As client hardware ages, it costs more to maintain and often impacts end user productivity. Modern processes and applications can be left at the mercy of the aging infrastructure’s abilities to deliver them, because application development often happens at a far quicker pace than organizations typically replace their hardware.
Whilst many applications continue to move to the cloud and rely less on the underlying hardware, a significant number remain dependent on the device specification that they are running on. Just look at Microsoft Office. Very few organizations have moved away from the full desktop versions in favor of cloud only. Performance heavy applications running on virtual machines continues to be an area of concern for end users.
Forward thinking organizations are also increasingly focused on their end users and how changes such as a device refresh are optimally managed. End users expect more control and choice than they did historically. Choosing their device; when it will be scheduled for replacement; and whether it should be shipped to their home location; are all expectations of the modern user. With a renewed focus on customization of the process, it’s no surprise that hardware upgrades and readiness continue to be challenging projects for IT managers and their partners - who are tasked with modernization but often ill-equipped to deliver an engaging end user experience.
Giving Customers an Accurate View of their Current Hardware Investment
I’m sure you have come across this scenario already. ComputerWorld reported in April that Windows 11 adoption appears to be stagnating. Windows 11 is only being used on one in five systems. That is despite the many user efficiencies, threat protection, and other new enhancements the operating system promises. Organizations are deferring action due to the amount of change required to manage and the lack of consistent, repeatable process to achieve it in an agile, end-user friendly, way.
It's possible to assume that an organisations legacy complexity, and the number of options available for infrastructure technology (such as where and how everything is deployed and connected) is a contributing factor to further slowing projects. Now is the time for partners and service providers to step to the plate and paint a vision for the future using Digital Workplace Automation. Our solutions – Dashworks and AppM – can help to accelerate the customer’s journey to an agile IT lifecycle service, while delivering a great end user experience.
Automation for Repeatable Processes, Humans for the Strategy and Support
With the right tools, it should be simple to understand what you are managing and build workflows to transform it, right? Unfortunately, these cornerstones are often a money pit down which partners will fall, spending wasted days and months working in out-of-date spreadsheets that no longer reflect the customers’ changing environment.
Having an upfront strategy and standardized tooling is the key to giving your customers the confidence that you can deliver, but also to ensure that the focus is on the end user and their experience.
Juriba can help to understand the scale of change that lies ahead, Juriba’s Digital Workplace Automation platform can accelerate the analysis, budgeting, delivery strategy and execution of the workload ahead.
Automation = Efficiency
Workplace automation modernizes how partners can assess their assets and present more insightful services to the organization. The benefit, apart from more accurate planning, budgeting, and deployment, is that you can leverage the platform for greater efficiency, interoperability, and team collaboration rather than see it as a capital expense headache.
When it comes to working on hardware refresh programs, it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed by the expectation of the task. But with Juriba and its software products by your side, your scope for accurate planning and execution is far greater than you ever might have imagined. Take a lesson from the issue at hand and leverage technology in a smart way to gain efficiency on the repeatable tasks so that you can focus on helping understand the customer's readiness to drive truly transformational change.
As a footnote, many organizations are looking to refresh their hardware in conjunction with a Windows 11 project. We’ve covered these subjects in recent blogs, so if you are planning an enterprise desktop migration to Windows 11 with your customers, we have a comprehensive guide to assist with the process.