According to a Canon study, there is a mismatch between the technology experiences of IT managers and those of end users when it comes to hybrid work. In “Hybrid Snapshot: Impact on Employees and the IT Experience. In Europe” 78% of IT managers believe their company provides the right technology to enable people to work from home. However, on the contrary, 1 in 5 European employees say they need to use their own equipment to work.
In addition, this study shows that the Spanish have been the European workers who have been most affected by the outbreak of the pandemic. According to the research, half of Spanish companies (50%) have suffered financially as a result of the pandemic, above the European average (40%). Most companies (76%) plan to finance increased IT spending, more than their European counterparts in the UK (67%) and France (64%). This expected increase in spending is likely to respond to high demand, as Spanish employees are the most likely in Europe to have the pandemic affect the way they work (82%).
Despite difficult years, companies in the sector are determined to digitize and to find the right solutions to deal with what seems to be a permanent change in the way of working across the country.
Problem of connection and access to documents
In the case of employees, the main problems of hybrid work are associated with business processes. In Spain, 46% continue to have access problems when working outside the office, a similar figure to the European figure (41%), especially when it comes to accessing files (19%). So much so that they say they have to go to the office simply to print (19%), collect (17%) or sign documents (19%).
The problem of access to documents in the case of Spain is relevant, since, according to the Canon study, employees in the country cannot access the physical documents they need (31%), a figure higher than that of other countries Europeans such as the Netherlands (20%) and Italy (17%).
In addition, Spanish employees have problems with the response times of their IT teams. 30% say that delays in solving technical problems are practically a problem when working from home, a percentage slightly higher than the European average, which is 19%.
New challenges of hybrid work
Teams in the new hybrid work modality have also brought new challenges to companies. In this sense, 27% of Spanish employees state that they have to buy or use your own personal printer or scanner to work effectively from home. This figure is higher than that of France (20%), Italy (19%) and the rest of Europe (21%).
In addition, 40% of Spanish IT managers say they have difficulties connecting external printers or scanners to the corporate network, significantly more than the European average of 24%.
Marc Bory, Workspace Planning, Marketing and Innovation Senior Director, Canon Europe, comments: “Employees continue to struggle with daily document-based workflows when they’re out of the office. Our study suggests that while companies can provide the basics, they are far from delivering a technology infrastructure that can function seamlessly in hybrid work environments.”
«As a result, there is renewed interest in technologies that work seamlessly together and can address end-user document management challenges, regardless of where they work. That’s why we offer a complete technology ecosystem that aims to integrate hybrid workspaces and optimize document workflows, ensuring that our portfolio and related services are ready to meet the changing demands of these kinds of environments.“he concludes.
