IT Disruptions: Companies Want To Improve Digital Employee Experience

As a new study by Nexthink shows, industrial companies want to take more extraordinary account of the digital employee experience in future. In addition, many do without new applications to avoid possible IT disruptions.

The relevance of digital employee experience has arrived in the mechanical and plant engineering and industrial production sectors, according to the new study “From technical performance to IT experience: Digital workplaces in strategic focus” by Nexthink. For 81 percent of the companies surveyed from the DACH region with industrial production and 70 percent from mechanical and plant engineering, IT disruptions and the resulting digital employee experience play an essential role. According to 76 percent of companies with industrial production and 66 percent of mechanical and plant engineering companies, they want to advance this with employees specifically responsible for this.

Resolve IT Disruptions Faster With Automation

Manufacturing companies, in particular, are planning comprehensive measures for trouble-free digital work environments. Eighty-seven percent of them (average 81 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 75 percent) will use systematic processes and tools with a high degree of automation to speed up troubleshooting in digital workplaces.

According to the study, 85 percent of manufacturing companies use metrics and key performance indicators to measure the quality of digital workplaces (average 76 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 72 percent). A similar picture emerges with the plan to use a central management platform for the IT helpdesk that covers everything from ticketing and user communication to reporting, analysis, and troubleshooting guidance.

Prevent IT Disruptions With Predictive Analytics

What are the causes of IT disruptions? For answers, 85 percent of the manufacturing industry and 68 percent of mechanical and plant engineering companies (an average of 75 percent) intend to use an integrated system that correlates data from the IT backend with the management platform of the service desk. Predictive analytics technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are also prevalent in industrial production at 81 percent to foresee or prevent possible disruptions (average 76 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 75 percent).

The Majority Lives With Compromises In The Digital Workplace

The measures are a logical consequence of the fact that IT disruptions have been waited on passively instead of being proactive and avoiding them from the outset with a high level of automation. Most of the companies surveyed live with many compromises in the digital workplace that must be viewed critically (industrial production 70 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 62 percent). In addition, many faults occur again and again (industrial production 46 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 55 percent), and it usually takes a long time to rectify them, according to 57 percent of companies with industrial production and 58 percent of companies in mechanical and plant engineering.

In The Event Of IT Disruptions, The User’s Situation Is Made Unnecessarily Difficult

The situation is also unnecessarily complicated for users. They often worry about how long a disruption will last (industrial production 70 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 66 percent). The IT self-service portal often proves not very helpful (industrial production 48 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 62 percent). In addition, users are only insufficiently informed about significant or planned impairments in the digital workplace, explaining 85 percent of companies with industrial production and 77 percent of mechanical and plant engineering companies. From the user’s point of view, it is frustrating that although employee feedback is obtained, this usually does not lead to improvements (industrial production 54 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 70 percent).

Frequent Abandonment Of New Applications Due To Possible Problems

The existing deficiencies in the IT experience of employees are particularly evident concerning the introduction of new applications. Ninety-one percent of those surveyed from manufacturing companies believe that more or better assistance should be provided for new applications (mechanical and plant engineering 81 percent). To make matters worse, end-users avoid calling the ticket hotline when they have problems with new applications (industrial production 57 percent, mechanical and plant engineering 72 percent). A few new applications are introduced to avoid possible problems, as confirmed by 59 percent of those surveyed from industrial production and 75 percent from mechanical and plant engineering.

The Perspective Of The User Is Gaining In Importance

The results of the Nexthink study show that with the dynamic development of digitization, the topic of digital employee experience is also coming to the fore in companies. Eighty-one percent from industrial production and 83 percent from mechanical and plant engineering say that this topic will have high priority in their company. And above all, the manufacturing companies (80 percent) want to take the user’s perspective into account more – an aspect that is much less important in mechanical and plant engineering with 55 percent.

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