Avoid the hidden pitfalls of giving “deskless” retail workers consumer devices
According to a global survey published in July 2022, 37% of “deskless” workers could quit within the next six months. The survey, by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) included responses from 7,000 “deskless” workers in Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and the US. BCG defines “deskless” as employees who need to be physically present to do their jobs, which includes retail shop workers. In fact, retail and consumer service workers are at the highest risk (41%) of quitting.
There’s no silver bullet to solve this challenge, but employers can and should look to build a front-line first culture with leaders listening to and acting on worker views, says the survey. But being “deskless” shouldn’t mean being “techless.” There are ways to bring the capacities and benefits of the “desk and laptop job” to the shop floor.
Retail associates need devices that are reliable, as they are the ones who must explain to customers why they can’t pull up product, pricing or shipment information in a split second when a consumer device is sluggish, offline due to a dead battery or accidental drop or struggling to connect to wireless networks or back-office systems.
In Zebra’s 14th Annual Global Shopper Study, 85% of retail associates worldwide said they feel they could provide a better customer experience if they had handheld mobile computers with built-in scanners to use on the job. Not smartphones, but enterprise-grade handheld mobile computers. And nearly two-thirds of associates said the same of rugged tablets.
Retail associates aren’t the only ones who feel this way, either. Delivery drivers, merchandisers and others constantly on the move want devices that can connect to any cellular or Wi-Fi network, support fast and accurate barcode scanning and handle the bumps and bruises that devices experience when used all day, every day.
Consumer Vs Enterprise
VDC Research analysts have spent years studying the performance of consumer and enterprise rugged tablets in real-world settings. They want to make sure you know which ones have proven to perform better in certain scenarios so you can make the best decision. When they say that enterprise rugged tablets – as a category – outperform consumer tablets, it would benefit you and your front-line workers to understand why they have come to that conclusion.
The impacts of a wrong decision (or making a decision for the wrong reasons) are very real. Your business will suffer because your front-line workers either won’t be able to do what they need to do, or you will have to pay more to keep workers productive. Harsh Joshi, principal product manager for rugged tablets with Zebra Technologies set-out some of the more pertinent analyst findings.
For example, it has been proven that consumer tablets:
Cheaper now could mean more expensive later
Budgets are tight, the pressure to improve bottom line is high and there’s return on investment (ROI) expectations for every technology purchase. It may seem like buying (or accepting a free/subsidised) consumer tablet is the better move for your business despite the hardship you and your team will face later because it will “save money now.”
You have to look at the cost of the whole “deal” and the lifecycle cost. You’re investing in people, not just property. And people (your front-line workers) can only deliver the gains you want if they’re equipped with the right tools for the job.
Measure how well each tablet delivers the information and functionality front-line workers need to work both autonomously and collaboratively. Then figure out how that improvement in efficiency, productivity, accuracy or availability translates practically into financial gains – whether in the form of OPEX reductions, increased revenue or improved margins. You might find that giving workers what they need also gives you and your boss what you want – business improvements directly resulting from your decision to buy an enterprise device.
Written by Mark Thomson, Director, Retail Solutions, EMEA, Zebra Technologies