With hybrid work becoming the new normal, we’re returning to a new office: the digital workplace.
As organizations navigate this transition, digital experience and real user connectivity monitoring are essential to enhancing collaboration and optimizing the productivity of both in-office and remote employees.
In this webinar we explore practical strategies and best practices to deliver an amazing digital workplace experience. Learn how leading Fortune 500 enterprises achieve:
- Responsive cloud and SaaS applications
- Optimal Wi-Fi, ISP, SD WAN and cloud connectivity
- Amazing MS Teams, Webex and UC web conferencing
- Low-latency SASE and zero trust networking
- Proactive, AI-based performance diagnostics
See it live as we explore the issues encountered during digital workplace transformation and how to overcome them.
This webinar was presented on LinkedIn Live, Thursday, 20th July 2023.
Webinar Summary
Introduction
In this comprehensive overview, we dive into the topic of digital workplace performance and productivity in the context of remote work. The rise of hybrid working is a prominent trend, and as we explore various trends and challenges, we seek to offer solutions for optimizing end-to-end visibility of the digital experience for employees.
The Global Shift to Remote and Hybrid Work
Hybrid working has ingrained itself deeply into the new method of working for enterprises worldwide. Citing Gartner’s recent report, it is revealed that three-quarters of employees are expected to remain in hybrid or remote work setups for the foreseeable future. To adapt to this changing landscape and attract, retain, and engage talent, 82% of companies have adopted Productivity Anywhere models. The benefits extend beyond just employee satisfaction, as organizations excelling in the digital workplace experience report fewer missed deadlines and increased employee productivity, ultimately resulting in a 61% boost in overall productivity.
Technology Driving the Transition
The digital workplace transformation has been driven by various technological advancements. Offices are evolving into shared spaces, promoting mobility and collaboration among employees. Adopting a Wi-Fi and laptop-first IT policy has become the norm, with even engineers receiving laptops instead of traditional desktop computers. Moreover, the shift towards Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions is replacing traditional VPNs, ensuring secure and optimized connectivity for remote employees. Cloud migration, a significant driver of these changes, has necessitated a diverse and interconnected network infrastructure, leading to more complex challenges.
Complex Network Environment
In the modern workplace, IT teams are faced with the challenge of managing a highly distributed and diverse network environment. Employees working from home, offices, or other remote locations perform various roles, each with specific demands. Hosts and cloud services are also distributed and interconnected, making the digital experience highly dependent on factors like Wi-Fi performance, internet connectivity, and application processing. The paths taken by data and the applications used also vary depending on the user’s location, leading to an increasingly complex matrix of interactions that were not prevalent a few years ago.
Challenges in Digital Workplace Performance
Despite the widespread adoption of remote work, there are challenges related to digital workplace performance that need to be addressed. Slow applications remain a prevalent issue, impacting the productivity of two-thirds of employees. The problem is compounded by the lack of visibility and difficulty in detecting performance issues using traditional monitoring systems. As a result, 40% of reported issues remain unresolved, leading to a significant loss of productivity and employee frustration.
Digital Friction and Its Consequences
The digital friction experienced by employees due to performance issues can have severe consequences for organizations. Studies reveal that employees lose around 100 hours of productivity per year due to these challenges, equivalent to more than two weeks of additional vacation time. In addition to lost productivity, poor digital workplace performance can drive employees to leave their jobs, with 20% attributing their decision to such issues. The lack of real-time visibility into performance bottlenecks exacerbates the problem, making it difficult to identify and resolve root causes promptly.
Introducing Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)
To overcome the challenges associated with remote work and digital workplace performance, organizations are turning to Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM). DEM takes a holistic approach to application performance monitoring and real-user connectivity, providing a transparent view of the entire infrastructure from endpoints to cloud and private applications. By combining synthetic network testing and real user monitoring, DEM offers complete visibility into the user experience and helps pinpoint performance issues accurately.
The Power of Actionable Data
A crucial aspect of DEM is the generation of actionable data. By analyzing synthetic and real user experience data, IT teams can prioritize their efforts and optimize the network infrastructure to enhance end-user experience. With complete visibility, IT professionals can detect and resolve issues promptly, resulting in increased productivity and reduced frustration for employees.
Deploying Digital Experience Monitoring
Deploying DEM solutions involves adopting multiple perspectives, including synthetic testing, real user experience measurement through browser extensions, and monitoring server-side performance. Synthetic network testing enables direct measurement from the user endpoint to various applications, providing insights into user connectivity. Real user experience measurement, achieved through browser extensions, allows IT teams to capture data on application transactions and user interactions, offering a comprehensive view of the end-user experience. Monitoring server-side performance helps identify issues originating from hosting providers, cloud services, or SaaS providers, ensuring prompt resolution of problems.
Making the Digital Workplace Work for You
As remote work and hybrid working models become the norm, optimizing digital workplace performance has become imperative for organizations. With the rise of Digital Experience Monitoring, businesses can gain a competitive advantage by proactively enhancing employee productivity, reducing friction, and retaining valuable talent. By leveraging actionable data, IT teams can make informed decisions to optimize their network infrastructure and deliver an exceptional digital experience for employees across various locations and roles. The success of digital workplace performance in the era of remote work lies in the effective implementation of DEM solutions, providing end-to-end visibility and improved user experiences.
