[Shanghai, China, 19 September 2023] A new study “Digitalization and its Impact on Workplaces,” released today by Huawei, provided new insights after surveying more than 13,000 employees in 7 countries around the world. This is the first international study on workplace digitalization that draws on real-world employee experiences rather than an arbitrary tally of technology.
“This study highlights the transformative impact of digitalization on the nature of work in various international contexts,” said author Professor Schneider from Hochschule Trier, University of Applied Sciences Germany. “As digitalization accelerates, organizations must adapt their strategies. use the skills workers already have and take advantage of the latest technologies, or risk falling behind. »
The research was carried out by Professor Anna Schneider in collaboration with YouGov, in China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. She shared three key findings from the report:
One of the key findings is that Chinese companies rely more on digital tools in the workplace than those in other countries studied.
Continuously improving broadband infrastructure, combined with a population and businesses adopting new technologies, explains the leading position of companies in China in the survey. Increasing levels of digitalization in businesses are opening up opportunities for a more agile workforce.
Long-established routines in European businesses further inhibit the use of digital technologies. Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a particularly illustrative example revealed by the survey. HCI is becoming increasingly intuitive as touchscreens, large language models, and augmented/virtual reality mature. However, in offices in some European countries, more than half of all HCI takes place on hard keyboards, even in the most digitalized workplaces.
The second key finding is that a high level of workplace digitalization will boost workplace knowledge exchange by more than 20% compared to companies with a lower level of digitalization. The availability of digital tools greatly facilitates remote and flexible communication. Advanced digital tools further enable greater internal access to stored knowledge through intelligent search algorithms or applications mimicking social media functionality. New interfaces enhanced by large language models could further accelerate the ability to access and exchange knowledge for companies that adopt them.
Furthermore, for the future development and success of digital transformation, digital skills and new ways of interacting with computers will be two determining factors. In all countries studied, the use of advanced and virtual interfaces in the workplace lags significantly behind private use. Respondents consistently expect this gap to widen over the next five years. Companies often face significant inertia in adopting new interfaces due to the longer lifecycles of business equipment and lack of resources to retrain employees. The survey indicated that the latter point could be much less problematic than companies typically claim. Individuals are clearly more willing to adopt new interfaces than the companies they work for, as they tend to be very confident in their ability to use touch, voice and gesture interfaces, regardless of how digitized their location is. of work.
The study carried out for Huawei highlights the urgent need for policy action and investment in areas that can accelerate a comprehensive upgrade of digital technologies used in businesses and ensure inclusive sharing of digital dividends.
[Shanghai, China, 19 September 2023] A new study “Digitalization and its Impact on Workplaces,” released today by Huawei, provided new insights after surveying more than 13,000 employees in 7 countries around the world. This is the first international study on workplace digitalization that draws on real-world employee experiences rather than an arbitrary tally of technology.
“This study highlights the transformative impact of digitalization on the nature of work in various international contexts,” said author Professor Schneider from Hochschule Trier, University of Applied Sciences Germany. “As digitalization accelerates, organizations must adapt their strategies. use the skills workers already have and take advantage of the latest technologies, or risk falling behind. »
The research was carried out by Professor Anna Schneider in collaboration with YouGov, in China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. She shared three key findings from the report:
One of the key findings is that Chinese companies rely more on digital tools in the workplace than those in other countries studied.
Continuously improving broadband infrastructure, combined with a population and businesses adopting new technologies, explains the leading position of companies in China in the survey. Increasing levels of digitalization in businesses are opening up opportunities for a more agile workforce.
Long-established routines in European businesses further inhibit the use of digital technologies. Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a particularly illustrative example revealed by the survey. HCI is becoming increasingly intuitive as touchscreens, large language models, and augmented/virtual reality mature. However, in offices in some European countries, more than half of all HCI takes place on hard keyboards, even in the most digitalized workplaces.
The second key finding is that a high level of workplace digitalization will boost workplace knowledge exchange by more than 20% compared to companies with a lower level of digitalization. The availability of digital tools greatly facilitates remote and flexible communication. Advanced digital tools further enable greater internal access to stored knowledge through intelligent search algorithms or applications mimicking social media functionality. New interfaces enhanced by large language models could further accelerate the ability to access and exchange knowledge for companies that adopt them.
Furthermore, for the future development and success of digital transformation, digital skills and new ways of interacting with computers will be two determining factors. In all countries studied, the use of advanced and virtual interfaces in the workplace lags significantly behind private use. Respondents consistently expect this gap to widen over the next five years. Companies often face significant inertia in adopting new interfaces due to the longer lifecycles of business equipment and lack of resources to retrain employees. The survey indicated that the latter point could be much less problematic than companies typically claim. Individuals are clearly more willing to adopt new interfaces than the companies they work for, as they tend to be very confident in their ability to use touch, voice and gesture interfaces, regardless of how digitized their location is. of work.
The study carried out for Huawei highlights the urgent need for policy action and investment in areas that can accelerate a comprehensive upgrade of digital technologies used in businesses and ensure inclusive sharing of digital dividends.
