As organizations accelerate and expand digital transformation (DX) initiatives, traditional work models are no longer agile enough to align with technology, market, and customer demands. A new work model is required that ultimately drives increased productivity and improved employee experience, engagement, and innovation, resulting in greater business value and competitive differentiation. We define this new work model as one that fosters human-machine collaboration, enables new skills and worker experiences, and supports an intelligent and dynamic environment unbounded by time or physical space. And to get to this new model requires the digital transformation of how we work.
Several forces are aligning to make work transformation a critical component of organizations' DX initiatives. A broad range of intelligent automation technologies are changing how we get work done. In addition, our consumer experiences are driving new expectations for the work environment, including personalization and frictionless access to resources, anytime and anywhere. This is exacerbated by our multigenerational workforces that bring differing needs to the workplace.
These changes are happening very rapidly, will impact organizations of all sizes across all industries, and will require ongoing adoption of new technology advancements and adaptation to changing market and customer requirements. Therefore, organizations must support an agile workforce with an agile and connected work environment. The digitally transformed work environment enables collaboration among all stakeholders and provides secure access to corporate resources from anywhere and via their preferred device. This requires integrated systems, seamless connectivity, and access to enterprise resources that do not hinder productivity or diminish user experience. Emerging software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) and virtualization technologies enable direct access to cloud resources, which is key to providing a more efficient employee experience. Coupled with edge and cloud computing, employees can enjoy this dynamic work experience regardless of their location.
METHODOLOGY
Digital transformation is resulting in fundamental changes to employee productivity and work as we know it. To better understand this change, IDC (on behalf of Comcast) surveyed 875 United States–based organizations with 100+ employees to better understand their impressions and expectations about the technological, cultural, and social factors impacting digital transformation, work transformation, and employee productivity. We looked at two groups: those representing information technology (IT) departments and those representing line-of-business (LOB) departments. This document is a compilation of the findings from that survey and other research efforts that IDC has undertaken to better understand the impact of digital transformation and work transformation on employee productivity.
WORK TRANSFORMATION — RETHINKING WORK AS WE KNOW IT
As organizations accelerate and expand digital transformation initiatives — and move into what IDC calls the era of multiplied innovation — traditional work models aren't nimble enough, adaptive enough, or scalable. In digitally transformed companies, diverse and distributed workers are connected by cloud, mobile, and social business technologies. Human workers operate side by side with automation technologies that are enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, allowing those workers to focus on higher-value activities. The result is increased productivity and improved employee experience, engagement, and innovation. This ultimately drives greater business value and competitive differentiation.
Work transformation is about rethinking the way work gets done and is critical for effectively scaling DX initiatives. It is a fundamental shift in the work model to one that fosters human-machine collaboration, enables new skills and worker experiences, and supports an intelligent and dynamic environment unbounded by time or physical space.
For decades, technology advancements have changed the way we work, and organizations have adapted. Why is this time different? Why is work transformation becoming a business imperative and an essential component of an organization's overall DX strategy? One reason is that technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, robotics, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and intelligent process automation (IPA) are rapidly changing how we get work done.
But the growth of automation technology is not the only impetus for work transformation. Our consumer experiences are driving new sets of expectations for the work environment. We seek personalized experiences with almost ubiquitous access to resources, anytime and anywhere, with ease and immediacy. Differing work styles may be associated with different constituents of our multigenerational workforce, and all must be accommodated. And broader macroeconomic trends such as globalization and sustainability are also impacting the work environment.
These changes are happening very rapidly and will impact organizations of all sizes across all industries. And they are not "one and done." Digital transformation and work transformation must be ongoing initiatives that adapt to technology advancements and changing market and customer requirements. Therefore, organizations must support an agile workforce with an agile work environment.
A large majority (91%) of respondents to our survey agree that a flexible, intelligent, collaborative work environment not tied to a physical place or time will be important to improving employee productivity in the future.

By Holly Muscolino