Enterprises are reevaluating digital vendors and employee experience investments as they come to grips with growing remote and hybrid work programs, research firm Omdia found in a recent report.

The report, “Future of Work,” dove into the critical enterprise evaluations taking place in the movement to modernize. It found that 73% of businesses are reconsidering existing digital provider partnerships, increasing to 81% for organizations with 10,000 or more employees.

“It is a mix of issues driving concern and causing business to explore new digital partnerships, including solution performance, contract arrangements, and a lack of innovation,” Adam Holtby, principal analyst at Omdia and author of the report, told SDxCentral.

In fact, the aforementioned 73% indicated five factors driving the reevaluation of digital-provider vendor relationships: solutions performing lower than expected, inflexible contract arrangements; concern over environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG); solution failures or malfunctions; and the partner failed to bring new ideas or innovation.

More than one-third of respondents cited leading factor will be proven cybersecurity experience as a leading factor in selecting their next digital partner.

“Traditionally, security and user empowerment outside the office walls wasn’t a business concern or priority beyond the needs of senior executives and managers," Holtby explained. "Even as the demand to work in a more mobile fashion grew beyond just C-suite VIPs, mobility management and security policies and practices often existed in a vacuum separate from broader enterprise security activities."

“However, as new work styles are adopted, the network, enterprise security, end-user computing, and organizational culture need to change as employees become perimeter-less, mobile-centric, and autonomous,” he continued.

The cybersecurity focus validates NTT’s recent finding that the new hybrid-work model’s accelerated need for cybersecurity was a major factor in businesses’ shifts to modernize networks as well.

The hybrid-work epoch is also beckoning a new set of workforce demands.

“The disruptions brought about by the pandemic have ushered in work style changes for employees across all roles and industries and made more mobile-centric work styles a permanent fixture for organizations,” Holtby said.

Nearly half [48%] of the total workforce will work in a mobile or hybrid fashion over the next two years, according to the research. Holtby believes organizations will need to invest in the infrastructural and technological needs to support the increasing variety of work styles that come with this structure.

Omdia believes that to maintain employee productivity, collaboration, and retention, focusing on the organization’s employee experience as a strategic imperative will be critical in successfully transitioning into the digital work era.

“Understanding and reporting on the [employee experience] has historically been challenging, as various technical, personal, and sentiment-based factors are essential to attract and retain the best talent – and in improving employee performance,” Holtby said.

“New tools and capabilities are coming to market from the likes of Microsoft and VMware that are helping improve understanding around the technology experience," he continued. "But true success will come from combining these technologies with new management practices and programs aimed at improving employee sentiment.”