The pandemic-led digital transformation has fueled the rise of a new workforce — mobile and hybrid, wanting the ability to work from anywhere, at any time, without any computing, productivity or performance tradeoffs. The modern digital workplace is characterized by more unstructured workdays with end-users needing to execute a wide variety of tasks — from endless video conferencing calls to online product demos, data analysis and complex project collaborations that require a full-featured computing environment, regardless of location, time zone or device.
While the new hybrid workplace brings many new opportunities, it also creates the biggest hurdle to employee experience (EX). IT leaders know that while the current crop of PCs has been good enough for everyday office use, it can’t hold up for long against the increasingly visual-audio-graphic-dependent way of working in the connected, collaborative, work-from-anywhere world. PC fleets are already beginning to show lost productivity with aging devices suffering from frequent downtime during work hours and security vulnerabilities that are becoming commonplace as IT ops struggle to support employees across geographies and timezones and get them working again with minimal disruptions. A 2020 Forrester studyOpens a new window titled How PCs Will Drive The Future of Work (commissioned by Intel) found 51% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) noted that employees often expressed displeasure to their IT teams about their PC’s performance.
Unfortunately, despite recognizing how outdated devices can cost organizations millions of dollars, organizations fail to deliver the solutions needed by an increasingly distributed workforce. The same Forrester study Opens a new window highlights the slow pace of the PC refresh cycle in organizations. While 91% of ITDMs agreed that PC refresh is an essential driver of enterprise and endpoint security, over half of the companies (54%) only refresh their PC hardware every three years or more, undercutting security effectiveness.
So whether you are a large enterprise or a small to midsize business (SMB), delaying replacing old and outdated endpoint devices can inflate support and maintenance costs and reduce employees’ productivity. The business case for a formalized PC refresh model is stronger than ever, especially in hybrid work settings where workforces demand flexible, robust devices that can meet their evolving needs. Standardizing on a three-year PC refresh cycle can help organizations vastly improve manageability, minimize user downtime and more importantly, make hybrid work more sustainable.
PCs Underpin Positive Employee Experience
Endpoint devices that worked well yesterday aren’t robust enough for powering today’s workflows, and employees know it only too well. Over three-quarters of full-time employees surveyed by Forrester stated that PC devices are a critical factor in their engagement and daily work. The Lenovo and Intel commissioned Forrester studyOpens a new window , Invest In Employee Experience, Drive Bottom Line Growth, found that more than half (55%) of respondents believe PC devices are critical for employee retention.
This demonstrates that workplace technologies greatly influence employees’ productivity and performance and motivation and engagement.Knowledge workers rely on endpoint devices to drive optimal business outcomes and need sufficient hardware to keep up with their 24×7 connectivity needs. Additionally, they’re increasingly looking to work on their own terms in decentralized work environments, spurring the demand for high-performance devices that can balance significant battery life with an ultra-portable form factor.
According to an article from Intel executivesOpens a new window Chris Walker and Jim Johnson, “People want a PC that can keep up with their daily needs. This means something slightly different to everyone, but our participants indicated a common need for features like high-quality touchscreens, reliable connectivity or simply improved form-factor design.â€
Put another way, employees want the same user experience outside the enterprise firewall as they have been used to so far — one that can easily blend into remote and hybrid office environments. It is no surprise, considering that the global health crisis has created fundamental changes in the way we work. Employees are attending 13% more meetings and sending 5.2% more emails a day compared to pre-pandemic days, according to a Harvard Business School studyOpens a new window that analyzed emails and meetings of 3.1 million people in 16 global cities.
In the ‘next normal,’ performance metrics such as the ability to use multiple applications simultaneously for better application performance, improved video and audio quality, day-long battery life, ultra-portability, power efficiency and instant wake are crucial device requirements to drive better productivity and collaborative user experiences.
Powering a New PC Revolution With an Integrated PC Platform
Undoubtedly, dramatic performance improvements in endpoint devices are needed to meet employee and IT requirements for speed, high performance and productivity. Intel, an innovator at the forefront of the PC revolution, has looked holistically at the entire PC platform to extend PC capabilities to new scenarios and support the diverse and expanding set of applications that people use every day.
The computing giant has evolved from focusing on individual innovation – primarily at the CPU level – to looking beyond CPU innovations to adjacent silicon such as graphics or connectivity; and areas such as thermals, battery, display, system memory and storage, according to Walker and Johnson.
This holistic approach has also meant tuning across the entire stack. It has spurred the creation of the Intel® Evo™ vPro® platformOpens a new window , which combines the platform-level capabilities of the Intel vPro platform and raises the bar for productive and collaborative experiences with top-of-the-line Intel® Evo™ platform. The result? Real-world performance gains and smoother employee experiences.
Intel Evo™ vPro® Platform: Ultra-Slim, Lightweight Form Factors for Collaborative Experiences
Intel® EvoOpens a new window ™ vPro® laptop designs are co-engineered with manufacturing partners to integrate multiple PC-based technologies for performance, security, collaboration and efficiency gains. This gives users more CPU horsepower, better battery life and ease of use, several notches above consumer-grade PCs. These thin, lightweight devices with exceptionally long battery life provide the most complete high-performance mobile computing experience possible today to busy, productivity-focused end-users.1
For instance, a high-quality and reliable video conferencing experience is critical for gaining a truly superior and more productive user experience, no matter where work is conducted. Recognizing the need for evolving the PC-as-a-conferencing device, Intel made significant investments in noise cancellation, speakerphone technology and low light capabilities. The Intel Evoâ„¢ vPro® platform emphasizes collaboration-centric features such as improved video performance for video conferencing, long battery life and best-in-class wireless capabilities.2 Intel has also significantly improved the users’ video experience by improving the screen and camera low light capabilities.3 Longer battery life – up to 9+ hours real-world battery life on laptops with FHD displays4 improves the mobile user’s work experience and helps them stay engaged and productive all day long. For mobile users who want to work anytime, anywhere and away from the desk, longer battery life is an essential requirement for modern use.
In addition to the user-friendly features designed for the highly mobile worker, there are powerful capabilities for any beyond-the-ordinary high-end graphics, video or collaboration requirements. The 11th generation Intel® Core™ vPro® processor and Intel® Iris® Xe graphics deliver 3x faster photo and video editing,5 and ThunderboltOpens a new window ™ 4 ports are designed to provide high-speed, quality connections with a 40GB/s data transfer rate through a single-cable connection.
The Intel® Evo™ vPro® platform features the best video conferencing experience with industry-leading Wi-Fi 6/6E (Gig+), which enables up to 6X faster speeds than standard Wi-Fi 5 at the office and nearly 3X faster speeds at home.6
Aside from basic improvements in CPU speed and Intel® Iris® Xe graphics capabilities, the Intel® Evoâ„¢ vPro® platform-based laptops wake in less than a second. The instant wake functionality radically redefines the computing experience for the always-connected user who wants premium mobility experience. Removing the delays in the device’s sleep/wake cycle makes all the difference for users who need speed and flexibility to work better and faster.
Additionally, in highly digitized work environments, blazingly fast performance and responsiveness are top-of-the-mind for employees who want high-end, powerful devices they can rely on. Intel® Evo™ vPro® platform-based devices — 40%Opens a new window more responsive7 on average than a three-year-old premium business laptop while on battery — are the ultimate embodiment of high-performance and are tailored to the needs of modern workers.
Empowering IT to Drive Operational Efficiencies
As organizations look beyond the pandemic, they need reliable, robust technology to overcome operational challenges and meet long-term business objectives. The Intel® Evoâ„¢ vPro® platform’s baked-in suite of smart PC management technologies makes a big difference to distributed IT teams managing various devices across multi-locations and greatly simplifies PC lifecycle management. For IT, this translates into streamlined device management, remote maintenance resulting in the lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and cost efficiencies.
With Intel® Active Management Technology Opens a new window (Intel® AMT) which includes remote management features, IT can discover, monitor and repair networked PCs and other devices, significantly reducing service call costs. By leveraging Intel® AMT and the Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel® EMA) tool, admins can manage devices both inside and outside the corporate firewall, even when the OS is down, compromised, or unresponsive.8 This streamlined approach means employees can benefit from minimal impact on productivity.
Final Thoughts
Post the aftershocks of the pandemic, IT managers working with shrinking technology budgets should leverage their investments to support an agile digital workplace. There are multiple advantages to provisioning next-generation PCs for distributed workforces. Advanced features and functionality can reduce employee frustrations, unlock productivity gains, and provide a secure digital environment that heightens security.
When making hardware purchasing decisions, IT usually decides between two strategies – best-of-breed and single-source. A best-of-breed approach means acquiring the best hardware, software or other equipment in each category: user devices, network hardware and cabling, servers, internet access and software. This can be advantageous when IT needs the best possible performance; however, interface issues between equipment and software from different vendors can sometimes cause problems.
With a single-source strategy, where IT acquires assets from a single vendor, there is a significant reduction in the chances of interoperability failures, and the number of different service calls required is optimized.
The Intel® Evo™ vPro® platform gives IT the best of both worlds – interoperability, security and high performance while hitting all the sweet spots distributed employees need for collaboration and connection: ease-of-use, speed, agility, battery life and enhanced video and audio experiences.
Notes and Disclaimers
Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex​Opens a new window . Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available ​updates. No product or component can be absolutely secure. Your costs and results may vary. Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.
© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
1 In thin & light Windows-based devices, based on 1) unique features and performance testing on industry benchmarks and Representative Usage Guides across 3 key usages: productivity, creation, and collaboration, comparing Intel® Coreâ„¢ vPro® i7-1185G7 to AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U and 2) an IOActive study (commissioned by Intel) comparing Intel® Hardware Shield security capabilities on 11th Gen Intel Core vPro processors with corresponding competitor technologies. All testing as of December 2020. Intel Evo vPro designs are co-engineered as part of Intel’s comprehensive laptop innovation program Project Athena then tested, measured, and verified against a premium specification and key experience indicators to ensure unparalleled user experiences. Visit for details. Results may vary.
2 Best in class wireless and wired connectivity: 11th Gen Intel Core processors are the only processors with integrated Intel® Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) and Thunderbolt 4, and are the first platforms to also support new Intel® Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+). Visit www.intel.com/11thgenmobile Opens a new window for details. Results may vary.
3 The 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® platform includes Intel® Image Processing Unit (IPU) 6.0: dedicated processor that performs advanced image enhancements (i.e. adaptive tone mapping, noise reduction and white balancing) to deliver crisp & colorful video conferencing, even in difficult lighting conditions. Visit www.intel.com/11thgenmobile Opens a new window for details. Results may vary.
4 Time taken to drain from 100 percent to critical battery level while performing typical workflows in a realistic environment. Visit www.intel.com/11thgenvpro Opens a new window for details. Results may vary.
5 3x faster video editing with 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 vs. 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8550U. Visit for details. Results may vary.
6 For more information about wired and wireless connectivity claims, visit www.intel.com/PerformanceIndex Opens a new window (connectivity). Results may vary.
7 Measured average responsiveness of premium Windows OS-based designs while performing typical workflows in a realistic environment, compared to 3-year-old premium design. Visit www.intel.com/11thgenvpro Opens a new window for details. Results may vary.
8 As measured by December 2020 IOActive study (commissioned by Intel) comparing in-band software-based, remote management functions; out-of-band hardware-based remote management functions; and cloud-based support for these management functions, and batch management devices on Windows-based PCs, including against an AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series processor system. See full report here: Intel Cross-Platform Manageability Comparison ResearchOpens a new window . Intel Active Management Technology requires a wired or wireless network connection to provide remote management. Wireless support requires Intel AMT to be pre-configured with WiFi profiles or to be configured to duplicate WiFi profiles from the operating system when it connects to a new WiFi network. Intel AMT cannot join new WiFi networks without the operating system first connecting to them. Results may vary by use, configuration and other factors.