Digital Workplace Technologies Promise a Personal Digital Assistant for All Employees

ISG Provider Lens Digital Workplace Archetype Report looks at how the services of 22 vendors fit into the business models of five types of clients

As enterprises move toward digital workplace technologies, all of their employees will be able to have their own personal digital assistants, according to a new report published by Information Services Group, a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Workplace Archetype Report sees enterprises adopting such virtual assistants, including advanced agents that can book meetings on behalf of employees or suggest product changes based on end-user chat sessions. Digital workplace technologies can also offer remote device support through augmented or virtual reality and can provide smart offices and meeting rooms, among other benefits.

“With digital and automation technologies, having a personal assistant is no longer a luxury that only senior executives can afford,” said Esteban Herrera, partner and global leader of ISG Research.

“Modern digital workplace technologies provide every worker with a personal digital assistant that can take over mundane tasks to help the user explore value-added work and advance their careers.”

In addition to automation, digital workplace technologies can assist enterprises with the consumerization of IT environments, the report said. Employees who have long used smartphones now expect cloud- and app-based services in the workplace, and automated solutions like chatbots connect with channels like Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana and Google Assistant to provide a consumer-like experience at work.

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Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are also part of the digital workplace toolbox, the report added. These automated tools can be used for a variety of tasks, including scanning for cyberthreats. Only those security issues that are not automatically resolved are then escalated to human agents.

The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Workplace Archetype Report for 2019 examines five different types of clients, or archetypes, that are looking for digital workplace providers. The report evaluates the capabilities of 22 digital workplace service providers to deliver services to the five archetypes:

Ad-hoc clients, or automation starters, usually have a complex workplace environment, heavily dependent on legacy devices and technologies, that is largely considered a cost center, not a value generator. These clients move toward workplace transformation because of an ad-hoc requirement, such as technology obsolescence or an immediate need to overhaul their IT systems following a merger or divesture.

Transformational-oriented clients, or automation explorers, have a complex workplace environment, with an enterprise IT environment not fully integrated with business-led objectives. These clients are on a journey toward major workplace transformation. They adopt transformation initiatives to improve their IT service delivery and operationalefficiency. They have either integrated mobility into their workplace environment, or they are in the process of doing so.

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Cloud-enabled SaaS workspace clients, which are contextualized automation-focused, are accelerating their adoption of SaaS-based workspaces. These clients focus on a so-called AAA (anytime, anywhere, any device or platform) workplace environment. They are looking at creating persona-focused workplaces, and they aim for productivity improvement in addition to cost optimization.

Digital collaboration clients, or automation experts, have a simplified and digitally dexterous workplace environment. Enterprise IT is deeply integrated with the business for these clients. These clients look for ways to reap business benefits from a collaborative workplace. End users expect a consumer-grade experience from enterprise IT.

Next-generation workplace clients, also automation experts, are large, matured outsourcing clients that have a highly distributed and complex workplace environment. These clients keep a tab on emerging technologies and are always looking at ways to leverage newer technologies for business and productivity gains. Enterprise IT is strategically important to business for these clients.

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Among the providers ISG evaluated, only Atos, DXC Technology and HCL were named leaders across all five archetypes. Cognizant, Fujitsu, TCS and Unisys were recognized as leaders in four of the five archetypes, while Computacenter, IBM, NTT DATA and Zensar achieved that distinction in three.

SOURCE Information Services Group, Inc.

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