As CIOs navigate extended work-from-home policies and tech spending cuts, the IT executives must reevaluate workforce IT tools to best accommodate the new work experience, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Global IT spending is anticipated to fall to $3.4 trillion in 2020, down 8 percent from last year, according to a recent Gartner research report, the publication reports.
San Francisco-based software company Dropbox extended its global remote work policy through Sept. 1, giving its 2,800 employees the option to work from home through the end of the year if they prefer. When Dropbox reopens its offices, it will need to consider new tools such those to support conference rooms with fewer people, Sylvie Veilleux, CIO of Dropbox, told The Journal.
As CIO, Ms. Veilleux manages almost 1,000 software tools and apps used by Dropbox employees. As the company ramps up its work-from-home bandwidth, she said it is important to understand how employees are using the tools in order to best support their remote work experience. The goal is to help workers streamline apps so they do not have "to toggle between dozens of applications that are difficult to use," according to the report.
Additional tips for CIOs supporting remote employees include focusing on network monitoring to assess how well IT systems and apps work for remote employees and crafting lists to detail what communication methods employees prefer for meetings, such as text or video.