Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
Learn how your organization can boost productivity, engagement, and efficiency in every function. Download the DocumentSPOTLIGHT
Sponsored by: SAP
Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent
Digital Workspace
September 2023
Written by: Marci Maddox, Research Vice President, Digital Experience Strategies and Holly Muscolino, Group Vice
President, Enterprise Content Strategies and the Future of Work
Introduction
Despite challenging economic headwinds, organizations continue to invest
in technology to decrease risk, increase operational efficiency, boost
employee productivity, and enrich customer experiences. IDC regularly
surveys IT and line-of-business decision makers across the globe, and when
asked how current disruptions will affect spending plans in 2023 as
compared with 2022, 39% of decision makers indicated that IT spending in
2023 will be the same as originally planned and another 39% said it would
be higher than originally planned (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency
and Spending Survey, Wave 4, May 2023; n = 890). Higher spend may
seem counterintuitive in the current economic environment, but the savvy
executive understands that continued investment in digital transformation
(DX) initiatives ultimately leads to bottom-line cost reductions and top-line
growth, enabling the organization to do more with less while maintaining
competitive advantage.
Work transformation is a key component of digital transformation, and the
top goals of work transformation initiatives align with the goals of DX
overall. Respondents of a global IDC survey cited increased operational
efficiency (36%) and improved employee productivity (33%) as the primary
objectives for transforming the way employees work (source: IDC's
Worldwide Future of Work [FoW] Survey, April 2023; n = 1,107).
Interestingly, 26% of the respondents told us that improved customer
satisfaction was also a key goal of their work transformation initiatives. In
fact, 44% said that customer satisfaction was the most important metric that their organization uses to assess the
performance of work transformation initiatives.
By utilizing a unified and intelligent workspace experience, organizations can boost
productivity, engagement, and efficiency in every function.
KEY STATS
» 43% of organizations find that the time
spent switching between applications
impacts employee work efficiency and
experience.
» Two-thirds of decision makers globally
agree that there is a causal relationship
between employee experience and
customer experience.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
» Increased employee productivity and
greater operational efficiency are the
benefits of deploying intelligent digital
workspace technologies and/or services.
» An intelligent digital workspace brings
together no-code app building, process
automation, and personalized user
experiences into a unified environment.
For customers, suppliers, or partners, that
can mean better access to information
and support.
AT A GLANCE
Sponsored by: SAP
Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent
Digital Workspace
September 2023
Written by: Marci Maddox, Research Vice President, Digital Experience Strategies and Holly Muscolino, Group Vice
President, Enterprise Content Strategies and the Future of Work
Introduction
Despite challenging economic headwinds, organizations continue to invest
in technology to decrease risk, increase operational efficiency, boost
employee productivity, and enrich customer experiences. IDC regularly
surveys IT and line-of-business decision makers across the globe, and when
asked how current disruptions will affect spending plans in 2023 as
compared with 2022, 39% of decision makers indicated that IT spending in
2023 will be the same as originally planned and another 39% said it would
be higher than originally planned (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency
and Spending Survey, Wave 4, May 2023; n = 890). Higher spend may
seem counterintuitive in the current economic environment, but the savvy
executive understands that continued investment in digital transformation
(DX) initiatives ultimately leads to bottom-line cost reductions and top-line
growth, enabling the organization to do more with less while maintaining
competitive advantage.
Work transformation is a key component of digital transformation, and the
top goals of work transformation initiatives align with the goals of DX
overall. Respondents of a global IDC survey cited increased operational
efficiency (36%) and improved employee productivity (33%) as the primary
objectives for transforming the way employees work (source: IDC's
Worldwide Future of Work [FoW] Survey, April 2023; n = 1,107).
Interestingly, 26% of the respondents told us that improved customer
satisfaction was also a key goal of their work transformation initiatives. In
fact, 44% said that customer satisfaction was the most important metric that their organization uses to assess the
performance of work transformation initiatives.
By utilizing a unified and intelligent workspace experience, organizations can boost
productivity, engagement, and efficiency in every function.
KEY STATS
» 43% of organizations find that the time
spent switching between applications
impacts employee work efficiency and
experience.
» Two-thirds of decision makers globally
agree that there is a causal relationship
between employee experience and
customer experience.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
» Increased employee productivity and
greater operational efficiency are the
benefits of deploying intelligent digital
workspace technologies and/or services.
» An intelligent digital workspace brings
together no-code app building, process
automation, and personalized user
experiences into a unified environment.
For customers, suppliers, or partners, that
can mean better access to information
and support.
AT A GLANCE
Page 2#US51237423
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
These decision makers recognize a clear correlation between improving employee productivity and experience and
improving customer experience. This is supported by respondents to an earlier IDC survey, in which two-thirds of
decision makers globally agreed that there is a defined causal relationship between employee experience and customer
experience (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 11, December 2022; n = 840).
What are organizations specifically doing to improve employee productivity, experience, and engagement? When asked
this question, 42% said that they are deploying intelligent digital workspace (IDW) technology to provide employees with
access to the people, tools, and data that they need to get work done. Automation, communication and collaboration
are all important features of an intelligent digital workspace, so it is not surprising that 37% indicated that they are
investing in automation technologies to simplify repetitive tasks and that another 37% indicated that they are investing in
improved communication and collaboration tools.
It is critical to understand that these investments aren't limited to knowledge workers or desk-based workers alone; 52%
of organizations say they are investing in collaboration and communication platforms to support and engage their
frontline or "deskless" workers as well.
Organizational investments in automation, communication, and digital workspaces are also key to engaging with
partners and customers. Work transformation initiatives in general and intelligent digital workspace investments
specifically will translate to reduced transaction time, improved responsiveness, error reduction, and better (self-service)
access to information for external stakeholders as well as employees. Among the most common complaints from
customers regarding communications are lack of communications (36%); generic, nontargeted communications (33%);
and difficulty accessing information on demand or via a self-service model (30%) (source: IDC's U.S. Automated
Document Generation and Digital Customer Communications Survey, April 2023; n = 100).
This IDC Spotlight examines how organizations can increase operational efficiency, boost employee productivity and
experience (for both desked and deskless employees), and enhance partner and customer experiences by deploying a
secure, unified, proactive, and intelligent digital workspace.
What Is an Intelligent Digital Workspace?
IDC defines the term intelligent digital workspace as an ecosystem of products coordinated into a unified end-user
productivity experience by design, engineering, and/or artificial intelligence (AI). It provides a personalized and federated
view of the resources that a worker requires to get their job done, and it secures access to those resources including
subject matter experts and other collaborators as well as applications and data from anywhere via any device. The
intelligent digital workspace is also fully observable by IT and security operations professionals.
The deployment of an intelligent digital workspace into the organization can address many common content, process,
and technology challenges or limitations. Examples include the ability to tackle context switching of applications to get
work done more efficiently, faster access to knowledge and data by integrating disconnected silos, and adding
personalization controls to apps, tasks, or dashboards that help to quickly see what needs to be done. The challenges to
be addressed and the benefits associated with deploying an intelligent digital workspace can be categorized into
employee-centric, partner/customer, and AI-enabled technology categories.
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
These decision makers recognize a clear correlation between improving employee productivity and experience and
improving customer experience. This is supported by respondents to an earlier IDC survey, in which two-thirds of
decision makers globally agreed that there is a defined causal relationship between employee experience and customer
experience (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 11, December 2022; n = 840).
What are organizations specifically doing to improve employee productivity, experience, and engagement? When asked
this question, 42% said that they are deploying intelligent digital workspace (IDW) technology to provide employees with
access to the people, tools, and data that they need to get work done. Automation, communication and collaboration
are all important features of an intelligent digital workspace, so it is not surprising that 37% indicated that they are
investing in automation technologies to simplify repetitive tasks and that another 37% indicated that they are investing in
improved communication and collaboration tools.
It is critical to understand that these investments aren't limited to knowledge workers or desk-based workers alone; 52%
of organizations say they are investing in collaboration and communication platforms to support and engage their
frontline or "deskless" workers as well.
Organizational investments in automation, communication, and digital workspaces are also key to engaging with
partners and customers. Work transformation initiatives in general and intelligent digital workspace investments
specifically will translate to reduced transaction time, improved responsiveness, error reduction, and better (self-service)
access to information for external stakeholders as well as employees. Among the most common complaints from
customers regarding communications are lack of communications (36%); generic, nontargeted communications (33%);
and difficulty accessing information on demand or via a self-service model (30%) (source: IDC's U.S. Automated
Document Generation and Digital Customer Communications Survey, April 2023; n = 100).
This IDC Spotlight examines how organizations can increase operational efficiency, boost employee productivity and
experience (for both desked and deskless employees), and enhance partner and customer experiences by deploying a
secure, unified, proactive, and intelligent digital workspace.
What Is an Intelligent Digital Workspace?
IDC defines the term intelligent digital workspace as an ecosystem of products coordinated into a unified end-user
productivity experience by design, engineering, and/or artificial intelligence (AI). It provides a personalized and federated
view of the resources that a worker requires to get their job done, and it secures access to those resources including
subject matter experts and other collaborators as well as applications and data from anywhere via any device. The
intelligent digital workspace is also fully observable by IT and security operations professionals.
The deployment of an intelligent digital workspace into the organization can address many common content, process,
and technology challenges or limitations. Examples include the ability to tackle context switching of applications to get
work done more efficiently, faster access to knowledge and data by integrating disconnected silos, and adding
personalization controls to apps, tasks, or dashboards that help to quickly see what needs to be done. The challenges to
be addressed and the benefits associated with deploying an intelligent digital workspace can be categorized into
employee-centric, partner/customer, and AI-enabled technology categories.
Page 3#US51237423
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
Employee Challenges
There are several challenges preventing employees from working as efficiently as possible, including inefficient and/or
manual processes and the time spent switching between applications (see Figure 1).
Context switching due to "application sprawl" is a significant problem for both employee productivity and employee
experience. On average, employees regularly use or toggle between 14 software applications, 21 online tools, and 13
back-office systems to accomplish day-to-day work activities. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found
that workers toggled roughly 1,200 times each day, adding up to just under 4 hours of each week reorienting themselves
after toggling, which is roughly 9% of their time at work (source: Rohan Narayana Murty, Sandeep Dadlani, and Rajath B.
Das, Harvard Business Review, "How Much Time and Energy Do We Waste Toggling Between Applications?"
hbr.org/2022/08/how-much-time-and-energy-do-we-waste-toggling-between-applications, August 29, 2022).
The challenges related to data, in both finding and using it, impact not only employee productivity but also their ability to
better serve the customer with accurate and timely information.
FIGURE 1: Barriers to Productivity
Q Considering the tasks and jobs of employees in your department, what are the five primary
challenges that prevent them from working as efficiently as possible?
n = 609
Source: IDC's Intelligent Digital Workspace Market Survey, May 2022
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
Employee Challenges
There are several challenges preventing employees from working as efficiently as possible, including inefficient and/or
manual processes and the time spent switching between applications (see Figure 1).
Context switching due to "application sprawl" is a significant problem for both employee productivity and employee
experience. On average, employees regularly use or toggle between 14 software applications, 21 online tools, and 13
back-office systems to accomplish day-to-day work activities. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found
that workers toggled roughly 1,200 times each day, adding up to just under 4 hours of each week reorienting themselves
after toggling, which is roughly 9% of their time at work (source: Rohan Narayana Murty, Sandeep Dadlani, and Rajath B.
Das, Harvard Business Review, "How Much Time and Energy Do We Waste Toggling Between Applications?"
hbr.org/2022/08/how-much-time-and-energy-do-we-waste-toggling-between-applications, August 29, 2022).
The challenges related to data, in both finding and using it, impact not only employee productivity but also their ability to
better serve the customer with accurate and timely information.
FIGURE 1: Barriers to Productivity
Q Considering the tasks and jobs of employees in your department, what are the five primary
challenges that prevent them from working as efficiently as possible?
n = 609
Source: IDC's Intelligent Digital Workspace Market Survey, May 2022
Page 4#US51237423
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
Partner/Customer Challenges
In 2020, remote work, systems in the cloud, and retention of customers via digital adoption were the story of the day.
Through 2021, IT leaders sought a more stable environment and the focus on customer experience took hold and was
increasingly cited as a top priority in technology investments. By 2022, the focus turned to the timely use of data to
deliver personalized experiences on the user's channel of choice. Their investment in customer engagement was led by
the goal to tie customer/partner satisfaction to desired outcomes.
Organizations are prioritizing customer experience initiatives around the following (source: IDC's Future Enterprise
Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 2, March 2022, n =796):
» Customer satisfaction (45%)
» Customer trust and privacy (41%)
» Customer data and intelligence (41%)
» Customer onboarding and support (38%)
» Sales and renewals (37%)
Security and privacy management is a core fabric of the digital business. Organizations must manage and protect
customer data according to regional data privacy regulations in such a way that they develop a trusted relationship with
the external party. External users are careful with whom they share their personal information, especially when using
self-service tools to perform certain tasks. Organizations that modify the data practices and processes across different
teams to rapidly innovate, secure, and deploy externally facing digital workspaces open a new avenue to the bidirectional
employee-customer interaction and the ability to personalize the experience in real time.
Intelligent Digital Workspace Trends
There are a number of requirements driving the adoption of an intelligent digital workspace for both employees and
external stakeholders such as partners and customers. These requirements allow any permissioned user within the
enterprise to design their own digital workspace experiences. Requirements include:
» Increased trust and security across multiple channels and audiences, specifically ensuring security without
sacrificing the experience of the user
» Process orchestration of the workflow, data connections, and the overall experience
» Knowledge sharing and discovery including AI-based recommendations
» Ease of use for anyone to build and control the content and appearance of the workspace
» End-user personalization of the look and feel of the workspace as well as the content itself
» Fluid communications that span multiple audiences, channels, devices, and activities
» Low-code or no-code solutions with apps as prebuilt plug-ins or with a marketplace of apps that automate and
simplify business processes
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
Partner/Customer Challenges
In 2020, remote work, systems in the cloud, and retention of customers via digital adoption were the story of the day.
Through 2021, IT leaders sought a more stable environment and the focus on customer experience took hold and was
increasingly cited as a top priority in technology investments. By 2022, the focus turned to the timely use of data to
deliver personalized experiences on the user's channel of choice. Their investment in customer engagement was led by
the goal to tie customer/partner satisfaction to desired outcomes.
Organizations are prioritizing customer experience initiatives around the following (source: IDC's Future Enterprise
Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 2, March 2022, n =796):
» Customer satisfaction (45%)
» Customer trust and privacy (41%)
» Customer data and intelligence (41%)
» Customer onboarding and support (38%)
» Sales and renewals (37%)
Security and privacy management is a core fabric of the digital business. Organizations must manage and protect
customer data according to regional data privacy regulations in such a way that they develop a trusted relationship with
the external party. External users are careful with whom they share their personal information, especially when using
self-service tools to perform certain tasks. Organizations that modify the data practices and processes across different
teams to rapidly innovate, secure, and deploy externally facing digital workspaces open a new avenue to the bidirectional
employee-customer interaction and the ability to personalize the experience in real time.
Intelligent Digital Workspace Trends
There are a number of requirements driving the adoption of an intelligent digital workspace for both employees and
external stakeholders such as partners and customers. These requirements allow any permissioned user within the
enterprise to design their own digital workspace experiences. Requirements include:
» Increased trust and security across multiple channels and audiences, specifically ensuring security without
sacrificing the experience of the user
» Process orchestration of the workflow, data connections, and the overall experience
» Knowledge sharing and discovery including AI-based recommendations
» Ease of use for anyone to build and control the content and appearance of the workspace
» End-user personalization of the look and feel of the workspace as well as the content itself
» Fluid communications that span multiple audiences, channels, devices, and activities
» Low-code or no-code solutions with apps as prebuilt plug-ins or with a marketplace of apps that automate and
simplify business processes
Page 5#US51237423
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
» Access to documents and status activities in real time requiring integration to multiple systems within a single
view for both internal and external stakeholders
When it comes to connected digital activities across applications, 57% of organizations are implementing digital platforms
for customer engagement (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 4, May 2023; n = 863).
A few of the top factors driving the adoption include:
» Improving customer engagement and experiences (39%)
» Increasing business agility (39%)
» Enhancing security (35%)
» Automating business processes (33%)
» Solving productivity problems (33%)
The Automation and AI Opportunity
Low-code or no-code tools enable business users to automate their own tasks and build a simple workflow for business
processes that intersect with the digital experience world. Over one-third (35%) of organizations globally already have a
program in place to enable business users to do their own development using low-code software for building
applications, automation scripts, workflows, and so forth. Another 27% are planning to establish such a program, and an
additional 27% are considering a program to enable business users to automate their own work. Only 11% have no such
plans (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 8, September 2022, n = 833).
However, there are some key requirements for the success of these programs. Despite often hearing that low-code or
no-code tools "offload IT teams," 65% of respondents to our future of work survey noted that collaboration with IT is still
needed (source: IDC's Worldwide Future of Work Survey, April 2023; n = 1,107). Of course, the tools themselves must be
easy to use (according to 64% of respondents), there needs to be skills training on codeless development (56%), and off-
the-shelf templates must enable greater success (29%).
Beyond automation, 77% of organizations are investing or exploring generative AI (GenAI) technologies in 2023 (source:
IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 5, June 2023; n = 1,014). However, organizations are
hindered from taking advantage of it because of insufficient tools (27%), lack of trust in the data (24%), and lack of cross-
team collaboration (23%) (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 2, March 2023; n = 952).
Once they get the tools and people in place, the top 3 promising use cases for generative AI is maintaining regulatory
language (31%), suggesting more simplified language (30%), and improved knowledge sharing (30%) (source: IDC's State
of Content Services Survey, June 2023; n = 593).
SPOTLIGHT Delivering Every Business User an Intelligent Digital Workspace
» Access to documents and status activities in real time requiring integration to multiple systems within a single
view for both internal and external stakeholders
When it comes to connected digital activities across applications, 57% of organizations are implementing digital platforms
for customer engagement (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 4, May 2023; n = 863).
A few of the top factors driving the adoption include:
» Improving customer engagement and experiences (39%)
» Increasing business agility (39%)
» Enhancing security (35%)
» Automating business processes (33%)
» Solving productivity problems (33%)
The Automation and AI Opportunity
Low-code or no-code tools enable business users to automate their own tasks and build a simple workflow for business
processes that intersect with the digital experience world. Over one-third (35%) of organizations globally already have a
program in place to enable business users to do their own development using low-code software for building
applications, automation scripts, workflows, and so forth. Another 27% are planning to establish such a program, and an
additional 27% are considering a program to enable business users to automate their own work. Only 11% have no such
plans (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 8, September 2022, n = 833).
However, there are some key requirements for the success of these programs. Despite often hearing that low-code or
no-code tools "offload IT teams," 65% of respondents to our future of work survey noted that collaboration with IT is still
needed (source: IDC's Worldwide Future of Work Survey, April 2023; n = 1,107). Of course, the tools themselves must be
easy to use (according to 64% of respondents), there needs to be skills training on codeless development (56%), and off-
the-shelf templates must enable greater success (29%).
Beyond automation, 77% of organizations are investing or exploring generative AI (GenAI) technologies in 2023 (source:
IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 5, June 2023; n = 1,014). However, organizations are
hindered from taking advantage of it because of insufficient tools (27%), lack of trust in the data (24%), and lack of cross-
team collaboration (23%) (source: IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 2, March 2023; n = 952).
Once they get the tools and people in place, the top 3 promising use cases for generative AI is maintaining regulatory
language (31%), suggesting more simplified language (30%), and improved knowledge sharing (30%) (source: IDC's State
of Content Services Survey, June 2023; n = 593).