The leadership of small and medium enterprises (SME) across organizations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are keen to integrate digital and mobile technologies into the workplace, but over half of the same organizations do not have a strategy in place to achieve this, new research suggests. Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, conducted a study[1] of over 500 SMEs across EMEA, finding that 66 percent of SME senior management believe that optimizing the cloud, applications and mobile devices, thereby creating the Digital Workplace, is a strategic priority. However in spite of this, half of all organizations (50 percent) have no foreseeable plans to implement such a strategy. The report revealed that a quarter of SMEs are already thinking digital: 26 percent of respondents plan to invest in the Digital Workplace over the next year. But security and cost raise concerns: half of SMEs (50 percent) cite data security as the major barrier between their organization and the Digital Workplace. More another 30 percent, believe cost is the key issue. Further, the report noted that half of SMEs are moving towards mobile working: 30 percent are investing in technology designed to optimise the mobile workforce, while a further 20 percent have plans to make similar purchases. Moreover, Finance and Healthcare may provide the next digital SMEs: 80 percent of workers in finance and healthcare think that the Digital Workplace will be of importance to their organization, the report said. Across all respondents, the number one reason given for investing in the mobile workplace is to achieve an increase in productivity, efficiency and flexibility, followed by the better access and sharing of data and improved team collaboration. Jeremy Lye, European Marketing Manager at financial asset management company Schroders UK, added: "The more advanced digital technology and analytics we have invested in has increased our understanding of clients' purchasing behaviors. It's also very important to have flexibility to work from anywhere. Our clients are based across various parts of the country which means our sales people can now visit clients at their offices and access business data just as if they were in their office. This has improved sales productivity and clients are happier." In order to realize the benefits of the Digital Workplace, SME respondents in the report recognize the need to deploy better security policies and for IT departments to establish control of all devices being used for work. To understand how to achieve this, 85 percent intend to seek the advice of a local IT partner. Seeking out expert support is the number one strategy that SMEs plan to adopt in pursuit of the Digital Workplace, over and above peers, analyst reports or web searches. Osama AlHaj-Issa, Regional Channel Director, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, said: "SMEs that are embracing the Digital Workplace are reaping the benefits, but it's a tough ask for any IT manager to marry the ambitions of senior management with their limited budgets and perceived security concerns. Local IT partners have a huge opportunity to become trusted advisors that can help SMEs overcome these challenges, helping them to implement digital and mobile technologies that can improve business productivity, enhance customer experience and achieve increased revenues." — SG
