EXPERT SPEAK businesses on how they can exert a better level of control in their IT , while also delivering the user experience employees now expect – setting them up for change now and in the future .
Think long term
Talking of the future , partners ’ ability to look at a company , be objective and provide expertise that companies may not have inhouse , means that they are well positioned to help customers embed longer-term solutions to replace the quick fixes made at the start of the crisis . Employees are starting to uncover and be more vocal about poor user experiences and are expecting employers to respond .
These poor user experiences are being driven by issues such as VDI not provisioned correctly and continued heavy reliance on VPNs . As they lost line of sight of employees , many employers also scrambled for ways to monitor their work , with 70 % of businesses turning to surveillance tools to monitor staff . But , the 41 % of companies who are currently in the process of implementing device monitoring are seeing “ drastically increased ” or “ increased ” employee turnover . Rather than going down the surveillance route , companies should be working with partners and employees to understand where monitoring can be helpful , where it crosses a line and most importantly , how it can support better productivity and performance .
On a longer-term level , the partners ’ role is to help customers better understand their current IT estate and the type of experiences the business offers to staff to help retain talent .
Staff are demanding answers from IT that they had never previously asked . Questions such as : are you using VPN ? Do you have SaaS apps ? Do you allow BYOD ? Are you transparent in the way you monitor staff ? IT teams in turn are asking their own questions of staff : are you able to access the applications you need to do your job ? Do you ever find yourself bypassing security protocol to save time ? Can you collaborate easily with other team members ?
Being part of these conversations will not only give partners insight into where the challenges exist , but also encourage customers to consider issues they may be blind to , or putting to the bottom of the pile .
Mix up measurement
Customers are crying out for these conversations , and we ’ re seeing that reflected in the increasing inclusion of experience level agreements ( XLAs ) in RFIs for partners . Traditional SLAs ensure that a box is ticked , but that isn ’ t enough anymore . An application may be working , but users are still complaining of a bad experience . Including XLAs means customers can ensure the experience holds as much importance as the technical back end .
It ’ s in the interest of partners then to help customers put in place ways of measuring experience as well as technical performance .
Small , targeted surveys that focus on the IT experience are one way to do this , with dedicated questions around monitoring to improve experiences , for instance . This will help aid greater transparency and if undertaken regularly , will give the business almost real-time insights into where
Partners are wellplaced to help ensure customers don ’ t continue to follow the perimeter-based approach to security , and instead put in place the more modern zerotrust model . problems may exist . Insights such as a quarter of employees ( 24 %) not knowing whether their organisation has implemented device monitoring systems on their devices to monitor their productivity , to identify one example . Having this knowledge encourages IT teams to build in more information about how monitoring is being done into IT provision , if at all , and give employees the option to opt out .
Talal Sabih , Country Sales Manager – GBM , Abu Dhabi , sums up well : “ There is no doubt that hybrid working is here to stay and is something that many employees see as a right , along with the freedom to use multiple devices for work . Rather than trying to stop the tide , companies must embrace change . Channel partners are in an ideal position to help : By working with hundreds of companies , in all kinds of diverse scenarios , we are well-placed to understand the challenge and work with customers to turn it into an opportunity for increased security , productivity , and employee well-being , which also translates into happier customers .”
Driving an experience-led culture
In this phase of purposeful disruption , partners play two roles . Firstly , the role of technical expert to help put in place the foundations for delivering the full capabilities needed to support the new era of hybrid working . Foundations such as zero-trust security which will help solve the security puzzle and deliver the kinds of experiences that employees now expect . Secondly , the experience expert . Employees are demanding change , and customers need partners to be their eyes , ears and helping pair of hands to understand what will enable employees to do their jobs wherever they are , in whatever way works best for them .
Together , these two roles will help customers create solid , achievable plans for delivering a successful future for hybrid work . •
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