Survey finds organizations embracing mobile workstyles
Ninety three percent of organizations intend to provide flexible work environments by 2013
According to a survey of senior IT decision makers, organizations across the globe are widely embracing mobile workstyles as a way to empower business innovation. The Citrix Global Workshifting Index, indicates that by the end of 2013 ninety three percent of organizations will have implemented workshifting policies, up from 37 percent which currently offer workshifting for part, or all, of their workforce.
Mobile workstyles are enabled when people have access to the technology and policies that allow them to be as productive when they are outside the office – connected wirelessly using public networks and often times personal devices – as they are in the office using a company network and device. Workshifting is a type of mobile workstyle in which work is moved to more optimal times, locations and resources. For people, this means moving work to a place where they find inspiration and can be their most productive. For organizations, it means reducing business and IT costs while providing flexibility to allow people to work anywhere, anytime and on any device.
Survey respondents confirmed that organizations are recognizing the benefits of mobile workstyles and workshifting including improved business productivity and agility for the organization and greater freedom, mobility and flexibility for users. They are implementing workshifting policies to reduce business and IT costs, provide greater workplace flexibility for people and improve support for an increasingly remote and mobile workforce.
Workshifting Benefits Both the Organization and People
Organizations are recognizing that giving people the ability to work from anywhere can benefit both parties. The business reaps the rewards of a highly mobile and agile business with increased productivity and lower costs while people have the flexibility to choose the ideal time, place and device for their work. According to IT decision makers, the benefits of workshifting include:
- Giving people the flexibility to choose the ideal time, place and device for their work. Seventy one percent of respondents indicated that they are using workshifting policies to enable people to work from anywhere and 63 percent to enable people to work from home when required.
- Providing people with uninterrupted access to desktops and apps during business disruptions of any kind. Ninety four percent of senior IT decision makers agreed that the need for comprehensive business continuity is very important with 93 percent of those surveyed agreeing that desktop virtualization was a very effective foundation for business continuity.
- Reducing real-estate, travel and labor costs through flex-work, telework and alternative workplace strategies. Cost savings are among the main drivers for workshifting with the reduction of HR-related costs at 45 percent, improved ability to recruit workers in lower-cost regions at 39 percent, reduction of real estate costs at 38 percent and contribution to environmental sustainability at 26 percent.
- Attracting and retaining the best people through flex-work, telework and alternative workplace strategies. Fifty one percent of IT decision makers indicated that have implemented workshifting policies to help attract and retain top talent. Nearly half of respondents also indicated that workshifting enables organizations to tap into a broader labor pool by facilitating collaboration with and among outsourcing partners, contractors, business partners, temporary workers and consultants.
Desktop Virtualization is Primary Enabling Technology for Workshifting
Desktop virtualization is emerging as a key technology for creating a more flexible workplace with 91 percent of organizations planning to implement desktop virtualization by the end of 2013. Of those implementing desktop virtualization, 57 percent indicated they are implementing or will implement it to enable workshifting. Desktop virtualization enables organizations to access full desktops, applications and data from wherever they are, whenever and from any device a worker chooses. In addition, the security benefits of desktop virtualization ensure that confidential business information is protected from loss and theft in order to meet privacy and compliance standards. According to those surveyed, 92 percent of organizations have adopted or are adopting desktop virtualization to improve information security. People can also take advantage of online meetings and file-sharing services which allow teams to collaborate effectively regardless of the location of every individual.
Mick Hollison, vice president, Integrated Marketing & Strategy, for Citrix
“Workshifting enables organizations to be more productive and agile, and provides people with added mobility and flexibility to move work to the most convenient and productive times, locations and devices. We’ve long believed that workshifting is a key part of a solid business and IT strategy and these survey findings are an indicator that this trend is going mainstream. Organizations around the globe are moving from traditional work environments and realizing real-estate, travel and labor cost savings by enabling mobile workstyles.”
India analysis:
Part A: Demographical representation of Indian respondents-
| Sectors | Percentage |
| Financial services and insurance | 17% |
| Manufacturing and energy | 15% |
| Hardware manufacturing and software publishing | 10% |
| Business and professional services | 20% |
| Telecommunications and utilities | 12% |
| Retail and wholesale | 5% |
| Media entertainment and leisure | 2% |
| Healthcare | 13% |
| Government | 4 |
| Education | 2 |
| Employee size in the organisation | Percentage |
| 500-749 | 12% |
| 750-999 | 13% |
| 1000-4999 | 32% |
| 5000-9999 | 20% |
| 10000 and more | 23% |
Part B: Quantitative and qualitative analysis: (Indian respondents formed 10% of the total global sample size for the survey)
Do Indian organizations provide flexible work environments?
- Current adoption- 47% Indian respondents polled currently provide flexible work environments for employees and are continuing to expand this scenario. This percentage is greater than the global average which stands at 42% in the survey.
- Drivers for adoption- Flexible work environments are being adopted for a litany of reasons as cited by Indian respondents. However the top drivers were:
| Drivers for adoption | Indian | Global | |
| Employee benefits
| Enable their workers to work from home when required | 80% | 63% |
| Enable their workers to work from anywhere when they need to | 78% | 71% | |
| Employer benefits
|
- In both instances, the percentage of Indian respondents that cited these reasons was higher than the global average.
Adoption of personal devices at workplace
India is amongst the top countries globally in its adoption of personal devices at the workplace. From a future perspective, India is definitely expected to move up the adoption curve. This shows that trends such as BYO, Consumerisation of IT and work shifting is expected to become a mainstream phenomenon.
- Current adoption- 38% of Indian respondents in this survey are currently using personal devices at workplaces; higher than the global average at 34.2%. India stood at fourth position preceded by countries such as Brazil (1st position), China (2nd position), Netherlands (3rd position).
- Future adoption- 50% of the Indian respondents mentioned that they will use a personally owned device at the workplace 24 months from now. The findings also state that by 2013, India would bridge this gap (beat Netherlands) and be the third largest adopter of personal devices at workplaces after Brazil and China.
- The increasing use of personally-owned devices is a concern for most Indian respondents. 67% of the Indian respondents feel a heightened level of concern over security which is more than the global average at 43%
Desktop Virtualisation and how it is enabling the work shifting movement-
- Desktop Virtualisation is seen as a key way of managing the infrastructural changes that the expansion of flexible working will necessitate.
- Although the current adoption of Desktop Virtualisation is at a relatively nascent stage, Indian organisations are considering it strongly from a short term adoption perspective.
- Indian respondents believe that Desktop Virtualisation will help in reduced IT and business costs, improving security and enabling a mobile workplace.
- Indian respondents recognize the role that Desktop Virtualisation plays in securing data access to users.
- 77% of Indian polled respondents stated that Desktop Virtualisation is very effective at protecting security while providing access to people while they work.
- 29% of Indian respondents have already implemented Desktop Virtualisation in their organisations and 48% mentioned that they would look at implementing in the next 12 months.
- Out of respondents who have implemented or will implement Desktop Virtualisation in India, 73% of Indian respondents consider it for improved support for an increasingly remote and mobile workforce and 81% for reduced IT and business costs.
Related Links
- Whitepaper: Workshifting: a global market research report
- Whitepaper: The Top 10 Reasons to Embrace Workshifting
- Whitepaper: Workshifting: How IT is Changing the Way Business is Done
- Webpage: Workshifting Solutions
- Expert Blog: Flying Free: My First 30 Days as a Citrix Remote Employee
- Expert Blog: Do Ultrabooks Mean Ultra-Productivity?
- Expert Blog: Change Brings Security?
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Sample size
The research for the Citrix Workshifting Index was conducted independently by Vanson Bourne in October 2011, and is based on 1100 IT professionals across eleven countries. One hundred IT professionals were surveyed in each of eleven countries including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (USA). Three quarters of respondents were from organizations of 1000 or more employees, one quarter were from organizations of 500-999 employees.
The research is based on the insights and experiences of 1,100 senior IT decision-makers from organizations of over 500 employees, across 11 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
About Citrix
Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) transforms how businesses and IT work and people collaborate in the cloud era. With market-leading cloud, collaboration, networking and virtualization technologies, Citrix powers mobile workstyles and cloud services, making complex enterprise IT simpler and more accessible for 260,000 organizations. Citrix products touch 75 percent of Internet users each day and it partners with more than 10,000 companies in 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2011 was $2.21 billion. Learn more at www.citrix.com.
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