Digital friction makes everyday tasks harder for employees than they should be. Poorly maintained hardware, outdated software, and limited access to high performance IT infrastructure slow employees down and hurt productivity. However, identifying bottlenecks in these areas and fixing them is possible with the latest IT solutions. In this article, three IT experts discuss these solutions and explore practical strategies to reduce digital friction in the workplace.
Measure digital workplace friction with endpoint monitoring tools
Organizations must prioritize endpoint monitoring and end-to-end visibility across their IT infrastructure to effectively reduce digital friction. A 2023 SOTI study revealed that 90% of enterprises lack complete visibility into their device endpoints. This lack of visibility can delay issue detection and remediation, ultimately hindering employee productivity. Organizations can gain deeper insights into CPU and application performance across all endpoints by implementing comprehensive monitoring tools.
“Providing deeper visibility into CPU and application performance across all your endpoints, including PCs and even virtual desktops, enables faster issue detection and remediation for your users. This proactive approach reduces digital friction across the digital workplace and ensures a high level of user productivity.”
Ziad Lammam
Director of Product Management for Digital Workspaces @ HP
By leveraging endpoint monitoring tools, organizations can proactively identify and resolve issues before they escalate. As organizations aim to improve their digital employee experience (DEX), maintaining end-to-end visibility across endpoints is key to minimizing digital friction.
Video: In addition to monitoring and updating applications across employee devices, the HP Workforce Experience Platform (WXP) has a System Health dashboard that surfaces hardware issues causing digital friction.
Reduce help desk friction with self-service IT support and GenAI
Empowering employees with self-service IT support is another effective strategy to reduce digital friction. By 2027, generative AI will produce more IT support and knowledge-based articles than human contributors, according to a CNBC article. This shift towards AI-driven support can significantly enhance the efficiency of IT service delivery and reduce help desk ticket volume. Organizations should invest in user-friendly online portals that allow employees to self-remediate through easy access to relevant information and IT tools.
“Users want to be able to self-schedule IT service, and to have access to relevant information through a user-friendly online portal that enables them to immediately resolve many of their own issues. This is why an effective user self-service portal should be a help desk initiative that is on every CIO’s list.”
Mary Shacklett
President of Transworld DataSource: CIO.com
By implementing seamless self-service IT support, organizations can reduce the dependency on traditional help desk services and empower employees to resolve issues independently. This approach enhances productivity and fosters a culture of self-reliance and continuous improvement. As AI technology advances, self-service IT support will become increasingly vital in reducing digital friction.
Use digital workspaces to give “tech horsepower” to employees
Employee productivity increasingly depends on fast, reliable access to the right tools, wherever and whenever they’re needed. The stakes are high: a 2024 study found that large enterprises lost an average of $104 million due to digital inefficiencies, with IT bottlenecks costing employees an average of 36 workdays each year. These numbers highlight the need for solutions that combine computing power, strong security, and the adaptability to meet diverse work styles.
"Ensuring a powerful and secure remote computer setup—with a virtual machine accessible through the cloud—can help provide instant tech horsepower anywhere and anytime it’s needed. It’s important to note that companies must prioritize training employees on how to use remote technology to help minimize digital friction. Scalability, flexibility, compatibility and ease of collaboration are also paramount when evaluating potential solutions."
Faisal Masud
President of Worldwide Digital Services @ HPSource: Architecting a World-Class Digital Employee Experience
Cloud-based digital workspaces deliver enterprise-grade computing resources to any device, anywhere. When combined with structured training and strategies for measuring digital friction, these environments enhance collaboration, reduce downtime, and boost employee satisfaction.
In conclusion, reducing digital friction requires a balanced approach that combines IT visibility, self-service capabilities, and scalable remote workforce technology. End-to-end performance monitoring prevents issues before they impact users, intuitive self-service tools empower employees to resolve problems faster while freeing IT resources, and digital workspaces give teams the computing power and flexibility they need, no matter where they work. By pairing these tools and strategies with consistent digital friction analysis, organizations can ensure that technology drives employee productivity forward.
