IT leaders focus on employee experience

Elastic has published a new study that shows employee experience has become a new priority for IT leaders as they reinvent their infrastructures to support remote workforces. The commissioned study titled The Changing Role of the IT Leader was conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Elastic in February 2021, one year into the global pandemic, and published in April. The study can be downloaded here. 

Based on a survey of 1,000 CIOs and IT leaders in 10 countries¹, the study illustrates that an adaptive business model with employee experience at its core is the key to building business resilience, creating a sustainable competitive advantage, and scaling effectively in times of disruption. 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to remote and hybrid working models has become a permanent fixture for many global organizations. Nearly 60% of IT leaders believe that enabling employees to work flexibly will improve the adaptiveness of their organizations and they are investing in technology to improve employee experience and productivity.  

Globally, the partnership between IT and HR is growing stronger, with 57% of IT leaders collaborating more closely with their HR counterparts since the start of the pandemic. 

While many IT leaders worldwide have pivoted to an employee-centric approach in their technology decisions, they still face barriers to establish an environment where IT fosters engagement and productivity. 

IT leaders report that 92% of organizations worldwide are in survival or maintenance mode.  

• In Asia-Pacific, China (21%) and Japan (16%) are leading with the highest number of enterprises in growth mode, while Australia (78%) has the highest number of enterprises in maintenance mode. 
• In Europe, the Netherlands (64%) and Germany (60%) are struggling most, with the highest number of enterprises in survival mode, and 3 in 5 IT leaders in the surveyed countries said their businesses are fighting to survive. 
• In North America only 7% of enterprises are in growth mode, while three times that number are in survival mode. 

60% of IT organizations are investing in improving employee experience to support remote workforce productivity and performance, but don’t have access to the budget and tools to do so. 

• 63% of organizations are prioritizing a shift to digital business by focusing on democratizing employee access to data by evolving their data architectures to reduce data silos.  
• 57% of IT leaders globally have seen their budgets cut over the past 12 months, with 33% experiencing budget cuts of 10% or more. 
• 60% of IT leaders do not yet have the right tools, policies, and procedures to support a remote workforce.