Enterprises Look for New Digital Workplace Tools During Ongoing Pandemic

STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enterprises are looking for provider support for online conferencing solutions and automated IT support bots as many continue to rely on remote working during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group () (Nasdaq: ), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Workplace of the Future Archetype Report also finds that the continuing pandemic has highlighted the need for workplace transformation at many enterprises, although the need differs from company to company.

“Millions of employees have moved to a remote working environment or a home setup,” said Jan Erik Aase, director and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “The global pandemic has accelerated the shift to many digital technologies, which would otherwise have taken years to implement, and workplace technologies are no exception.”

The report finds a surge in demand for video conferencing solutions such as Zoom, Cisco Webex and BlueJeans and for comprehensive workplace tools such as Google’s G-Suite.

At many companies, the focus on automation-led workplace support is also accelerating, with more clients rapidly implementing automated chatbots or artificial intelligence-enabled solutions to assist service desk support agents, the report says. While some clients have just started adopting these technologies, others have made significant progress implementing them.

Many enterprises want chatbot-enabled service desk support, but are still figuring out the best way to implement this technology, the report adds. Chatbot-enabled service desks have become an essential feature as many employees work from home and have limited ability to speak with a service desk agent virtually or in person.

Automated support capabilities have great potential for enhancing end-user experience, though they are often seen only as an enabler of greater cost savings and improved efficiency for service desk agents, the report says. For many enterprises, the focus is less on user experience and more on sustaining themselves with higher efficiency at minimum costs. Clients are also looking for hard, real and quantifiable evidence of improvements in costs and operational efficiency.

Still, managed workplace service providers increasingly are signing new contracts and renewing existing contracts with a focus on measurable user experience.

The pandemic also has put office productivity suites at the forefront of workplace technologies, the report adds. Before the pandemic, there was already a big shift toward the Microsoft technology ecosystem that was creating a vendor lock-in situation with Microsoft. During the pandemic, many large enterprises could only continue with solutions that can easily integrate with existing technology ecosystems. In many cases, there is a rush to implement and adopt Microsoft solutions such as Office 365 and Teams.

The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Workplace of the Future Archetype Report examines four different types of clients, or archetypes, that are looking for digital workplace technologies. The report evaluates the capabilities of 27 providers to deliver services to the four archetypes:

Cost and operations optimizers: These customers look for cost savings and operational efficiencies while applying cutting-edge technologies within workplace transformation. Clients in this archetype look to modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to achieve automation-enabled operational efficiency that results in measurable outcomes and cost savings.

Employee experience explorers: Customers in this archetype are focused on enhancing their end users’ experience through technology. They are interested in empirical evidence for an enhanced employee experience that can directly translate to business outcomes outside the purview of enterprise IT operations. These clients are ready to explore new experience-level agreements with their managed services provider.

Collaboration productivity solution focused: Customers in this archetype look to use modern productivity collaboration and communication solutions to achieve visible business benefits. This includes not only Microsoft 365 or the Office 365 ecosystem, but also solutions from other vendors. They are interested in consulting services for investment in these solutions, analytics to monitor usage, and change and adoption management to deliver business outcomes.

Next-gen workplace: These customers continue to have an office presence for their employees instead of having them to work only remotely. Customers in this category are looking for smart on-premises solutions to enhance user experience and, in present times, keep their employees safe. This archetype also includes clients that are looking for new and cutting-edge technologies that are specific to their industry operations.

Among the providers ISG evaluated, Atos, HCL and Wipro were named leaders across all four archetypes and Capgemini and TCS were named leaders in three. Accenture, DXC Technology, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Unisys and Zensar were named leaders across two archetypes, and Coforge, Cognizant, Computacenter, CSS Corp., Fujitsu, Hexaware, IBM, Microland, Mphasis, NTT DATA, Stefanini, UST Global and Yash were named leaders in one.

The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Workplace of the Future Archetype Report is available to subscribers or for immediate, one-time purchase on this .

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe and Latin America, as well as in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this .

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

Starting this year, each ISG Provider Lens™ study will include a Global Summary to help enterprise subscribers better understand provider capabilities across all geographic markets covered by that study. All ISG Provider Lens™ reports also will now include an Enterprise Context feature to help executives quickly identify key insights related to their roles and responsibilities.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: ) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit .

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