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Survey Finds Public and Private Sectors on the Same Technology Page

  By Laura Stotler, TMCnet Contributing Editor

U.S. workers in the public and private sectors are united in their use of technology for collaboration and productivity, according to new research from Nintex. The company, which specializes in workflow and content automation software, released the results of its Nintex State of Productivity Survey after querying workers in both sectors about their views on technology and how it relates to their jobs.

Nintex surveyed 600 employees from the private sector and local, state and federal government organizations about how they are currently using technology as well as their plans for future uses. The company found that 70 percent of workers from all sectors believe their technology systems at work are up to date, but that the same employees believe that company-issued and mandated technology was not comprehensive enough to enable them to complete all their work.

A majority of those queried use three to five different technology systems at work. But 50 percent of public employees and 47 percent of private employees use one to two personal mobile applications not issued by their employers in order to get their work done. And a small group of private sector workers reported using more than 11 personal apps to perform their jobs effectively.

The research points to some common technology issues pervasive in both the public and private sectors, and dispels the common belief that private organizations have better technology and bigger budgets. Nintex set out to get answers about these popular perceptions in advance of the recent U.S. election.

“American workers stand united in the way they work regardless of where they work,” said Mike Fitzmaurice, VP of Nintex. “The Nintex State of Productivity Survey shows that everyone is looking for ways to work better and together. Wise organization leaders will capitalize on this information by optimizing their future IT spending to focus on automating administrative as well as mission-critical processes while making it easier for their employees to collaborate.”

Additional survey findings include the trend of migrating on-premise solutions to the cloud, with 34 percent of private company workers and 25 percent of public sector employees reporting more than half of their technology systems are cloud based. Workflow and process automation technologies, along with collaboration tools, were a priority for 38 percent of private sector and 44 percent of public sector workers. Workers across the board expressed a need to spend less time on administrative tasks and were also uniformly optimistic that their organizations’ IT budgets would remain consistent or increase in the coming year.