Fear Of Change, Tight Budgets Delay New Technology Adoption: Poll

A resistance to adopt virtual workforce tools and methods, along with budget constraints and prevailing cost-cutting strategies, are the major reasons companies are not providing employees with new workplace technologies, according to a new online poll conducted by Deloitte.

More than 40 percent of 750 technology executives across multiple industries surveyed during Deloitte’s webcast, ‘Technology and People: Understanding the Workplace of Tomorrow’, cited organisational resistance as the primary roadblock to new workplace technologies. Additionally, nearly 28 percent of the respondents, ranging from upper management to managerial level, pointed to budget and cost constraints as the main deterrents.

“The polling results indicate that corporate leaders should devote as much interest and investment into where and how the work is performed as they do into the nature of the work itself. The recent realities of a changing workforce and evolving worker demands are driving-up the need for new workplace technologies,” said Hope Hughes, director, Deloitte Consulting LLP and a webcast presenter.

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“However, our polling indicated that some companies are still slow in adopting ‘workplace of tomorrow’ type strategies that could help improve agility and effectiveness, as well as respond to workforce changes in a cost-effective manner.”

Seth Siegel, director, Deloitte Consulting LLP, who also presented on the webcast added, “A hiring surge can result in a significant increase in the real estate and facility costs required to provide a physical workspace for the new personnel. Similarly, a workforce reduction might result in a significant increase in vacant, unused space. Effective workplace of tomorrow strategies and technologies can help de-link physical workspace consumption from headcount and align technology investments with business demands and workforce patterns.”

Highlights from the poll included:

• Almost half (44.7 percent) of respondents said their companies have begun ‘workplace of tomorrow’ initiatives, including alternative work policies, workforce mobility, virtual technologies, telecommuting, and increased collaborative spaces.
• Nearly 30 percent of respondents’ companies are not using Web 2.0 tools, increasing shared workplace areas, or developing real estate strategies to improve workplace utilisation.
• Blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging, social networks and other Web 2.0 tools are the mobile technologies most companies are considering, according to roughly 29 percent of respondents.

Hughes and Siegel also noted the following factors companies ought to consider in their efforts to design and implement effective ‘workplace of tomorrow’ initiatives:

• Strong stakeholder engagement by top executives
• Effective workplace analysis
• Cross-functional integration between the real estate, technology and other offices in a company
• Commitment to invest in mobile technologies, Web 2.0 tools and workspace management systems solutions
• Incorporation of enterprise-wide sustainability and greening initiatives

The webcast is accessible at www.deloitte.com/us/dbriefs/futurete