The Hybrid Working Gap

Canon research reveals disparity between users’ IT expectations and IT managers’ experiences

• 78% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) state that their company provides the right technology to enable people to do their jobs regardless of location
• However, 1 in 5 end users are providing their own IT equipment for hybrid working, and struggling to get remote IT support
• 81% of ITDMs think their organisation would benefit from compatible technologies that are open to integration provided by a single vendor

Canon Europe has today released research that shows there is a disconnect between IT managers’ and end user’s technology experiences when it comes to hybrid working.¹ While 78% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) believe their company provides the right technology to enable people to work from home,1 in 5 end users are still having to provide their own equipment (21%) and are struggling to get remote IT support (19%). The research identifies this shift has not been easy for the IT department either, with over half of ITDMs stating that they are being asked to give remote support for devices (56%).

For employees, the top issues with hybrid working concern business processes. Two in five (42%) are facing difficulties with approval processes, signing documents digitally and escalating admin, while 41% are struggling to access physical or digital documents when working out of the office. As a result, 37% of respondents report having to visit the office to print, pick up, or sign documents in person.

Equipping new workspaces has also been a major challenge for IT teams. Accessibility, collaboration and integration are among the biggest pain points when transitioning to a hybrid model, with 71% of ITDMs claiming that solutions to support hybrid practices are incompatible with their legacy infrastructure. The research revealed that most regular help desk calls from remote workers are about issues accessing files remotely (43%) and having trouble sharing and collaborating with others (36%). On top of these software demands, IT teams are also experiencing high demand for remote hardware assistance, with over half (56%) receiving requests for printer / scanner support in the home and 33% for personal devices.

Responding to these issues, sourcing, and implementing the right technology for this new environment is proving to be difficult for IT teams. Just over three quarters (76%) of IT teams say they have found sourcing technologies from multiple vendors challenging. In the event of an issue, 71% must contact multiple vendors for a solution, which means problems can take significantly longer to resolve in a hybrid setting.

With this in mind, the appeal of a single vendor solution for print and document management is significant for companies embracing hybrid working. The majority of ITDMs (81%) agree their organisation would benefit from technologies provided by a single vendor that are compatible with each other and open to integration.

Marc Bory, Workspace Planning, Marketing, and Innovation Senior Director, Canon Europe, comments:

“Employees continue to face challenges with everyday document-based workflows when outside of the office. Our research suggests that while companies may have the basics in place, they are some way from having a technological infrastructure that’s able to function seamlessly across hybrid working environments.

“As a result,” continues Marc Bory, “there is a renewed interest in technologies that work seamlessly together and that can support an end user’s document management challenges, irrespective of their work location.  That’s why we offer a complete technology ecosystem that aims to integrate hybrid workspaces and optimise document workflows, ensuring our portfolio and related services are ready to meet the evolving demands of a hybrid environment.”