The Role of IT

Securing effective workplace technology

LEADING CHANGE AT WORK:

The role of IT in driving the digital workplace

SME Executive Summary

A Word From Our Moderator

Introduction

Challenges to Change

Desktops to Users

Evolution of the Cyber Challenge

Conclusion & Recommendations

SME Executive Summary

by Tina Smith, Senior Vice President, Corporate Services - Ricoh Europe

There is no denying the immense role technology now plays in our society. In fact, it is hard to envision how we would have coped over the last 18 months without it. The innovation taking place in our industry is unparalleled and is changing the way we work and the way we live.

However, it’s important to recognise that technology itself does not supersede human connection. We have been through a life-altering experience, where our greatest challenge was that of human connection in a period of physical separation. Leveraging technology, we saw an incredible outpouring of social networking and coming together, underpinned by technology, that worked to support us all personally through this experience.

In the business community, during this time, technology was the lifeblood of business continuity. We saw tremendous investment and success from businesses across both the public and private sectors, moving operations to almost entirely remote environments to protect the health and safety of employees. As a result, we have seen the much-needed digital transformation to hybrid working become an industry standard.

But this experience has not been easy, in fact, it has required a lot of nuances. To keep the economy moving, we have seen restrictions lift and lockdown again on multiple occasions. Shortly before the second lockdown, we researched how employees and managers alike were feeling and adjusting to a new hybrid world of work.

We found that more than 1/4 of all managers were finding that different tools and platforms are not synced for blended working (remote and in office).

Beyond the pandemic, businesses are now faced with more varied challenges such as a clear need to focus on climate change, supply chain issues and skills shortages. At Ricoh, we recognise the huge responsibility placed on our IT industry. We wanted to host this roundtable to understand better industry leaders of how these challenges are presenting themselves. Even more importantly, we have distilled these insights into several recommendations for business leaders on how to support the IT community in leading change at work.

Tina Smith,
Senior Vice President, Corporate Services, Ricoh Europe

Introduction

For this report, we specifically spoke with IT professionals to find out how IT departments across the country are navigating the impacts of the pandemic. In organising this series of roundtables, we hoped to understand the specific ways businesses have been impacted as a whole, looking at the different departments and speaking with leaders from across industries. We also wanted to understand better the tech investment that took place en-masse to adapt to our challenging circumstances and help address the future challenges we now face, such as skill shortages and training.

What was made apparent by all the IT professionals we spoke with, was the view that the development of a robust IT strategy, would require leaders to stop thinking of desktops and start thinking of users. It was clear to all our attendees that investments and implementations would be more successful by developing strategies around employees – rather than for them. IT teams globally have had to move rapidly and implement structures overnight, but now is the time to step back, take a breath and examine what is and isn’t working to keep making productive innovations for the workplace in a new hybrid world.

Distilling the information, experience, and knowledge gathered, the following report has been split into three key themes: “Challenges to Change”, “Desktops to Users”, and “The Evolution of the Cyber Challenge”.

We hope that this report will act as a guide to help business leaders support IT teams across the UK in developing stable, productive and future proof IT plans and infrastructures. We have also collated a series of recommendations for CEOs and senior leaders to support IT managers in leading change at work.

A Word From Our Moderator – Paul Mason

The Covid-19 pandemic, whilst harrowing, has provided technology suppliers with the opportunity to bring a new set of technologies to the attention of business operations. For all of us, regardless of our tech maturity and literacy, there has been a mindset change.

But this new world of work intensifies a big, existing challenge, highlighted not only in my discussion with these IT leaders but by headlines across the world: cybersecurity. Robust in-office networks and security systems designed to protect staff have been replaced by home WIFI and inexperienced ‘users’ of complex remote technology.

Paul Mason,
Journalist, writer and film-maker

Section 1: Challenges to Change

Speaking with IT professionals, it was obvious that there are multiple challenges to leading effective change within organisations. There was a clear consensus across participants that solving these challenges help streamline workflows and create an agile environment with a more productive workforce.

UPDATING EMPLOYEE PRACTICES

Resoundingly, our roundtable attendees were clear on the need for training. Despite investments made to address new ways of working, many organisations are struggling with uptake and effective use of new processes, primarily due to outdated practices. It’s imperative that IT teams’ work done at the back end isn’t stalled, ignored, or “hacked” by employees at the front end who are not using technologies correctly or safely due to a lack of training.

Tony Roberts, Bursar IT at Sedbergh School, explained the need to bolster staff training while working remotely, outlining the need to ensure staff are more aware of cybersecurity and data security. According to him: “those are the main issues. We’re never going back to normal, whatever that is, there’s going to be a mixture in the way we work, so depending on the needs of the business, you need to adapt”.

It was agreed that training needs to be an on-going process rather than a one-time situation to reduce complacency and ensure employees are up to speed with the latest developments. The IT professionals also highlighted that training should accommodate the way we currently work. James Holmes, IT Director at Smurfit Kappa, outlined that “in the past, everybody would want to go to an off-site course, it was a day out. Now we host online courses made up of 20-minute segments; people are a lot more accepting of that now.”

STAYING SECURE

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that the pandemic has amplified has been the exposure of security and data vulnerabilities.

According to Tony Roberts from Sedbergh School: “We need more investment in cybersecurity and data protection. Cybersecurity is the biggest risk we’re facing, and the threat is increasing all the time. Businesses have got to make sure they don’t become victims. So as much investment in security as possible will be key.” Tony explained that a secure network at home should be the first point of call for employees and that organisations must recognise where their weakest links are and strengthen them.

A big part of keeping businesses interests and assets safe is through the secure sharing of data. With more and more people working in multiple environments, centralised data can make working from home harder. This has seen exponential growth in cloud investment, but our attendees asserted that it was once again vital that the right technologies were being invested in, and the necessary training was to accompany it.

As James Holmes from Smurfit Kappa put it, “we’re now looking at our team strategy for things like OneDrive. Examining how individuals and teams use the software for interactions such as saving departmental folders and sharing data. We have conflicting priorities across teams, so we need a reorganisation of how we work and must learn to be more efficient with the technology we use.”

Section 2: Desktops to Users

With most employees moving from fixed to mobile devices, IT teams have been forced to rethink workstations. The traditional office desk arrangement has been replaced by portable devices for home solutions, leading IT professionals must think more about users than desks.

LAPTOPS: A CHALLENGE YET TO BE FACED

Remote work forced a need for laptops. Whilst many businesses were already using laptops and remote devices pre-pandemic, some businesses (particularly public sector organisations) needed to impose quick rollouts to ensure business continuity. The consequent increase in demand presented several challenges. Firstly, supply and ensure laptops were able to reach the right people. Secondly, we saw a desperate need to integrate process and employee training on platforms such as Zoom, Teams or VPN connection.

One of the main challenges for ITs has been to support employees in the shift from fixed to portable devices and understanding which was – and is – the best technological tool for each need. As underlined by the attendee, Darrell Gough, Head of IT at Scotland Police, in fact: “It’s a matter of allowing users not so much to get used to laptops, but rather helping them to understand the set up of the specific device and the best applications to use”.

To this, Tony Roberts, Sedbergh School, agreed and added: “There’s a huge change there; we’re finding staff who only want one device, so that they can move away from desktops, to laptops, or larger iPads. They want one device that they can use at home, at work, or in classrooms or different areas of the school in my case”.

Essentially demonstrating the need for a simplification and adaptability in hardware never previously encountered. Organisations now must assess how best they can physically support the tech needs of their users.

THE MYTH OF THE SILVER BULLET

One of the biggest challenges IT teams are encountering is the idea that there is one solution. The pandemic demonstrated that with multiple problems, there are multiple solutions, and what works for one business or issue won’t necessarily work for the next. This means that tech investment doesn’t always mean that technology is compatible with new ways of working and that businesses must be careful and selective in their investments.

One clear area where the myth of the silver bullet was most harmful was in supporting hybrid meetings, with Smurfit Kappa’s James Holmes saying: “We have got video conferencing systems and platforms like that, but I don't think personally that the technology has caught up with the new ways of working, communication and interaction that our people will want and need.”

THE IT AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Remote working and higher use of portable devices created several changes, especially in public sector organisations that deal with sensitive matters and personal details. In this regard a public sector worker in the session indicated that there were challenges in using platforms such as Zoom or Teams for consultation. They also noted an extreme increase in demand for portable devices. Several key challenges to adoption were outlined such as low bandwidth at pop-up sites across the country.

When technology investment is used for public services, desktops and bandwidth issues are more likely to take a back seat to bigger investments – such as medical machines, local infrastructure etc. What IT leaders need to begin to think about are patching the support areas so they can deliver a smoother all-around service, and looking at everything from devices used, to conferencing tools, the support function employees will be able to continue working without hindrance.

THE LACK OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS

Moreover, one of the biggest challenges tackled by ITs was the lack of clear and structured industry standards that can endure safety, stability, and continuity. According to the attendee James Holmes from Smurfit Kappa, in fact: “The first thing any organisation needs to develop and communicate is a working from home policy, and a working from anywhere policy, to ensure clarity, efficiency and productivity across the business.”

Essentially suggesting that for technology to function and encourage productivity, there needs to be the support backing it through robust policy and governance.

And it was agreed that a possible solution could be to secure more resources, both monetary and in terms of training to provide for better productivity and invest more in cybersecurity and data protection.

Accordingly, many of the attendees also agreed on the lack of a structured and robust policy and governance to protect employees/users’ data. Attendees were aligned on the view that data governance will become key to increasing awareness and for cultural change amongst users. Especially if you want to ensure the information you are storing is secure. Believing that it is necessary to make sure people clearly understand the rules of engagement around tech and hybrid working.

IMPROVEMENT OF TRAINING, TOOLS AND CONCISENESS

To this, our attendees reported the need to provide adequate training around managing patches in a remote environment and better management of bandwidth capabilities and physical equipment, stating that certain areas might need to be enhanced further.

As Tony Roberts from Sedbergh School added, “I think certain areas might need to be enhanced further. With more remote working, we get more demands on VPN. We need to bolster more training for staff working remotely and certainly make them much more aware of cybersecurity and data security. And I think that those are the main issues.”

Not only does this tie in with earlier calls for greater training to ensure businesses are equipped for the ever-changing cyber-security landscape, but it also reflects the need to mould company culture. Effectively, a new culture around technology will need to emerge where employees understand and can anticipate the organisation's strategic objectives to limit shock and errors.

Section 3: Evolution of the Cyber Challenge

Over the last two years, the rapid digital transformation has implied the shift from fixed to mobile workstations and exposed issues on data protection and the need to safeguard personal data and increase cybersecurity.

Today, awareness around cybersecurity and data protection is higher than it has ever been in the past, particularly for managers where our earlier research, The Conscious Workplace report, found that 1/5 of managers were worried about the security of their network connections. So, what should businesses be doing to increase security?

USING POLICY TO SAFEGUARD DATA

Our roundtable discussion found that a safe and transparent policy is needed, especially when working from home and in the public sector. In this regard, Tony Roberts of Sedbergh School underlined that one of his big concerns “is not only the security of networks and systems, but also data. We, as a school, are very heavily regulated in safeguarding issues for children and have people management systems that contain sensitive information. The security of data and working remotely is always a very big concern.”

Conclusions & Recommendations

1. Leadership: It’s time to revisit the long-term strategic objectives for IT

As detailed in this report, IT has been the lifeblood of business continuity. But what has become clear is that whilst being quick to adapt has kept the lights on, not all technology decisions and investments are future-proofed for the long term. IT has been fighting to implement some of the technologies and processes rolled out in the pandemic for many years and feel rewarded to see changes unfold. However, the agile way this implementation took place means there is a need to be constantly working to evolve and refine this new world of work in practice. As we emerge from some of the heavier demands of the last 18 months, it’s time to take stock of what is working and what isn’t.

2. Analysis: Research and analyse the impact of devices

As part of this strategic reassessment, IT needs to leverage what it knows best: Data. There were extensive discussions in our roundtable on the implication of transition desks to users. We need to take stock of this impact and analyse opportunities to maximise productivity in this new way of working. There is much discussion surrounding the impossibility of returning to the way things were. However, we will see those old comforts that were hindering productivity sneak back into our business operations without consistent progress and evolution of new practices.

3. Understanding: Support your wider industry in addressing cybersecurity challenges

It’s long been assumed that cybersecurity and the threat of breaches are our IT department's responsibility alone. Whilst the complex nature of addressing the prevention and mitigation of cyberattacks has been an important issue for this industry, it is not purely the responsibility of IT. For cyber strategies to be successful, education across the organisation is necessary. As the subject matter experts, rally your fellow business leaders across HR, Facilities and Operations to develop strategies that address cyber holistically – share the challenge as a community.

These three areas can be enacted through the streamlining of cloud & infrastructure services, booking and inventory software for the running of digital workspace practices, and business process and automation, such as document management. By uniting these solutions, organisations can entrust their IT teams to service the rest of the business with greater agility.