SEPTEMBER 2019

A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper Commissioned By Dell

The Value Of Powerful Workstations In The Digital Age

Introduction

New, powerful workstations have become the staple device for professional creators as the manipulation of large data sets and the rise of emerging technology like virtual reality (VR), production, and consumption of 4K graphics become embedded within the workplace. Professional creators benefit from fast, secure devices that help them make progress in their day-to-day work. However, these creators need specific technology for their work to drive innovation.

In July 2019, Dell commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate the value of workstations. Forrester conducted an online survey with 500 manager-level or above decision makers who have knowledge of workstations within their organizations. To explore this topic, we asked respondents how they perceive the current usage of workstations, the importance of specific features, and the imperatives driving organizations to upgrade their workstations. We found that:

Key Findings

  • Workstations are specialized, high-performing PCs with multiple logical processors and large amounts of RAM designed for professional creators

  • Employees’ dependence on powerful devices continues to accelerate.

    As digital transformation continues and business processes become fully digitized, employees are increasingly relying on hardware to get their tasks completed — professional creators are no different. In fact, they’re more inclined to test a machine’s capabilities, driving innovation and sparking their creativity.

  • Legacy workstations hinder productivity and stifle innovation.

    Fifty-six percent of respondents say they’re still using workstations that are three-plus years old; that means performance is suffering with legacy workstations.

  • Lack of budget remains a challenge for IT leaders.

    Budget holders are tasked with identifying the most appropriate use case and allocation of their resources at any given time. The best way to approach negotiations is to center the conversation on the long-term corporate strategy; innovative professional creators can shape and influence innovation.

Unlocking The Power Of Workstations

Digital Transformation
90% of the respondents in manufacturing report that workstations play a key role in business ops. In life sciences, 92% say certain employee groups must have updated, modern workstations; 70% also report that their companies use workstations that are three years old or older.

The job success of professional innovators, such as designers, engineers, and architects, depends on being able to concentrate deeply. Workstations allow them to ideate and create on a completely different level. Designing, rendering, animating, and editing product prototypes, video content, and other 3D experiences all benefit from new, powerful workstations. Seventy-eight percent of respondents say workstations serve a different purpose than regular PCs, and 82% believe their importance is growing (see Figure 1).

Workstations are all about performance, and managers have high expectations for their capabilities. It’s no surprise then that 84% of respondents agree that workstations play a key role in operating the business — so much so that 83% of respondents say they’re likely to upgrade to new workstations over the next 12 months. As technology continues to evolve, the adoption of technologies with upgraded specifications that enables employees to utilize cutting-edge tools such as VR and AI (82%) becomes even more important.

But companies are behind in adoption: 56% of respondents say they still use workstations that are three-plus years old.

Figure 1: Workstations are specialized, high-performing PCs with multiple logical processors and large amounts of RAM designed for professional applications.

“How would you characterize your organization’s current usage of workstations? How do you perceive the current usage of workstations?” (Showing “Strongly agree” and “Agree” only)

Click to see data by region

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Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019

See how your company polls

How would you describe your workstations strategy over the next 12 months?

(Select all that apply.)

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DID YOU KNOW?

62% of CEOs believe workstations play a key role in operating the business

Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


Employees’ Dependence On Powerful Workstations Continues To Accelerate

Digital Transformation

Not everyone has the knowledge or the skills to use workstations, which means there are strong drivers to upgrade workstations for the employees who use them the most. Here are the top three drivers (see Figure 2):

Digital Transformation
In engineering, respondents report higher upgrade needs due to growth in complexity of enterprise computing workloads (90%) and increased reliance upon big data, analytics, and AI (87%)
  • Application performance.

    If you asked workstation users if professional application performance matters to them, the response would be a resounding “Yes!” — from the growth in the complexity of enterprise computing workloads (86%) to an increased reliance on developing VR and augmented reality (AR) applications (84%).

  • OS-as-a-service.

    New operating systems (OSes) dedicated to workstation users promise to drive stability. The buck doesn’t stop there; innovative hardware form factors also matter (85%).

  • Innovation catalyst.

    Organizations require their professional creators to be innovative — a competitive differentiator — in an increasingly diverse market. Listening to employee feedback, and acting upon it, generates productive and happier employees. For instance, 83% of respondents say employees have pointed out that current workstations are outdated.

Figure 2:

“Which of the following business imperatives would drive your organization to upgrade its workstations for employees?” (Showing “Very strong driver” and “Moderate driver”)


Click to see data by category

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Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


Firms Seek More Powerful Workstations To Boost Worker Potential

Digital Transformation

Professional creators have an overwhelming need for their workflow to be seamless. Underperforming technologies create new sources of friction and make it difficult for creators to perform at their best. Organizations understand this sentiment and are driven to adopt new, more powerful workstations if they (see Figure 3):

  • Boost productivity and satisfaction.

    Eighty-seven percent say a boost in productivity is a top driver. Feeling and being productive is psychologically tied with increased career satisfaction (81%).

  • Increase quality and outcomes.

    The world of displays has advanced greatly over the past few years, too. There are new technologies aimed at making the next leap forward (such as 4K displays), which is why an increase in quality and outcomes is also a top driver (87%).

  • Process information faster.

    With an unprecedented amount of data in circulation, being able to process that information faster ensures employees are able to render, design, and prototype at a faster rate too (86%).

Figure 3:

“Which of the following business imperatives would drive your organization to adopt new, more powerful workstations?” (Showing “Very strong driver” and “Strong driver”)

Click to see data by category

Placeholder for interactive chart

Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019

See how your company polls

How important are workstations to your organization?

(Select one.)

Placeholder for interactive chart

DID YOU KNOW?

More than half of organizations are using workstations that are three years or older?

Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


Building Momentum To Upgrade Workstations

Manufacturing — faster iterations and revision processes (90%) and process increased amounts of data (91%).

Although leaders clearly understand the value that modern workstations can provide to employees, business operations, and customer outcomes, a significant number of organizations are missing the opportunity to capture the full value: 56% say their companies use workstations that are three years old or older (see Figure 4). In fact, this is even higher for the life sciences industry (70%). Upgrading to workstations currently takes too much time, with most companies requiring at least six months to plan and prepare (59%). One culprit of this is the lack of budget: Nearly four out of 10 respondents say it prevents them from upgrading or expanding to new workstations (see Figure 5).

Others haven’t yet seen the benefits that modern workstations have over older models: Another 38% of respondents say that the lack of innovation in the workstation market has prevented them from wanting or needing to upgrade.

And some find it difficult to pitch their arguments internally: A further 17% don’t have a business case. Overcoming this and the other inhibitors requires building consensus outside the IT department with business leaders and directly with the workstation users to arm them and build momentum to upgrade.

Figure 4: More Than Half Of Organizations Are Using Workstations That Are Three Years Old Or Older

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Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019

Figure 5:

“Which of the following factors would stop your organization from upgrading or expanding purchasing of new workstations?” (Select all that apply)


Click to see data by region

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Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


Security And EX Considerations Impose Additional Requirements

Lack of budget
Lack of budget is a challenge for 45% of the respondents in life sciences and in media and entertainment. Manufacturing — 26% report no barriers.
Over the next 12 months, 74% say they will provide more support for high-end devices and increase the breadth and devices supported (72%).

Today’s workers have more flexibility and working styles compared to the past five years. And they’re increasingly responsible for their firms’ intellectual property, yielding a need for mobile yet secure workstation form factors. Eighty-six percent of firms say it’s a critical or important requirement for workstations to possess increased/inherent security properties (see Figure 6).

Balancing security requirements against employee experience (EX) can be challenging, and workstations offer a chance to improve both simultaneously. The increasing importance placed on EX for all technology implementations also registers with a strong majority of workstation buyers. Improved satisfaction levels for employees (82%) and mobility for employees (78%) are deemed a critical or important requirement.

For the engineering sector, mobility is more important than average (82%).

Figure 6:

“How important is the centralization (e.g., single authority) of your workstation assets to securing your intellectual property?” (Showing “Critical” or “Important requirement” only)


Click to see data by region

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Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


New Workstations Matter To Employees

Digital Transformation

According to Forrester’s Employee Experience Index, employees are more likely to be engaged when they believe their IT department is focusing on helping them be productive.1

Although employees value remunerations from their employers like salary, benefits, or office perks, none of these management practices drive the highest rates of employee experience. Instead, other factors contribute, such as (see Figure 7):

  • The ability to make progress toward work goals.

    Ideally in the psychological state of “flow” – that drives higher employee experience. Technology enablement plays a key role here in that new workstations speed up processes (90%), drives better quality (89%), boosts productivity (89%) and more flexibility (88%) all increase productivity and help increase the employee’s experience.

  • Quality improvements and faster processes.

    Due to the suped up specifications, developing faster iterations and revision processes enables workstation users to develop and create more.

  • Initiates and empowers the creative spark.

    New and faster workstations mean new features, new processing power, and an all around excitement to see what the new machines can do. Employees will test the machines out by driving innovation (86%); these machines empower their ability to be more creative.

Manufacturing respondents are more inclined to agree that workstations drive better productivity (93%).
Flexibility enablement is also something that manufacturing (92%) and media and entertainment (93%) respondents agree that workstations deliver more than other respondents.

Figure 7:

“How much do you agree with the following statements?” (Showing “Strongly agree” and “Agree” only)

“New workstations... ”


Click to see data by region

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Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


Future-Proof Your Professional Creators

Digital Transformation
83% of architecture respondents see moving to mobile workstations to increase mobility as an important or critical requirement.
With increasing software and data complexity, it might be challenging to ensure a workstation is optimally configured for the task at hand.
AI-driven self-optimizing software can help; hence, it is not a surprise that 80% consider it a critical or important requirement.

Organizations seeking to upgrade their workstation portfolios must seek out the most appropriate specifications to ignite their professional creators’ motivation.

Like other workers, creators benefit from fast, secure devices that help them make progress toward work goals. But creators require more specific technology enablement.

Improved memory management (88%), high-performance CPUs (86%) and configuration (85%) and having a file system for large data volumes to securely share files play into the daily employee journey of creators. As they develop and manipulate graphics, video, and immersive content, creators’ value large memory for complex workloads (83%) and multiple, high-performance GPUs (83%) — and the ability to share these large files quickly (84%).

Figure 8:

“What features will be most important for your next workstations upgrade?”


Placeholder for interactive chart

Base: 500 manager-level or above decision makers knowledgeable of workstations at their organizations
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell, September 2019


Key Recommendations

Forrester’s study into the workstations market yielded several important recommendations:

  • gain more value
    There’s an opportunity for a majority of organizations to gain more value from workstations.

    Leaders recognize the many benefits associated with modern, updated workstations, but too many are still running workstations that are three-plus years old.

  • expansion of workstation usage
    Most organizations have an opportunity to also move beyond replacement of older workstations to expansion of workstation usage.

    Beyond obvious roles like engineers and creatives, new roles can benefit from workstations, like data scientists and marketers using AI models in their work.

  • Employee experience
    Employee experience is recognized as a key factor when buying workstations.

    As EX continues to grow as an organizational priority, workstations will increasingly help employees become more productive, focused, and successful without the interruptions in employees’ psychological flow state that inhibits success.

  • Security
    Security can often conflict with employee experience, as interruptions increase.

    But workstations offer a greater level of security for many scenarios than alternative computing approaches, while also driving higher EX. This is an overlooked benefit of workstations.

We hope you enjoyed this study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell. For additional insights to help you achieve growth and ensure an optimal customer experience, please visit the dell website or contact Dell today.

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Appendix A: Methodology

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 500 manager-level or above decision makers with knowledge of workstations within their companies. Participants were from North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The study sought to understand the importance of modern workstations due to the rise of complex and sophisticated workloads. Forrester tested the notion that legacy workstations cannot keep up with the evolving nature of technology, demonstrating why modern workstations with CPU and GPU architectures are important. The study began in July 2019 and was completed in September 2019.


Appendix B: Demographics/Data



Appendix C: Endnotes

1Source: “Introducing Forrester’s Employee Experience Index,” Forrester Research, Inc., February 14, 2019.