By Loubna Imenchal, Head of Video Collaboration, Logitech AMECA
Most South African organisations have been affected by the Great Resignation, especially IT teams. PWC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022, which includes 1,043 South African respondents, reveals that one in five employees will likely switch to a new employer in the next 12 months. Additionally, 44% of Gen Z workers are concerned about not getting sufficient training in digital and technology skills from their employers.
Unlike the rest of the workforce, hybrid working isn’t always as beneficial for IT teams because flexible work hours, the split between in-office and remote employees, and constant connectivity and device issues make scheduling updates and rolling out solutions challenging and frustrating. Unfortunately, these challenges can often overshadow other perks such as improved productivity and work-life balance.
Adapting to a new way of working
Moving to a remote or hybrid work model was a first for many employees and required them to rapidly adapt to new ways of working. This was especially true for some employees who had never worked on shared documents and video conferencing platforms.
These and other hybrid work obstacles and adjustments resulted in IT teams dealing with significantly more support tickets, often with little-to-no visibility into the issues that remote workers experience. This was a significant shift from the complete visibility these teams once had over how employees used technology in the office, from desktop set-ups to meeting room occupancy.
Organisations must therefore equip IT teams with the best hardware and software to tackle this remote working challenge effectively and ensure employees remain productive. Doing so allows them to push firmware updates remotely and enable features for in-office and remote workers – addressing potential issues before they become an IT burden that adds to an already heavy workload.
Companies can support tech staff with effective solutions
A lack of visibility around the issues that remote employees face has become a significant problem for IT teams.
Thankfully, remote device management software allows IT teams to be more productive and solve issues faster by giving them greater insight into how remote employees use this technology. For example, IT teams can see where firmware updates are needed and update remote workers’ collaboration devices, patching the problems before they become trouble tickets.
In addition to providing management and monitoring tools for IT employees, organisations can also help reduce the number of tech support calls by providing the workforce with standardised plug-and-play devices that are easy for employees to install and set up. In addition, these solutions simplify support when problems occur by allowing IT personnel to identify the issue or replace a malfunctioning component quickly.
Standardised hybrid working tools also allow organisations to deploy a single management software solution, like Logi Tune, to let IT teams manage and instantly update all users’ devices. This software also allows remote and in-office users to customise their headsets and webcams to adjust sound quality, zoom, tilt and pan, or change other settings in their video conferencing device without contacting IT.
Suppose IT teams continue to work as they have been, with little to no visibility of their remote workers and without standardised management software to manage various devices. In that case, the number of support tickets and security risks will only grow.
These extra pressures lead to overworked IT professionals, and businesses cannot afford to let this get out of hand. To prevent this, organisations must implement remote management software and standardised collaborative technology to enable IT to support the rapidly growing hybrid workforce and efficiently and proactively troubleshoot any technical issues.
