This article appears in its original format at Forbes.
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In the dynamic tapestry of the consumer economy, the constant surge of innovation has never only been about enhancing convenience; it has also been an industry-wide commitment to reclaiming the consumer's most invaluable asset: time. As various sectors have engaged in this relentless battle to save time, however, each innovation has inevitably introduced its own set of novel interruptions, complexities and challenges.
Perhaps the automobile provides the best illustration of the interplay between time-saving and the inadvertent creation of new demands.
Reflecting on my first car purchase over three decades ago provides a personal illustration of this dynamic and its rapid recent evolution. This car, when I bought it in Tunisia with my first-ever paycheck, already had 400,000 miles on the clock. Calling its maintenance demands extensive would be an understatement. I had to bring it to an old friend, an exceptionally skilled hometown mechanic, for 5-6 hours a month and drink terrible garage coffee while he tested, rummaged for replacements and gradually restored my vehicle to a state of relative roadworthiness.
A few years later, now living in France, I was at last able to buy a better car. Visits to the garage persisted, but their frequency diminished significantly; diagnostics became more transparent, and repairs were executed with greater efficiency. I also couldn’t help but notice how little the mechanic resembled my mental picture of the profession. He was well dressed, carried a laptop instead of a toolbox and never seemed to touch an engine with his own hands. If maintaining my more modern automobile still required significant expense (and it did—in both time and money), things were improving. Fast forward to the present day and my current car. It has, so far—two years after I bought it—required zero maintenance. Instead, it autonomously updates and fixes itself. In addition, the car frequently makes personalized recommendations that help save time. It knows where I’m going on a given day and is ready with suggestions to help me get there quicker.
The main game-changer is, of course, data. The company behind my car (which now not only provisions it but manages my driving experience) is constantly receiving and leveraging real-time data about my car—not only the vehicle itself, but how well and how fast I’m driving, my routes and destinations, my media and comfort preferences, and every single other interaction between me, my car and the outside environment. Additionally, the manufacturer is constantly contrasting and assimilating this data with that provided by the many other cars like it on the road worldwide.
The Workplace Technology Conundrum
The lag between consumer and workplace tech is well known. But while the latter certainly moves much more slowly, its direction of travel remains very much the same.
Over the past few decades, computers have transformed work processes, delivering incalculably vast time savings to employees. And once again, these advancements have also ushered in novel disruptions, interruptions and inefficiencies, which IT—the frontline mechanics of the workplace—has been responsible for mitigating.
The push toward the provision of a more automated and seamless experience is also evident. How often do you spend waiting for IT today versus five or 10 years ago? The digital employee experience, while far from perfect, is certainly improving.
In the background, however, most IT departments are still stuck endlessly addressing tickets and fielding employee complaints. These colleagues are striving to meet their deadlines, while IT professionals are caught in an endless firefighting cycle.
I believe that the developments in the automobile industry point the way forward. The key to transforming IT lies in proactivity—stopping incidents before they impede employee productivity. According to new data from Vanson Bourne, it takes up to 27 minutes for IT to fix an average issue after it occurs. The onus is on IT to reclaim and redistribute this valuable time through proactive measures.
Data-Powered Transformation: Shaping Digital Workplaces
At the forefront of this transformation—as in the automobile industry, once again—is data. Comprehensive data is the key to delivering a truly proactive service, one that not only ensures users never have to tolerate technical downtime but also allows IT to provide nuanced, personalized experiences. Such data must go beyond device models and boot times to encompass every event, connection and interaction shaping the user’s digital experience.
The second crucial element is the capability for real-time diagnosis, a far cry from the traditional IT team with the stack of mysteriously faulty laptops. And finally, IT must possess the ability to transform data into actionable insights—automated, remote, and precisely measurable in their impact and effect. Today, an employee should open their laptop confident that their machine will have updated itself, fixed itself and is also further adjusting itself to their own personal requirements, needs and patterns of work.
This workplace technology evolution is poised to reshape public perception (and self-conception) regarding the role of IT. Are the individuals responsible for updating my car "mechanics"? Yes and no. They are not merely fixers or even orchestrators; they are time creators. IT should have the same aspirations.
In this ever-evolving narrative of innovation and time, the increasing power of technology to increasingly correct and transcend its own flaws is undeniable. As data reshapes the landscapes of consumer and workplace technology alike, proactivity is the north star, creating a future where each innovation not only saves but enhances our control over our most precious asset: time.
