citrix forrester consulting virt workforce

8/8/2019 Citrix Forrester Consulting Virt Workforce

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June 22, 2009

Virtual Workforce: The Key ToExpanding The Business WhileCutting CostsVirtualization Technologies Will Help YouSupport A Virtual Workforce

A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of

Citrix Systems, Inc.


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Virtual Workforce: The Key To Expanding The Business While Cutting Costs

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 3Organizations Must Cut Costs But Not At The Expense Of Growing The Business ...................... 4Companies Will Recruit, Develop, And Retain Talent To Meet Their Growth Objectives ................... 5Virtual Workforces: The Key To Cost-Effectively Growing Company Talent ....................................... 7

Virtual Workforces Promise To Solve Top Business And HR Objectives . . . ................................. 8. . . But Virtual Workforces Bring New Management Challenges .................................................. 12

IT Departments Are Critical In Executing A Virtual Workforce Strategy ............................................. 14Unfortunately, IT Is Not Well-Equipped To Support Virtual Workforces Today ............................. 15

Look To Virtualization Technologies To Bridge The Virtual Workforce Divide................................... 15There Are Four Flavors Of Client Virtualization Technologies . . . ................................................. 15. . . That Are Supported By Traditional Infrastructure ..................................................................... 18Take A Three-Step Approach To Make A Virtual Workforce A Reality ......................................... 18

Appendix A: Methodology .................................................................................................................... 20Appendix B: Endnotes .......................................................................................................................... 21 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based onbest available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester

, Technographics

,

Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All othertrademarks are the property of their respective companies. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com.


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Executive Summary

It is no surprise that in the face of todays global economic challenges, most organizations arecutting costs both variable costs like T&E and fixed costs like facilities. What issurprising is thatmany organizations are also using this opportunity to expand the business into new areas, bothnationally and internationally. Sounds impossible, right? Management professionals across theentire organization, including business, IT, finance, and even HR, who are ultimately responsible foraffordably recruiting employees to make business expansion a reality, are under tremendouspressure to do the impossible. How can organizations balance the needs of cutting costs, while atthe same time hiring additional workers to make the expanded business successful? Forresterbelieves that to do this, companies should invest in a virtual workforce strategy. Forrester defines avirtual workforce as:

A group of employees who do not work in a corporate headquarters. These workerscould include mobile workers, telecommuters, branch office employees, businesspartners, contractors, outsourcers, and others types of workers who do not come intoan office on a regular basis.

To understand the growing trends around virtual workforces, Forrester decided to look at two verydistinct markets: the US, which has mature technologies and fairly evolved teleworking practices;and China, which is a maturing market that is using the newest technologies to gain even morecompetitive advantage. There are commonalities: Both of these markets are actively expanding thebusiness both nationally and internationally while at the same time improving their customer servicepractices and cutting costs where possible. Specifically, our survey found that almost 90% of the USorganizations and 70% of the Chinese organizations we spoke with would like to lower the costsassociated with facilities and T&E. At the same time, more than three-fourths of US and Chineserespondents told us that expanding their business was a top priority as we move forward into abetter economy. Finally, more than 85% of both US and Chinese respondents named improvingcustomer service as a top objective. This makes these two markets great candidates for virtualworkforce programs.

Virtual workforces bring many benefits to the business such as reduced facility and travel costs, aswell as improved worker productivity, which are top priorities for more than three-fourths of theorganization we spoke to. Unfortunately, these groups also come with distinct challenges that untilnow, companies have not been able to mitigate. For example, business users are interested invirtual workforce programs to help lower costs, while at the same time HR professionals areinterested for reasons of increased employee satisfaction and retention. Unfortunately, there arealso business concerns around decreased worker productivity and lack of communication whenoutside the four walls of the office. This, coupled with ITs concerns around compliance andsecurity, has to date made full-scale implementation of these worker types an impossibility.However, these are all challenges that can finally be addressed by focusing on three key initiatives:

Make the business case for a virtual workforce program. Instead of focusing onstandard costs of technology acquisition, focus your business case for a virtual workforceprogram around meeting business objectives, such as lowering facilities costs, improvingcustomer service by having your employees closer to the customer, less costly businessexpansion, or higher employee retention.

Start with a small departmental or location-based pilot. When choosing your pilot case,make sure to set yourself up for success by looking to groups that support more than asingle function, such as a branch office that houses employees in many differentdepartments there is no need to artificially limit your program from the beginning.


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Additionally, successful pilots can be groups that can easily support overall businessobjectives.

Demonstrate benefits to expand your virtual workforce. Find your early victories, suchas enabling call center employees to work at home, and map them to business objectives,such as lowering the cost of facilities. Then work with your business leaders to understandadditional unmet needs that could also be accomplished within this virtual workforcestrategy and increase this initiative from there.

Organizations Must Cut Costs But Not At TheExpense Of Growing The Business

In ordinary recessions, organizations are forced to cut costs wherever possible. However, in todayseconomy, simple cost cutting wont do. Why? Because organizations must look to the future nowand be competitive today. This means balancing simple cost cutting with strategic spending (seeFigure 1). In fact, we found that:

Lowering costs of facilities and T&E are the top priorities. If you ask any organization,it will tell you that facility costs are one of its top expenses, thanks to the ever-growingdemand for more (and inefficient use of) office and data center space. In addition, thenumber of remote and mobile employees is also on the rise, which has traditionally led toincreases in companys travel and expense items. Thus, it is no surprise that in todayseconomy, almost 90% of the US organizations and 70% of the Chinese organizations wespoke with would like to lower the costs associated with these line items.

Improving customer service will be a key priority for the next 18 months and beyond.Most organizations know that customer retention and satisfaction is based on service.Therefore, now is the best time to kick customer service organizations into high gear. Why?Because customers remember how you treated them in the tough times. Because of this, it

is not surprising that, looking forward, more than 85% of US respondents named improvingcustomer service as a top priority. Remember, in this economy, it is more affordable tokeep an existing customer happy than to acquire a new customer. Furthermore, whenlooking at the emerging market of China, improving customer service was the top priorityfor organizations.

Yet focus on expanding the business cannot be overlooked. Todays organizations,both in the US and in China, are looking beyond the here and now. They are looking at thedifferent growth activities at their disposal. Whether these activities include opening nationaland international branch offices or working on mergers and/or acquisitions, organizationsare preparing their expansion strategy. This is shown by the more than three-fourths of USand Chinese respondents who told us that expanding their business was a top priority fortoday as we move forward into a better economy.


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Figure 1: In The Current Economy, Lowering Costs Is A Top Priority

Given the current economy, how important are the following priorities for your businessover the next six months?

(4 or 5 on a scale of 1 [not at all important] to 5 [critically important] )

Base: All respondents

Source: Online survey of 211 US and Chinese HR and business decision-makers involved in hiring andrecruitment of workers. Commissioned Study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Citrix.

Companies Will Recruit, Develop, And RetainTalent To Meet Their Growth Objectives

With business expansion driving many of the critical decisions being made over the next year,companies will need to tap into their human resources department for help. Why? Because buildingup an employee base to tackle this new growth will be the key to the business success. This putsHR departments on the fast track to meet these new business requirements by attracting andretaining an all-star team. To do this, HR personnel will:

Focus on attracting the worlds top talent . . . After speaking with companies in both theUS and China, the answer is clear: Hiring the brightest talent tops recruiting initiatives (seeFigure 2). Should this be a surprise? No. In times of a struggling economy, companies canbe much more selective in who they choose to attract and retain. And in doing so,companies tell us that they are open to a much more diverse set of workers than may havebeen utilized in the past: remote (on a worldwide scale), part-time, home-based, andothers, such as a younger generation that may not be comfortable with the traditional

90

89

86%

80%

65%

64%

60%

59%

72%

70%

89%

87%

51%

70%

60%

34%

Lowering the cost of facilities, including buildings andelectricity

Lowering the cost of travel and expenses

Improving customer service

Expanding the business through national and internationalgrowth opportunities

Managing mergers and acquisitions

Increasing the use of noncorporate employees (such ascontractors and business partners)

Increasing the use of outsourcing

Decreasing the use of outsourcing

US China


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working environment, are being considered as finding that right employee is the toppriority.

. . . while simultaneously trying to lower the costs of recruiting. With all of the hiringthat must occur over the next 18 months and as the economy recovers, HR professionalsmust find ways to cut costs associated with recruitment. Some potential ways this costcutting can occur is through the hiring of workers who may live in cities or countries wherethe cost of living is lower than that of the company headquarters or even through the use ofvideo training and online collaboration for remote employees.

Prioritize initiatives around improving worker retention, balance, and satisfaction.Not only must HR departments focus on hiring new workers, they must also constantlymake sure they are keeping their current workers happy in order to retain workers andavoid costly turnover. To assure that they are not spending more time and money thanalready necessary on the hiring and training of employees, more than three-fourths of ourUS and Chinese respondents told us that improving worker retention and satisfaction, aswell as providing employees with a better work/life balance, are very important prioritiesover the next 18 months (see Figure 3). By improving worker retention and satisfaction,

organizations can avoid turnover costs and lost productivity.

Figure 2: Attracting Top Talent Will Be The Key To Recruitment For The Next Year

To the best of your knowledge, how important are the following priorities in regards torecruitment for your human resource (HR) department over the next 12 to 18 months?




92%

79%

73%

67%

66%

64%

94%

64%

77%

74%

57%

62%

Attracting top talent

Lowering costs associated with recruiting, training, andonboarding workers

Access to a broader geographic labor pool

Recruiting and hiring younger workers

Recruiting different types of workers, such as part-timeor home-based

Potentially reducing labor costs by hiring workers inlower-cost cities

US China


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Figure 3: Worker Retention And Satisfaction Will Drive HR Decisions

To the best of your knowledge, how important are the following priorities for yourhuman resource (HR) department over the next 12 to 18 months?




To meet this worker recruiting and retaining need, many organizations are looking to enable moreeffective virtual workforce programs. Why? To enable more strategic hiring of workers in remotelocations, as well as to satisfy employees requests for a more flexible working environment. Notonly does a virtual workforce promote a better work environment for employees, but it also benefitsthe business as well.

Virtual Workforces: The Key To Cost-EffectivelyGrowing Company Talent

Virtual workforces are not a new idea but instead an area of growing interest for many

organizations. Specifically, a virtual workforce is:

A group of employees who do not work in a corporate headquarters. These workerscould include mobile workers, telecommuters, branch office employees, businesspartners, contractors, outsourcers, and others types of workers who do not come intoan office on a regular basis.

When we asked our survey group about their current adoption of a virtual workforce, we found thatcompanies in both the US and in China have already started enabling these types of workers. In

88%

83%

80%

72%

69%

68%

85%

74%

94%

74%

66%

72%

Improving worker retention

Providing better work/life balance

Improve worker satisfaction

Incorporating workers faster duringmergers and acquisitions

Filling positions of workers of retiringage

Lowering commuting costs for workers(i.e., gas, tolls, parking, etc.)

US China


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particular, we found that 82% of US organizations and 94% of organizations in China have alreadyimplemented some type of virtual workforce program. While typically these programs are small andonly available to a subset of the employee populations, these virtual workforce programs will seesignificant growth over the next three years; Forrester Research has found that the number ofemployees that classify themselves as mobile will increase from 44% in 2009 to 73% in 2012.

1In

addition, Forrester found that the number of US adults who telecommute will increase from 39million in 2009 to 63 million in 2016.

2This means that these small virtual workforce programs have

less than three years to evolve from pilots to viable, enterprisewide strategies.

Virtual Workforces Promise To Solve Top Business And HRObjectives . . .Fortunately, virtual workforce programs can do a lot more than support the businesss changingworker population; they can also help companies meet their overall business objectives, such asexpanding the business, and HR objectives, such as improving satisfaction, for the next 18 monthsand beyond. How? Virtual workforces allow companies to:

Reduce facility and travel costs. As mentioned above, todays organizations have madeit a top priority to lower the costs associated with facilities and travel. And, thankfully, theseare some of the major benefits of a virtual workforce. Sixty-nine percent of our USrespondents and 70% of our Chinese respondents stated that lowering facilities costs wasdriving their interest in a virtual workforce; an additional 57% of respondents believe that avirtual workforce will help them lower their travel cost (see Figure 4). Why? Because withemployees having the flexibility to work in lower-cost cities or outside of the office,organizations no longer have to pay for office space (and all of the other associatedexpenses) for workers that dont come into the office every day. Also, with options likeonline collaboration, organizations can reduce the travel costs of their employees.

Improve worker productivity and customer service. While a virtual workforce absolutelyhas cost benefits, it also has business benefits that cant be quantified as easily. Forexample, 67% of US respondents and 74% of Chinese respondents cited increasing

worker productivity as their key driver in moving toward a virtual workforce (see Figure 5).This is thanks to developments like a globalized workforce where workers can work aroundthe sun and/or more working hours when not having to commute to work. Other businessbenefits of a virtual workforce include improved customer service as shown by 65% ofUS and 87% of Chinese respondents who cited this as a driver. Why? Because a virtualworkforce enables workers to be out in the field, closer to their customers, project sites, orwherever they need to be with access to a real-time data connection so that employees canquickly and accurately respond to customers and make decisions.

Improve employee satisfaction and work/life balance. When asked what was drivingtheir worker interest in a virtual workforce, our respondents told us that it was increasedworker satisfaction and better work/life balance (see Figure 6). Some may wonder how avirtual workforce will help in these regards, yet the answer is simple: These workforces

enable a much more flexible working environment, which in turn allows employees to workwhen and where it is best for them and the business.

Solve the top HR priority worker retention. As we learned above, HR professionalshave prioritized improving worker retention for the next 18 months and beyond. Thus its nosurprise that 67% of our US respondents and 77% of our Chinese respondents told us thattheir HR-related interest in moving toward a virtual workforce is just that (see Figure 7).Given how much employees want to have a flexible work environment, it is easy to see thatby opening up the working options, employees will be more likely to stay with their current


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employer. And higher worker retention means less backfilling for open positions andavoiding turnover costs and the lost productivity associated with it.

Figure 4: Lowering Facilities Costs Lead Interest In Virtual Workforce Programs

Of the following, what are your cost interests in moving toward a virtual workforce?(select all that apply)

Base: All respondents(multiple responses accepted)


53%

76%

57%

70%

53%

54%

57%

69%

Reducing laborcosts by hiring

workers in lower-cost cities

Lowering costsassociated with

recruiting, trainin g,and onboarding

workers

Lowering travelcosts

Lowering facilitiescosts

US

China


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Figure 5: Improving Worker Productivity And Customer Service Drive Business Interest InVirtual Workforces

Of the following, what are your business interests in moving toward a virtual workforce?

(select all that apply)


(multiple responses accepted)


70%

68%

87%

74%

49%

55%

65%

67%

Improving speedto market

Improvingbusiness continuity

plans

Improvingcustomer service

Increasing workerproductivity

US

China


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Figure 6: Workers Will Be More Satisfied If A Virtual Workforce Program Was Enabled

Of the following, what are your worker interests in moving toward a virtual workforce?(select all that apply)



62%

81%

89%

60%

65%

75%

Lowering commutingcosts for workers ( i.e.,

gas, tolls, parking,etc.)

Providing betterwork/life balance

Improving workersatisfaction

US

China


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Figure 7: Worker Retention Drives HR Interest In Virtual Workforces

Of the following, what are your human resources interests in moving toward a virtualworkforce?




. . . But Virtual Workforces Bring New Management ChallengesDespite all the promise these virtual workforces can bring to organizations, there will be new sets ofboth business and IT challenges. These include:

US business concerns surrounding worker productivity and visibility. While time hasproven that virtual workforces can increase user productivity, there are still many businessconcerns about how well workers perform when outside of the corporate office. This can beshown by the 47% of both US and Chinese respondents that believe that they will losevisibility into their workers actions if they were to let them work remotely (see Figure 8).

Furthermore, 46% of US respondents are worried that by allowing a virtual workforce, theywill be losing a good deal of productivity from their users. It is important that organizationsconsider which roles and people are suitable to work remotely, as not all roles or people willbe a natural fit.

Chinese business concerns center around communication and user experience.Unlike US organizations that are worried about their employees not getting their work doneif moved into a virtual workforce, Chinese organizations are more focused on their workers:specifically, the potential breakdown in communication among workers who are not in the

57%

51%

72%

77%

77%

39%

44%

53%

60%

67%

Incorporating workersfaster during mergers

and acquisitions

Recruiting and hiringyounger workers

Increasing the laborpool by supporting

workers independent

of location

Hiring the right peoplefor the job

Improving workerretention

US

China


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office, as well as the feeling that they are providing their workers a poor user experience.More than two-thirds of Chinese organizations have cited these issues around movingforward with a virtual workforce.

Universal IT concerns about compliance and security. While the US and Chinarespondents may have different business concerns with regard to a virtual workforce, theirIT concerns are completely aligned. Their main anxiety? Insuring that all workers not onlyhave secure access to their applications and data, but that their devices and data areconstantly secure and compliant with all requirements, such as those around intellectualproperty, corporate data loss, data privacy, and regulatory mandates. This is shown by themore than half of respondents who stated that these security and compliance IT concernsgave them caution when moving toward a virtual workforce (see Figure 9).

Figure 8: Losing Visibility And Decreasing Productivity Are Major Business Concerns With AVirtual Workforce Strategy

What are your business concerns with moving toward a virtual workforce?




45%

42%

66%

62%

68%

60%

47%

27%

32%

33%

39%

44%

46%

47%

The costs associated with setting up andmaintaining a virtual workforce

Supporting (from a training and growth standpoint)virtual workers is too difficu lt

Providing an inferior user experience

Decreasing worker collaboration

A breakdown in commun ications among workers

Decreasing worker productivity

Losing visibility into day-to-day worker actions

US

China


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Figure 9: Security And Compliance Are Top IT Concerns With A Virtual Workforce Strategy

What do you anticipate the IT concerns will be with moving toward a virtual workforce?(select all that apply)



IT Departments Are Critical In Executing A VirtualWorkforce Strategy

To meet the business objectives that todays organizations demand, such as lowering the cost offacilities or expanding the business quickly, IT must step in. IT is the critical lynchpin that can createand support a virtual workforce strategy that will enable organizations to see the cost cutting andexpansion they need over the next 18 months and beyond. And thankfully, IT has already gotteninvolved. Today, IT departments are:

Critical to the support of anytime, anywhere workers. Eighty percent of ourrespondents told us that providing anytime, anywhere support to workers was veryimportant to their IT departments. Furthermore, more than 85% of respondents believe thatproviding workers with access to their applications and data, regardless of their location,are other important hot buttons for IT departments. This means that IT is starting to helporganizations expand to workers outside the corporate office.

53%

49%

55%

66%

74%

38%

44%

49%

49%

54%

Supporting (from ITstandpoint) virtual

workers is too difficult

Supporting virtualworkers is expensive

Maintaining complianceto both corporate and

regulatory requirements

Securing workers'devices and data

Providing secure accessto applications and data

US

China


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Helping with business objectives like customer service and cost containment. Wesaw above that improving customer services and lowering costs are top priorities to todaysorganizations, but is IT helping with that? Absolutely. When asked about how satisfied theywere with ITs ability to meet top business demands, our respondents gave IT all gold stars

more than three-quarters of respondents stated that they were satisfied with IT

capabilities in helping the business improve customer service and in lowering costs offacilities. Additionally, almost 75% of respondents also gave IT credit for helping thebusiness with global expansion. By employing the right technologies, IT can continue toalign with the business.

Unfortunately, IT Is Not Well-Equipped To Support VirtualWorkforces TodayAlthough IT does a good job today at meeting business requirements, virtual workforce expansionwill expose IT weaknesses without the proper tools and technologies. IT departments are alreadyshowing weaknesses in supporting certain populations of workers specifically, supporting mobileand home office workers was ranked last among a list of 10 things the business thinks IT can dowell. Therefore, IT needs new tools to help them provide better support to these remote workers as

well as to enable them to take this a step further to execute a solid virtual workforce strategy.

Look To Virtualization Technologies To Bridge TheVirtual Workforce Divide

Lets recap: Organizations today are struggling with lowering costs, improving customer service,and expanding the business. At the same time, IT is struggling with securing devices and access toapplications and data, as well as assuring that the desktop environment is compliant to all corporateand regulatory requirements. These are not easy tasks, and thus it will take a new set oftechnologies to meet all of these requirements in tandem.

Over the past two years, the client virtualization market has emerged to solve these challenges.While some of the technologies may focus on providing secure access to applications and data sothat your workers can work from home or any other remote location (lowering costs of facilities andtravel), others primary benefits are providing a desktop experience to remote workers no differentthan from one in the office, and still others may simply lower IT costs so that IT staff spends lesstime on the reactionary help desk tasks and instead can work on strategic initiatives. In the end, itwill be a combination of all of these technologies, combined with your traditional infrastructure, thatwill help you support a virtual workforce.

There Are Four Flavors Of Client Virtualization Technologies . . .Part of enabling a virtual workforce strategy requires understanding the underlying technologies.We will get a bit technical here, but stay with us for the bottom line for todays business executives.Client virtualization encompasses four different technologies: 1) local desktop virtualization; 2)hosted desktop virtualization; 3) local application virtualization; and 4) hosted applicationvirtualization.

3Each address a subset of IT challenges when supporting virtual workers, but when

used together, they enable the IT organization to meet the productivity needs of the different usertypes and can make the virtual workforce a reality.

Local desktop virtualization. For local desktop virtualization, the entire desktopenvironment executes in a protected environment on the user's PC (see Figure 10). This"bubble" runs on top of the underlying hardware and host operating system platform. Virtual


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machines run, like any other application, directly on top of an installed OS but are stillindependent from any software that has been deployed.

Hosted desktop virtualization. Hosted desktop virtualization is where the desktopenvironment executes in a protected environment on data center servers. The virtualmachine bubble runs directly on a data center server alongside other VM instances,allowing multiple users to remotely connect to their desktops simultaneously.

Local application virtualization. Local application virtualization is the next generation ofapplication packaging (see Figure 11). Applications are packaged as self-containedexecutables that run independent of any other application on the machine. They run in anisolated environment on the user's OS, unable to interact with other applications withoutexplicit permission.

Hosted application virtualization. Hosted application virtualization is a new spin on an oldtheme: server-based computing. Applications are run in isolated environments hosted ondata center servers, and users access these applications over the network. This is

transparent from the user's perspective; the application appears to be running on his/hermachine via a set of shortcuts on his/her desktop.

The bottom line for business executives: When it comes to client virtualization technologies,there is no one-size-fits-all solution. A successful virtual workforce may use a combination of all ofthese technologies to meet the diverse needs of the organizations workers. Here are four examplesof client virtualization meeting business needs for different user scenarios: 1) Local desktopvirtualization will give a corporate desktop to a contractor who needs access to corporateapplications and data yet does not have a corporate PC; 2) hosted desktop virtualization enablesbranch office workers to access a full corporate desktop (and the associated support resources)without the cost and complexity of the expensive branch office infrastructure and IT staff; 3) localapplication virtualization is a must-have for all worker types, as it lowers the cost of supporting thedesktop environment; and 4) hosted application virtualization allows mobile workers that used to betied to a single PC the flexibility to work from any device in a secure manner.


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. . . That Are Supported By Traditional InfrastructureWhile client virtualization provides the productivity environment for your virtual workforce, there arestill three infrastructure components that are necessary to complete your strategy. These include:

The end user device. The end user device consists of any machine that a worker can useto get his or her job done. While most organizations see the end user device as acorporate-owned desktop or laptop, these devices can come in many different flavors: thinclients, handhelds, netbooks, and other non-corporate owned devices, such as a home PCor kiosk. Most recently, organizations have listened to their employees demands aroundchoice and allowed these workers to choose the device he or she wants to use in thecorporate environment this is one of the first steps companies are leveraging to improveemployee satisfaction.

Networking infrastructure. When supporting a virtual workforce, there are three keytechnology components that deliver a productivity environment to users: 1) the virtualizationtechnologies (usually housed in the data center); 2) the end user device; and 3) thenetworking infrastructure that connects it all together. Using technologies such as WAN

optimization and VPNs, organizations can provide workers with a quality connection andexperience when connecting remotely to company resources, while at the same timeassuring that all connections to desktops, applications, and data are secure solving topIT concerns from our respondents.

Collaboration infrastructure. Forty-five percent of our respondents cited a fear that avirtual workforce would potentially lead to a decrease in worker collaboration.Consequently, organizations must invest in collaboration infrastructure that enablesworkers to collaborate with each other as if they were in the same office. These types oftechnologies include collaboration, application sharing, and conferencing platforms.

While all of these virtualization technologies and traditional infrastructure have their place insupporting a virtual workforce, it is important to note that each of these solutions puts more control

back in the hands of IT and helps them meet business objectives. This in turn helps IT provide aproductive environment to each and every user that is more collaborative, secure, and compliant tocurrent regulations than the standard PC experience can offer today.

Take A Three-Step Approach To Make A Virtual Workforce ARealityCreating and supporting a virtual workforce is not easy, yet we know it will be key in helpingorganizations meet their objectives in areas such as lowering costs, improving customer serviceand expanding the business. Thankfully, IT now has the tools at its disposal to implement a secureand compliant virtual workforce. This means that IT is no longer the inhibitor to business success,but instead, it can align with business needs in a cost-effective manner. To get this right, werecommend that companies focus on three key initiatives.

Step One: Make The Business Case For A Virtual Workforce Program

Growing the business is no easy task especially when you consider all of the costs associatedwith doing so, namely the new facilities and IT infrastructure that will be required as well as therecruiting costs for the new workforce that will be needed. Additionally, improving customer servicein many cases means putting employees where your customers are so, again, new officesmeans more expenses. These real-life problems are great starting-off points for building yourbusiness case for a virtual workforce. Consider the cost savings of hiring employees in your newly


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targeted areas and allowing them to work at a flexible location instead of a headquarters office.Consider the revenue opportunities of keeping your employees near your customers without thehigh costs of operating a full IT infrastructure in your branch office. Alternatively, think about theincreased recruiting base your HR team would have if location didnt matter if hiring the mostqualified worker meant just that, and not just the most qualified worker in a specific city. All of these

criteria should be considered when justifying your virtual workforce program.

Step Two: Start With A Small Departmental Or Location-Based Pilot

Next comes the thought exercise: Where will a virtual workforce fit well in your organization? Isthere a department that has more mobile needs than another? Is there a branch office that is notfilled to capacity that could be closed if employees worked from home? Would you like to expand toa new geography without the costly and complicated IT infrastructure? Could you connect yourwarehouse and your factory floor to your headquarters operations?

Regardless of your scenario, find the group (or groups) that you feel would most benefit from goingvirtual and set up shop. The key, however, is to not paint yourself into a corner by making twocommon mistakes: 1) coming up with a pilot case that puts the program into a silo, and 2) investing

in infrastructure that doesnt support the diverse requirements from the business, IT, and HR. Forexample, location-based pilots have the opportunity to show breadth of capabilities of a virtualworkforce and the unified infrastructure as workers from many departments will all have thechance to do their specific job in their new surroundings. This is beneficial as it proves to thosebusiness leaders making the virtual workforce go/no-go decision that workers of all types can besupported.

Step Three: Demonstrate Benefits To Expand Your Virtual Workforce

With your small pilots in place, its now time to take a step back to see where your cost savingsexisted. Where did this test group face challenges, and where were the benefits? Work withbusiness leaders to make sure current objectives are being met with the program, such as fastergrowth opportunities, serving more customers at a lower cost, and improved worker satisfaction and

retention. Work through any potential concerns they raise and extend the pilot to new groups withdifferent demands. You will find that in no time, your virtual workforce supported by clientvirtualization technologies will enable your business to meet your objectives: cutting costs, butnot at the expense of growing the business.


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Appendix A: Methodology

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 211 organizations in the United States andChina to evaluate their use of virtual workforces and the technologies that support them. Survey

participants included HR and business decision-makers involved in hiring and recruitment ofworkers. In this survey:

Of the 211 total responses, 158 were from the United States, and 53 were from China.

US organizations had 1,000 or more employees and thin client, desktop, and laptopcomputers. Chinese organizations had 500 or more employees and thin client, desktop,and laptop computers. More than 80% of Chinese organizations had 1,000 or morecomputers.

All respondents were responsible for recruitment and hiring of workers and were decision-makers or influencersin regards to their companys remote workforce policies andprocedures or were in a position to make decisions about their employees, specifically withregards to where they work.

Fifty-four percent of respondents were from HR, while the remaining 46% were fromvarious lines of business. Respondents were managers, directors, or executives of theirdepartment, with two-thirds of respondents were director level or above.

Respondents were drawn from a broad cross-section of industries, including public sector,finance and insurance, and manufacturing. Specifically, in the public sector, we looked athealthcare, education, and federal, state, and local governments.

Questions provided to the participants asked about their plans and priorities as it relates tothe workforce, demographics and interests of the workforce, and technologies used to

support the virtual workforce.

The online survey began in April 2009 and was completed in May 2009.


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Appendix B: Endnotes

1 See the October 9, 2008, Enterprise Mobile User Forecast: Mobile Wannabes Are The Fastest-Growing Segment report.

2See the March 11, 2009, US Telecommuting Forecast, 2009 To 2016 report.

3See the April 9, 2009, Demystifying Client Virtualization report.

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