SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – August 14, 2023 – Frontline workers are the face of organizations and make up the lion’s share of the workforce. Gartner estimates there are 2.7 billion frontline workers, more than double the number of office workers.I The current macroeconomic climate highlighted by labor and supply chain shortages has put great pressure on these workers to do more work as organizations improve the efficiency of their operations. commercial.
The recent Work Trend Index shows that there is an opportunity for digital tools to help ease the burden on these essential workers. More than 60% of frontline workers struggle with repetitive or menial tasks that take time away from more meaningful work and lack the resources to do their job effectively.ii Additionally, 1 in 2 frontline workers report being burnt out at their job, and 45% note that they are likely to consider changing employers in the next year.ii Investing in technology that enables frontline workers to thrive is a huge opportunity for business leaders – one that will drive positive results for employees, customers, and the bottom line if properly addressed.
Today, more than 60% of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 to empower frontline workers. Microsoft is committed to investing in innovative solutions to help frontline workers thrive. With AI transforming productivity in most segments of the workforce, the Microsoft Work Trend Index survey found that 65% of frontline workers are optimistic that AI will help them with their jobs .ii.
Microsoft is excited to introduce new tools and integrations, including bringing the power of next-gen AI to the forefront in three key areas:
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Smart operations
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Effortless communication
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Trust experiences
These innovations will improve efficiency, enhance the customer experience and enable faster decision making.
Smart operations
Whether it’s an inspection, installation, or maintenance request, frontline service managers want to spend their time helping their team deliver exceptional service operations, not tasks. inefficient like copying and pasting information from one system to another. Microsoft seeks to infuse the productivity apps that frontline managers use daily with the robust data and intelligence of the underlying business apps. This helps streamline the front-line experience and improve operational efficiency.
- Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service with Outlook and Microsoft Teams integrations brings the power of next-gen AI to frontline service professionals. Frontline service managers who receive customer escalations in Outlook or Microsoft Teams can use Copilot in Dynamics 365 to streamline the creation of work orders with relevant details pre-populated from email or chat, optimize scheduling technicians with data-driven recommendations based on factors such as travel time, availability, and skills, as well as generating draft responses to customer messages summarizing next steps without switching applications.
- Dynamics 365 Field Service app in Microsoft Teams will allow frontline technicians to access key work order functionality in their workflow. Technicians will now be able to see upcoming work orders at a glance in their home experience in Teams, share full work order details, and easily access Dynamics 365 Remote Assist with one click to troubleshoot with experts at real-time distance if they need additional assistance to complete jobs.
Maintaining end-to-end visibility into operations can be time-consuming for front-line managers with fluctuating team schedules and often a large, dispersed team. Soon, Microsoft 365 Copilot will be able to create prompts and retrieve insights for frontline managers, leveraging data from the Shifts app with a new
Offsets plugin for
Microsoft 365 co-pilot, in addition to user and company data it has access to, such as Teams chat history, SharePoint, emails, and more. This will allow frontline managers to quickly get a list of important items specific to their team and location to speed up time-consuming tasks like covering shifts and onboarding new employees.
Effortless communication
Workplace culture relies on a connection to the company’s mission, and it all starts with strong lines of communication. When companies implement an easy way to access consistent communications, frontline workers feel informed and connected. With a single communications platform to reach their entire workforce, corporate communicators don’t have to leave their digital workspace to connect on the front lines.
- Ads in Viva Connections empowers corporate communicators to write, plan, and target important announcements such as urgent communications, role-specific updates, and safety policy changes for frontline workers. Communicators can quickly send messages directly from Viva Connections without having to leave Teams. Messages are delivered to frontline staff via push notifications on their mobile devices and announcement cards in their Teams home experience.
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To create a sense of belonging and purpose across the entire workforce,
Targeted campaigns in Viva Engage enables communicators to create campaigns that promote enterprise-wide initiatives aimed at frontline audiences.
Trust experiences
Many people on the front line work on multiple devices and often give them away after a shift is over. To enable shift and part-time workers to be productive as soon as they log on,
First line of Windows 365 makes it easy and affordable to extend the power of Cloud PCs to frontline workers so they can securely access their personalized Windows experience on any device, wherever they work.
Securing data on shared devices, while ensuring a smooth user experience, can be challenging. A digital identity allows frontline workers to access and move between the technologies needed to do their job, whether they are on a shared or dedicated device.
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For organizations using Intune, they can use Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) to enable a single sign-in and sign-out experience for Teams, Outlook, Power Apps and more with
shared device mode for Android and iOS devices. This allows frontline workers to quickly and compliantly wipe their device for the next shift. -
And organizations using
OUT Or
VMware Workspace ONE as their endpoint management solution can now also enroll Android devices in Microsoft Entra ID with shared device mode.
Microsoft believes technology can be a powerful force in rethinking the way work gets done. By investing in innovative solutions for the frontline workforce, it helps drive positive change for frontline employees, customers and bottom line. Frontline innovations through
Dynamic 365,
Microsoft 365,
First line of Windows 365, Intune and partner device management solutions push the boundaries of what is possible and help build a better future for everyone.
I Gartner, Hype Cycle™ for Digital Workplace Applications, 2022, August 2022
ii The Work Trend Index survey was conducted by an independent research firm, Edelman Data x Intelligence, among 31,000 full-time or freelance workers in 31 markets, of which 6,019 are frontline workers, between February 1, 2023 and March 14. 2023. This survey lasted 20 minutes and was conducted online, in English or translated into a local language in all markets. One thousand full-time workers were surveyed in each market, and the overall results were aggregated across all responses to provide an average. Each market is weighted equally in the global average. Each market was sampled to be representative of the full-time workforce by age, gender, and region; each sample included a mix of work environments (in-person, remote or otherwise, in-office or out-of-office, etc.), industries, company sizes, tenures, and job levels. Markets studied include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines , Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.
Hashtag: #MicrosoftSingapore
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
