INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
colleagues in different locations, compared with 16% of fully in-person employees and 14% of fully remote employees. The survey also found a perception gap in cross-functional integration, as 70% of decision-makers said their organisation’s technology is highly or well-integrated across different teams and departments such as IT, HR and facilities, compared with 55% of employees. This disconnect underscores a broader challenge as organisations work to scale workplace technologies across the nusiness. Disconnected workplace technology Elsewhere, 56% of employees said information, knowledge and data access tools created friction or extra work in their day-to-day jobs. When such friction exists, employees can turn to their own workarounds – 45% said they use non- approved tools to get work done more easily at least monthly. Those can make it harder for organisations to maintain visibility and governance over how they manage information and workflows. “When employees have to search across multiple systems, re-enter information or use unapproved tools just to complete routine work, those workarounds create friction and expose organisations to greater risk,” said Bob Lamendola, chief digital services and delivery officer at Ricoh North America. “Organisations need to better orchestrate the technology, information
and workflows they already have, while identifying where agentic capabilities can support manual work. Connecting those components can reduce risk and make the approved path the easiest path for employees to get work done.” Start with employees, not technology Three in five employees (60%) said there is a disconnect between the tools their organisation thinks would be most useful and the tools that would be most useful to them. The disconnect extends to how organisations believe they are managing change, with 71% of decision-makers saying their organisations usually seek employee input before rolling out new technology, but only 43% of employees said that usually happens. The report also pointed to how workplace technology is arriving faster than many organisations can support effective adoption, with 81% of decision- makers saying their organisation invests in new workplace technology faster than it helps employees learn to use it effectively. The findings point to a clear takeaway: effective technology adoption begins well before deployment and requires more than investment. Organisations must design workplace technology around how work gets done by seeking employee input early, targeting real needs, integrating tools into existing workflows, and providing clear guidance for effective use. n
Carsten Bruhn
ricoh-usa.com
“
AI creates value when it makes work easier, not when it adds another layer of complexity... ...Strategy must drive technology
decisions, not the other way around.
”
printinthechannel.co.uk
49
Powered by FlippingBook