are europe’s smes making the most of the digital workplace? · are europe’s smes making the...

Are Europe’s SMEs making the most of the Digital Workplace?A view into how small and medium businesses are embracing mobile tech

WHITE PAPERSEPTEMBER 2016

SPONSORED BY

| 02

ContentsExecutive summary 3

Is the SME market ready for the Digital Workplace 4

- Strategic importance of a Digital Workplace 4 - Perceived key business benefi ts of the Digital Workplace 6 - Enhancing the customer experience 7 - Security and data protection challenges 7 - Cost and complexity of transformation 8

The trusted advisor opportunity 9

Conclusions 10

INSPIRED INTELLIGENCE | 03

Executive summaryMost expert commentary and industry analysts will agree that in today’s business environment, every organisation needs a strategy for digital technology, because regardless of industry, size or geography, no organisation will be immune from the disruptive nature of new digital and mobile technologies, and this level of change is only set to continue.

The use of cloud technologies, advanced analytics, new applications, wireless connectivity, devices, and digitisation is fundamentally reshaping every industry and organisation regardless of size.

This study of over 500 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Europe suggests that they are struggling to really embrace Digital Workplace to its fullest. However, while our research shows that the Digital Workplace is a strategic priority for senior management in most SMEs, nearly half of all organisations we spoke to do not have any foreseeable plans to implement such a strategy.

In addition, many SME leaders are still seeing security and cost as hurdles to implementing more mobile digital technology.

It is not all bad news as those SMEs that are embracing digital technologies are reaping the bene� ts of improved sta� productivity, business e� ciency, enhanced customer experience, and increased revenues.

Why read this paper?This white paper aims to highlight the market readiness and assess to what level SMEs are prepared fora Digital Workplace, it then o� ers observations and recommendations based on these � ndings.

If you are a business leader or IT executive in an SME, it will provide insights on the bene� ts being realised bythose organisations that have already invested in the Digital Workplace.

If you are part of the IT reseller community, it will show you a huge business opportunity as the insights suggest that most SMEs still turn to you as a � rst point of call for advice on the Digital Workplace. In addition, 26% of this group plan to invest in the Digital Workplace over the next year, and another 50% are not sure when they will, suggesting that there will be a growing need for trusted IT advisors capable of delivering service-led mobility solutions to SMEs.

How did we conduct this study?To provide these insights, we completed interviews with 560 senior business and IT executives within SMEs (25-1000 employees) across the EMEA region within di� erent industries to � nd out what the reality is in the Finance, Retail, Engineering, Hospitality, and Healthcare in large and small countries.

TREND is a leading provider of b2b customer insight to high tech vendors that supports its clients to make better informed decisions on marketing and sales strategies.

Is the SME market ready for the Digital Workplace?

The majority of senior business executives (66%) acknowledge that investing in the Digital Workplace is or is likely to be strategically important in the future, and in an increasingly competitive environment recognise it will be a pre-requisite for future survival and business growth.

Interestingly, 80% of respondents in the Finance and Healthcare industry sectors, and 82% of respondents in the larger SMEs (500-1000 employees) believe Digital Workplace will be of strategic importance, compared to other industry sectors,which appears to re� ect the fact that more of these organisations have implemented or have strategic plans to implement enabling technologies.

Sturz Franck, Head of Department at Biochimie Genetique et Moleculaire (Healthcare, France), perceives the value of a Mobile First, Digital Workplace investment in faster and more e� cient handling of patient records as well as increased quality of bedside patient care.

Defi nition of Digital WorkplaceDigital Workplace aims to deliver the freedom to access data anywhere and anytime from any mobile device, with the data shared in the cloud, and applications optimised for mobile access & mobile devices.

It provides greater interaction, enabled by smart devices & buildings accessible by any device & any application.

Digital Workplace also brings huge cost savings such as reduced IT infrastructure, and reduced o� ce space, and it increases workforce productivity, business e� ciency & improves interactions with customers & collaborators.

“I head up the department that manages the reports of all our registered patients, and with patients coming in all the time, we need to maintain and keep patient records up to date on our systems.

My team are not always in the hospital, so we wanted to use our iPhones and iPads to connect with the main business server to access our data and stay connected throughout the day. To enable that to happen we needed to invest in wireless and cloud which allowed us to do that.

The other major mobility benefi t is that the consultants, doctors, and nurses can now bring their desks to the patient’s bedside. As well as having access to up to date information on that patient, they can also now record the diagnosis and make recommendations.

I believe there is also some in-built intelligence and security which fl ags any human error in miscalculation of dosages for certain diagnosis.”

STURZ FRANCK | HEAD OF DEPARTMENT AT BIOCHIMIE GENETIQUE ET MOLECULAIRE


34%Tactical

66%Strategically important

About 30% of respondents say they are currently investing in technologies to optimise a mobile workplace, and a further 20% have plans to invest within the next two years, but that leaves 50% who say they currently have no strategic plan in place yet.

Therefore, our observation is that whilst most SMEs acknowledge the strategic importance of a Digital Workplace, the overall majority still don’t have any structured plans or strategies in place for it.

The respondents, however, who say their organisations have invested are realising business bene� ts.

Jeremy Lye, European Marketing Manager, Schroders UK (Finance), has highlighted that investment in a Digital Workplace strategy and technologies has helped enhance the e� ciency of marketing, improved customer intimacy, and satisfaction, while increasing sales, productivity, and mobility.

“The investments we have made so far have really benefi ted our marketing team. We can now more easily drive proactive on-line marketing campaigns to reach out to new and existing clients and deliver new ways of marketing our products to build brand awareness”.

Furthermore the more advanced digital technology and analytics we have invested in has increased our understanding of clients’ purchasing behaviours.

It’s also very important to have fl exibility to work from anywhere. Our clients are based across various parts of the country which means our sales people can now visit clients at their offi ces and access business data just as if they were in their offi ce. This has improved sales productivity and clients are happier.”

JEREMY LYE | European Marketing Manager, Schroders UK

50%of respondents say

they currently have nostrategic plan in place yet

for a Digital Workplace



Perceived key business benefi tsof the Digital WorkplaceAccording to the consultancy � rm, Aon Hewitt, a 5% increase in employee productivity in one year can deliver a 3% increase in revenue growth in the next.

Respondents con� rm that having the � exibility to access business data in real-time or connect with colleagues, customers and suppliers fromany place at any time will have the greatest impact on sta� productivity,and job satisfaction. This in turn they believe will boost creativity, sta� motivation, and help retain talented sta� .

These bene� ts are not exclusive to the SME sector. Aruba’s own research of the enterprise sector showed thatcompanies rated by employees as “pioneers” in how they support mobile technology saw a rise in productivity (16%), creativity (18%), satisfaction (23%), and loyalty (21%),when compared to organisations that were poorly rated at supporting mobile technology.

Thomas Frey, Director of Sales and Marketing at Iontis Elektrostatik GmbH (German Manufacturing Company), emphasises the importance of cloud enabled mobility in creating a more collaborative, e� cient working environment with improved business continuity.

SMEs that are investing con� rm they are embracing a cloud � rst policy to improve integration and data management across their organisation to make it easier to access and share real-time business data with customers and partners on the go.

“Our staff have heavy workloads, but if someone is sick, important information needs to be at hand for someone else to access quickly. Our investment in digital and cloud technologies has enabled us to get access to that information more quickly.

One major benefi t from this investment is how business silos are starting to break down. We can link our ERP & CRM apps and synchronize data from one system to the other, and provide internal web access and portals where people can get all the information from both apps.

I also know our Head of R&D has a much closer working relationship with the sales team now as he has a platform that enables him to interact more effectively. In the fi eld, sales people provide information in real time on where product improvements can be made, and what customers are asking for, so that he can respond and develop in the right direction.”

THOMAS FREY | Director of Sales and Marketing, Iontis Elektrostatik GmbH

Three mainbusiness benefi tsSMEs are seeing from the Digital Workplace are:

business effi ciency

customer interactiveexperience

staff productivity


Enhancing the customer experienceEnhancing the customer interactive experience and improving engagement is enabling many of these SMEs to better understand the customer journey, purchasing behaviours and how customers experience their brands.

Improved customer engagement is ultimately helping to increase sales, says Vittorio Tramontano, Digital Media and Marketing Director at Glyn Hopkin Ltd (UK Retail), who asserts that the Digital Workplace investment has also been of particular value to the improvement of operations in both sales and marketing across their car dealership locations with particular focus on customer communications and experience.

Security and data protection challengesDespite the business bene� ts there are still perceived barriers to entry that need to be addressed with data security the number one issue.

The most common concerns and perceptions include:

• unauthorised users that have access to business sensitive company data

• holding business data in the public cloud

• wireless networks are not as secure as wired networks making them more vulnerable to attack

• employees losing their devices

• the sharing of devices by employees

• hackers / fraudsters / viruses / cyber attacks

The majority of respondents believe that wireless networks and cloud technologies o� ered greater data security threats, but our research questions the validity of some of these perceptions based on information provided by respondents whose organisations have fully embraced wireless and cloud technologies and that have for instance made wireless their main connectivity medium.

Of the 21% of respondents who say they already have wireless as their main connectivity medium, most con� rm that having put in place better security controls, mechanisms, and procedures, has minimised the security threat and that new technologies were not the issue.

There is also an on-going general concern about the security of holding business critical data in the cloud, so many respondents are instead piloting the use of cloud technology for less sensitive data � rst. Also, a few SMEs did con� rm they have moved to a cloud-managed wireless service but this was currently only a very small number of organisations.

“Investing in digital has enabled us to increase staff mobility across all our car dealerships, which has especially benefi ted our sales and marketing operations. It has given us better opportunities to communicate with customers in different ways out of offi ce hours which has increased customer satisfaction levels and has led to more sales.”

VITTORIO TRAMONTANO | Digital Media and Marketing Director, Glyn Hopkin Ltd

50%of respondents say

data security remainsthe major concern


Cost and complexity of transformationThe other main concern cited by 30% of respondents is the cost of implementing the necessary technology and integrating it with legacy infrastructure.

With the proliferation of mobile devices being used for work, about 50% of IT respondents admitted the IT department needed to take more control and implement better on-boarding, authentication and security policies as an increasing number of these devices are not fully sanctioned or controlled today.

Historically, IT provided all the devices that plugged into the wired workplace network, but today users have several devices, not necessarily provided or even approved by the IT department.

Most IT respondents however, accept that employees expect to use their devices to access company data, stream videos and hold conversations over a wireless network, and will do so in spite of any existing IT policy to the contrary.

Of employees who bring their own devices to work:

• 45% believe mobility makes them more productive

• 49% feel more productive when working from home

• 30% would not work for a company not allowing BYOD

• 36% claim their organisation has no policy in place regarding the content that can be accessed on their personal devices while in the o� ce

Source: 2016 Mobility, performance and engagement research – Economist Intelligence Unit

We spoke to 400 IT executives of which 228 had one of the following four concerns.

IT departmentsneed to take morecontrol as not alldevices are fully

sanctioned

To address the issues, most IT respondents con� rm the IT department needed to:

• Implement better “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policies to ensure well de� ned role & credential based device access for sta� , customers & suppliers.

• Create a more mobile, collaborative and agile workplace with high quality network access to motivate and retain talented sta� .

84

With more personal devices being used for work,

we need to take control of the situation & implement

better security policies

60

We are concerned with the security risks of device proliferation & so want to

restrict mobility

43

Not all devices used in our organisation

are fully sanctioned & controlled by our

IT department

41

Our current network cannot cope with or fully enable a Digital

Workplace


The trusted advisor opportunity85% of SMEs said they would � rstly seek advice from an expert on what would be the best technology solution to implement to improve the Digital Workplace.

The local IT reseller / systems integrator partner is the � rst port of call and is typically the supplier they have historically used to implement and support their existing IT infrastructure.

This approach surpasses any other way these SMEs have at their disposal to � nd information on product vendors and technology solutions.

Accessing information via the web, attending conferences, reviewing analyst reports, and speaking to peers are all secondary activities for helping to formulate decision making, and � nding out about which products and services are best to implement.

It naturally follows that the majority of SMEs will also use these same local IT partners to implement & support any new technology solutions for enabling a mobile � rst workplace.

Some larger SMEs (27%) that have dedicated in-house IT departments and skill sets, may, however, seek the advice of local IT partners, and purchase relevant products from them, but will implement the solution themselves.

Only a small number of SMEs (13%) will directly approach the original manufacturer and have themimplement new solutions, as many are typically subsidiaries of larger corporates who have the bene� t of global purchasing agreements with relevant product vendors that can be leveraged.

SMEs want to defer the trusted advisor role to their local IT partners.To earn that role, it will be vital for local IT partners to fully understand the concerns, challenges and aspirations of the main customer stakeholders and decision makers to o� er credible professional advice and implement the relevant technology solutions needed.

The Managing Director or in the case of smaller organisations, the Business Owner, is the individual who most needs to be convincedof the bene� ts of an investment before he signs o� .

In many of the larger SMEs, however, the heads of business departments such as the Food & Beverages or Revenue Directors in a hotel, or the Head of Production or R&D Director in an engineering � rm, are increasingly in� uential and will hold their own budgets for Digital investments.

The Marketing Director / Digital Marketing Director is also increasingly in� uential, and is advising on how to create a more high touch experience for their organisation’s customers, as well as being involved in changing processes, technology (mobile connectivity and an always-on environment), and culture.

The Finance and Engineering sectors, are leading the way with Digital Marketing stakeholders in the senior management team.

Local IT partners havea huge opportunity to

become the trustedadvisor in helping SMEs

succeed in reapingthe benefi ts of theDigital Workplace

85%of SMEs will seek

the advice of theirlocal IT partner


ConclusionsSMEs are considering an investment in the Digital Workplace as they know it is going to be of strategic importance in the future of their businesses, yet nearly half of the organisations have not got any plans to put a strategy into place.

Those SMEs, however, that are embracing digital technologies are reaping the bene� ts of improved sta� productivity, business e� ciency, enhanced customer experience, and increased revenues.

There are, however, a number of perceived challenges around security, and the cost and complexity of business transformation which is preventing many SMEs from investing, and levels of primary core wireless workplaces are therefore still very low.

Our advice to SMEs is that now is the time to fully embrace digital to maintain a competitive advantage, because regardless of industry or geography, no organisation will be immune from the disruptive nature of new digital and mobile technologies, and this level of change is only set to continue.

Finally, as the majority of SMEs will turn to local IT resellers for advice, it will be vital for this IT sales channel to be working with the right product vendors to implement and support new technology solutions for enabling a Mobile First workplace, and deliver the value-add services to those SMEs who have no or limited on-site IT capabilities.

This report was sponsored by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. Aruba is a leading provider of next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes worldwide, delivering IT solutionsthat enable organisations to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users who rely on cloud-basedbusiness apps for every aspect of their work and personal lives.

Footnote 1:

We interviewed a variety of business execs in di� erent lines of business across multiple industry sectors, and the business structures and functions of individuals di� er signi� cantly between small (25-99 sta� ) and large SMEs (100-1000 sta� ).

Smaller SMEs do not typically have lines of business, and senior execs are often multi-taskers, whereas larger SMEs typically have an IT department with dedicated IT managers covering di� erent disciplines. Smaller SMEs often cite IT managers or IT execs who are most often volunteer hybrid technical gurus who rely more heavily on their IT reseller partners.

Footnote 2:

Most execs deferred to IT when asked about IT challenges their organisation faced, and so it was the IT respondents who provided these responses.

TREND Consulting LtdThe Moat HouseChurch LaneBritfordSalisburySP5 4DX

Offi ce: +44 (0)1722 413 555Mobile: +44 (0)7802 170 448

www.trend.co.uk

TREND is a leading provider of b2b customer insight to high tech vendors that supports its

clients to make better informed decisions on marketing and

sales strategies

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