More Work, More Complexities, and More Investment: New Data from GoTo Analyzes the Challenges of Small and Midsize Business IT Teams
The results show that todays workers expect greater flexibility from their employers and the benefits are measurable.
BOSTON, May 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GoTo, the only flexible work company that makes it easy for small and midsized businesses to connect and support customers and employees, today announced results from a commissioned survey with Frost & Sullivan to analyze the current flexible work environment and how it is impacting the planning and decision making of (SMBs). The results show that today’s workers expect greater flexibility from their employers and the benefits are measurable. However, the next wave of work is now necessary as IT teams must re-evaluate the tools they need to meet flexible work demands while balancing an increased and complex workload, according to the February and March 2022 study.
Hybrid Work is the Way to Go, but it is Not Without Complexities:
The study showed that hybrid and remote work models can lead to more productivity and positive impacts on company culture, but can also often result in complexities for IT, especially when SMBs are lacking the right tools and resources. 76% of respondents found that the workload of IT workers has increased due to the adoption of flexible work models, with 43% agreeing that IT jobs have become more difficult. Two years after quickly adopting tools that made remote work possible, businesses are now evaluating service duplications within these tools and areas in which they can consolidate. The study found that 95% of companies have plans to consolidate their tools in 2022, with many already in the process of evaluation.
IT Teams Have More Responsibilities and More Scrutiny Than Ever Before:
Leaders are prioritizing IT needs more than ever to ensure their businesses operate effectively, according to the study. Senior leadership involvement in software purchasing is up 75% since the start of the pandemic. Over the last two years, demands have caused IT budgets to skyrocket. In 2021, (vs 2020) IT budget increased in nearly 4 in 5 organizations. In 2022 (vs 2021) IT budget increased in 77% of companies and decreased in only 4%. But these budget increases cannot continue, particularly for SMBs, and businesses must optimize their tech stack. Leadership must continue to devote time and energy into standing up efficient and effective IT teams in order to ensure their company can successfully run from anywhere.
“Small and midsize businesses have been lacking a simple, scalable, and achievable solution for the hybrid and remote working world in which we now live, but as data tells us time and time again, businesses can’t run without the right people and tools in place to enable their organization to work productively from anywhere,” says Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Product & Technology Officer at GoTo. “GoTo’s dedication to bringing enterprise-grade technology to SMBs, which combines unified communications and support solutions in one affordable application, is a direct response to listening to the needs of our SMB customers. We want to partner with SMBs to create a truly sustainable, resilient, and future-proof work from anywhere strategy through great technology.”
Additional Survey Findings that Demonstrate Hybrid is Worth the Investment:
- Employees demand hybrid work: Staff turnover is significantly lower in a hybrid model (22%) than in completely remote work models (43%) and work from office models (44%).
- Hybrid means more productivity: 78% view hybrid/remote work as positively impacting employee productivity and 77% view it as having a very positive impact on company culture.
- Flexibility is key: 16% of top management with a fully remote work policy would prefer to move to a hybrid model. Of the leaders with a work from the office policy, 23% would prefer a hybrid or fully remote model.
- In office requirements are not needed: The majority (78%) of hybrid companies which have guidelines on how many days in the office are required (an average of 2.7 days per week) nets out to about the same as those without mandatory days in the office (2.5 days per week).
- Making IT work: IT department workload increased 76% in 2021 versus 2020 and the main reasons were – more challenges related to flexible work (49%), more tasks to perform (44%), increased pressure (41%), and software underperforming/wrong tools (31%).
The Right Technology for SMB Success:
While demand for a flexible work model is high, SMBs often struggle to find reliable remote IT and communication tools. To help solve for this, GoTo launched the only unified application designed for SMBs with two affordable flagship products: GoTo Resolve, offering IT management & support, and GoTo Connect, which provides a unified-communication-as-a-service (UCaaS) experience. GoTo's combined solutions allow for businesses of any size to help empower their employees to work from anywhere, with an easy to use and easy to deploy model.
Announcing GoTo’s Partnership with the National Small Business Association:
Being a small business owner isn’t easy, but GoTo is here to help make sure that the technology that empowers organizations' flexible work collaboration and support needs is. For this reason, today, GoTo also announced a new partnership with the National Small Business Association (NSBA), which will give NSBA members special discounts and deals on GoTo products as well as access to tips, tricks, and insights for running a small business from anywhere.
For more information about how GoTo can support the flexible work needs of SMBs, please visit: goto.com/blog/SMBFlexibleworkStudy2022
Survey Methodology: This survey commissioned by GoTo was fielded by Frost & Sullivan globally across the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Italy, and India using responses from 1,000 small and midsize business (under 1000 knowledge-based employees) IT decision makers.
About GoTo:
GoTo’s flexible-work software — including GoTo Connect, GoTo Resolve, Rescue, Central, and more — is built for small and midsize business IT departments, but powerful enough for the enterprise. GoTo software is designed to support end-users' unified communications & collaboration (UCC) and IT management & support needs, and nearly 800K customers contribute to the more than 1 billion people joining meetings, classes, and webinars through GoTo’s UCC products, and half a billion connections on the company's remote access and support tools. By building its secure, easy-to-use software, GoTo is committed to ensuring the time at work is well spent so that time outside of work is better spent. With over 3,000 global employees and over $1 billion in annual revenue, the remote-centric company’s physical headquarters is in Boston, Massachusetts, with additional offices and thousands of home offices in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and beyond.
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