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Unisys Global Study Shows Consumerization of Technology Is Driving Business Innovation and Demanding More of IT ServicesSurvey suggests companies are seeking and finding new ways to transform support expenses into productivity investments
BLUE BELL, Pa., August 28, 2007 – New research commissioned by Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) reveals that the increasing “consumerization” of information technology used by today’s mobile workforce is the key factor shaping the IT support services that enterprises provide their employees.
More people working for businesses are using consumer technologies such as laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and iPhones in the workplace. As this happens, the study shows, organizations are increasingly shifting from using standardized, “one size fits all” IT support services. Instead, they are adopting flexible service strategies that place the highest priority on meeting the needs of employees who work directly with clients and drive revenue. The study also reveals that enterprise IT organizations are increasingly open to using outsourcing partners to deliver those services.
The results of the study, conducted by IDG Research Services on behalf of Unisys, were based on interviews with nearly 700 IT decision makers worldwide. (Key U.S. results are reviewed in a separate press release, also issued today.)
Supporting the Mobile Workforce in a Consumerized Environment
As those workers become more dispersed, mobile applications and technologies such as CRM applications for customer service, laptops and PDAs are emerging as the new foundations for employee productivity and company growth and profitability.
“The proliferation of consumer and other mobile devices in the enterprise poses a special challenge to IT organizations,” said Joe Hogan, vice president, Strategic Outsourcing Programs, Unisys. “They must invest in new processes that help client-facing employees exploit the technology for greater productivity and new revenue channels.”
Added Craig Samuel, vice president, Business Innovation, Unisys, “By implementing new service paradigms, CEOs and CIOs can transform what has traditionally been a support cost into an investment for future corporate growth and individual impact in the knowledge economy.” Samuel is also president of the Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity (IIIP, www.iii-p.org), which recently published research into the importance of creating value from IT capital expenditures in a rapidly consumerizing marketplace.¹
New Tools Call for New Processes
The diverse mix of approaches to end-user services most frequently used today by responding organizations includes call centers (53 percent), end-user training (49 percent), 24x7 support (48 percent), tiered support (45 percent) and IT training investments (40%).
The outlays for 24x7 support and end-user training, especially, indicate a growing commitment among organizations to making their employees more productive and educating them on the tools that they can use to help the IT organization help them.
The trend toward tiered support represents another significant cultural change – nearly half of the respondents are adopting schemes that prioritize support based on the contribution certain employees make to the top or bottom line, not their position in the corporate hierarchy. “Tiered support favors those end users who can most benefit from innovation,” said Hogan.
Those companies characterized by respondents as more consumer technology-friendly had a greater percentage of mobile or remote workers (47 percent vs. 34 percent overall), as well as more employees using multiple computing devices (67 percent vs. 49 percent overall). Those companies were more likely to introduce new processes, such as those cited above, to support their end-users.
In addition, global organizations clearly recognize that services must continually adapt to a growing diversity of technologies, escalating end-user support requirements and changing business needs. In addition to the existing services options already cited as being in use now, respondents indicated that in the immediate future – within six months – they planned to enhance their end-user service capabilities by: introducing or expanding the use of knowledge bases (29 percent) and self-service (20 percent), as well as outsourcing support services (18 percent), increasing IT training investments (29 percent) and increasing end-user training (21 percent).
IT Decision-Makers See Outsourcing as Key Way to Deliver Innovation
According to the survey, 20 percent of respondents said they have already increased outsourcing in support of end-user services, while 18 percent plan to increase outsourcing within the next six months, and another 20 percent plan to do so within two years.
The majority of the responding companies turning to outsourcing said they did so to strengthen their 24x7 IT service and business processes, and to enhance security. They recognized that a go-it alone approach is not feasible when trying to harmonize end-user computing needs with the continuing wave of emerging technologies.
About the Research About Unisys Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company. We provide consulting, systems integration, outsourcing and infrastructure services, combined with powerful enterprise server technology. We specialize in helping clients use information to create efficient, secure business operations that allow them to achieve their business goals. Our consultants and industry experts work with clients to understand their business challenges and create greater visibility into critical linkages throughout their operations. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.
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