· Gartner report on segmenting users to discover how they really work
· Centrix Software listed as user behavior segmentation product by Gartner
· “Enterprises must segment their users in order to give them the right information worker tools” declares Gartner
Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, has just released Segmenting Users: Six Useful Techniques for Discovering How Users Really Work, published on July 31, 2014.
The report discusses why a "one size fits all" strategy for provision of end-user IT is no longer viable, explaining how enterprises must segment their users into specific personas in order to give them the right tools for their jobs. And outlines how companies can leverage six techniques to segment their users and create personas.
This is because how people work has changed radically. From the mid-1980s to the present day enterprise IT users have been mostly using the same tool-set, a desktop PC running a productivity suite with a few business or industry-focused applications. However, people’s roles and how they work are changing much more frequently today. Even if you took a snapshot of an individual’s IT needs on January 1st, it’s highly likely that by July or even March, some of those needs will have changed.
Gartner states, “By creating user segments and personas, organizations can distill long lists of requirements into memorable memes, which will aid in building the correct application sets. “Let's build a risk evaluation app for Fred the Underwriter” is a much clearer mental image than “Let's build an app for our 500 underwriters”."
Increasingly, IT no longer matches the way users need to work. This means moving from managing the device to managing the user. And looking at workspaces (what users are delivered for work) by department, business needs, organisational goals and individuals - rather than as a set of standardised desktops.
Gartner continues, “However, this "one size fits all" strategy is no longer viable, for both economic and technology reasons. Non-routine work within the economy is increasing.”
Recent information from the US Census Bureau, shows non-routine occupations now make up over 50 per cent of jobs in the U.S and the share of routine occupations has declined from 60 per cent in 1976 to 40 per cent in 2012.
In the report Gartner discusses how the use of metrics based on analysis of how people work is one of the six techniques that organisations can use to decide which tools to give information workers, listing several user behavior segmentation products in today’s market, one of which is Centrix Software’s WorkSpace iQ.
WorkSpace iQ is an usage analytics tool that gives organisations the essential information they need to make decisions about who is using what, where and when across the end-user environment, users, applications and content.
Lisa Hammond, Centrix Software CEO, commented, “We’re delighted that our workspace solution, which is already proven in organisations with thousands of end-users, has been included in Gartner’s Segmenting Users: Six Useful Techniques for Discovering How Users Really Work report.
Lisa continued, “While office-based workers used to have desktop or laptop computers and a desk-based phone with standard applications, today’s environment has changed dramatically. Users are increasingly taking advantage of cloud-based applications and mobile devices. It’s now imperative that enterprises segment their users to give them the right tools.” She concluded, “Workspace usage and analytics is providing the key data for transforming IT in the era of BYOD, CYOD, mobile and the Cloud.”
Gartner Research Document: Gartner Segmenting Users: Six Useful Techniques for Discovering How Users Really Work, Guy Creese, 31st July 2014.
