Gartner® Predicts 2024: build a sustainable and collaborative digital workplace infrastructure

Unified Workspace Management

“Working today is a state, not a place“, explains Oliver Bendig, CEO of Matrix24 during a panel discussion in Munich in July 2016. The event discussed the IDC study “Advanced Workplace Strategies in Germany 2016“, which was published in June 2016. The day-to-day work of modern knowledge workers couldn’t have been summarised better. If a company wants to increase the productivity of its staff in order to stay competitive in the future, then availability of device independent apps and documents via a browser has to be ensured. If a company implements Unified Worksapce Management, it enables productive working in the home office, during customer appointments and on business trips.

A Desire for Simplification and Transparency

The results of the IDC study, which questioned knowledge workers and those responsible for IT from 281 organisations with more than 100 employees, however, paint a rather sobering picture. Only 52 percent of the surveyed knowledge workers are currently able to access relevant applications device independent. This requires urgent action for improvements from businesses. Root cause analysis showed that in the past few years a fragmented management structure for traditional, virtualised and mobile devices had developed in the businesses in question. There is a great desire for less complexity and more transparency. As a solution, they envisage an integrated IT workplace management, which extends itself to mobile and stationery devices.

Unified Workspace Management – the Investment in the Future

The magic word for businesses that want to invest in the future is therefore “Unified Workspace Management“. 45 percent of the interviewed IT decision makers want to simplify user support and access rights through Unified Workspace Management. This is closely followed by lower costs, which may be achieved by tool consolidation (41 percent). In addition, those responsible for IT also expect increased transparency regarding software licences and contracts in use (39 percent). According to the study, in every second company today licenses are automatically extended, even though these are not in use. The standardisation of heterogeneous software environments and processes could also increase efficiency immensely in departments across the whole company.

Usability should be paramount

Irrespective of all efforts to provide modern workspaces, usability should never be neglected. This was also the belief during the panel discussion: “Usability should be paramount during all efforts and considerations”, confirms Axel Ernst, who is responsible for mobile services at the University Hospital of Basel. Therefore consistent user experience should be a central requirement. One approach is virtual desktops and apps, which are provided via the cloud (DaaS). The continued merging of mobile and desktop IT enables the integrated management of IT workspaces. Identity and access management then also play an import role.  The unification of user identities and passwords as part of a single sign-on has not only a positive impact on staff productivity, but also IT security.