More than half of EMEA businesses (51%) that have successfully executed digital workspace initiatives saw improvements in their ability to more rapidly bring new revenue streams online.
The global VMware State of the Digital Workspace Report, which surveyed 1 200 business and IT decision-makers, practitioners and influencers, revealed that 57% of those who have transformed their digital workspaces saw improvements to mobile workforce effectiveness, 54% in user satisfaction with IT, and 47% to security of devices, desktops and applications.
Almost half (49%) of IT and business decision makers in EMEA saw improvements in total management costs after successfully executing on digital workspace efforts, while 52% realized overall cost improvements. This return on investment was driven by a combination of factors, the most prominent of which were: faster release of applications (34%), increased security of desktops and mobility devices (29%), and increased end-user effectiveness (28%).
“As we enter 2017, the industry is moving into the next phase of enterprise mobility where businesses have to deliver access to applications and resources of all types to end-users, customers and partners using any connected device,” says Matthew Kibby, regional director of VMware Southern Africa. “The State of the Digital Workspace Report shows that business and IT leaders recognise the tangible benefits digital workspaces can offer to an organisation.
“The guiding principle of consumer simple and enterprise secure applied to VMware’s digital workspace solution, VMware Workspace ONE, delivers a simple and secure platform that can help customers in any industry with their digital transformation journey.”
With digital transformation a priority for many, there is a smaller gap between the potential of digital workspaces and what businesses achieved since last year. Despite this, business decision-makers are still finding certain factors that are affecting digital workspace implementation. The top perceived barrier to adoption in EMEA was security concerns (43%), followed by the issues of budget (38%) and required skills needed to support implementation (25%).
The study, however, reveals that nearly half of those in EMEA (46%) view a digital workspace as a way to address compliance and security risks. As well as security and compliance tools, the top technologies EMEA leaders viewed as necessary elements for digital workspaces included mobile device management software (38%) and workspace management software (35%). Identity management software was high up on the list with financial services leaders in particular, with 37% identifying it as a necessary element.
