study Q2 ’19. Base: US+PRC: Mobile Go-Getters: n=549.
2. “Invest in Employee Experience (EX), Drive Your Bottom Line Growth: Empower Your Employees With The Right Technology,” a Forrester Consulting thought leadership paper commissioned by Lenovo and Intel, October 2020, https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/lenovo-ex-whitepaper.pdf.
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