The pandemic ushered in sweeping changes to the work landscape. We are no longer wedded to the physical office. For instance, less than one in five executives want to return to traditional office spaces as found by PwC’s US Remote Work reportOpens a new window that surveyed 133 executives and 1,200 office workers between November and December 2020. What’s more, a “return to normal†will not happen anytime soon, with knowledge workers reluctant to leave the comfort and safety of their homes even in a post-COVID-19 environment.
The report clearly spotlights the future of work — more distributed and decentralized. But sustaining productivity in a virtual world is hard. With employees working from home offices, campuses, cafes and everywhere in between, IT leaders need to uplevel smart digital experiences to ensure end-users are set up for success.
Devices That Meet Portability and High-Performance Needs
As IT decision makers (ITDMs) start to modernize and digitize their tech stack to improve employee experience (EX), next-gen business PC platforms can significantly boost productivity and sharpen the competitive edge. In fact, endpoint devices have become so central to how we work and interact that they should now become a crucial component of any successful business strategy.
Here’s why: today’s fast-paced, outcome-driven business landscape requires PCs that go beyond the typical ‘9-to-5′ setup. Business users, no matter where they work, demand the added capability of mobility along with computing horsepower for all-day video conferencing and a richer application experience to perform everyday tasks seamlessly. The hybrid work model makes a clear business case for a new class of ultraportable, thin and light devices to fuel work from anywhere (WFA).
Why IT Leaders Shouldn’t Overlook EX: The New Driver for Technology Purchases
IT professionals on the frontlines of organizations are under tremendous strain. After a full year of “fire-fighting,†IT teams are feeling the heat, with an AppDynamic surveyOpens a new window revealing that 89% of technologists feel under immense pressure at work. In the shadow of COVID-19, 75% of technologists said their “response to the pandemic has created more IT complexity than they have ever experienced.â€
One reason could be that in the quest to ramp up DX overnight, organizations scrambled to deploy a raft of quick-fix digital solutions for remote enablement and increased employee satisfaction. But poorly designed and executed solutions resulted in further end-user frustration. Per an Intel and Lenovo commissioned Forrester Consulting reportOpens a new window , Invest in Employee Experience (EX), Drive Your Bottom Line Growth, over three-quarters of employees agreed that the PC is the linchpin for driving engagement and productivity. Out-of-date, aging PCs with malfunctioning software further add to employees’ frustration and can lead to burnout, the report suggests.
All of these findings point to one fact — as companies transition into the hybrid work model, IT leaders should weigh lessons learned to enhance employee experience (EX) and boost organizational resilience. To stay competitive in a rapidly changing business environment, they should rethink the IT foundation and invest in future-facing technology purpose-built for distributed, mobile workforces. When it comes to technology purchases and PC investments, factoring in EX in business strategy can help ITDMs improve end-user productivity and drive powerful business outcomes. Additionally, a well-planned PC refresh strategy offers enterprise IT managers manageability, stability and security benefits.
Get More Done With the Intel® Evo™ vPro® platform
Intel® Evoâ„¢ vPro® platform-based laptops radically redesign the PC experience for the new hybrid work era. Based on 11th Generation Intel® Coreâ„¢ vPro® processors, inarguably the world’s best business processor, coupled with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics, the new class of thin and light laptops deliver the highest levels of performance and battery life, reducing multi-tasking hassles for distributed workforces.[1] From unprecedented performance to real world battery life, the Intel Evo vPro platform takes computing up a notch by providing significant improvements in performance-intensive tasks such as video editing, video and voice calling.
Five reasons why lightweight devices that pack form and function should be part of long-term hybrid work strategy:
1. All-day battery life for around-the-clock computing
For employees to work smarter, organizations need to equip them with business-class devices specifically tailored to the needs of the post-pandemic work landscape. Thin and light Intel Evo vPro platform-based laptops keep employees and all of their video conferencing and business applications running for longer, with nine or more hours of real-world battery life on systems with FHD.[2] That means business users can work unplugged all day. The laptops also address the parallel needs for business users looking for improved responsiveness. The Intel Evo vPro platform delivers an average of more than 40% improved responsiveness compared to a 3-year-old premium laptop.[3] In addition, context-aware capabilities such as instant wake allow users to resume work instantly.
2. The best possible immersive video experiences for superior collaboration
Video collaboration is key to getting work done today. Distributed, on-the-go workforces need powerful laptops that deliver noise cancellation, high-fidelity speakers, and better-quality webcams to maximize productivity and presentation quality.
But that’s not all.
Thunderboltâ„¢ 4 connection technology, integrated into the Intel Evo vPro platform, greatly improves the computing experience. It uses the USB Type-C physical connector and always offers a throughput of 40Gbps. It also delivers at least 15 watts and up to 100 watts of charging power and supports 10Gbps networking. It can send a video signal to two 4K displays or one 8K display. Thunderbolt 4 supports transfer speeds of up to 32Gbps via PCI Express, which is good news for users transferring large high-resolution video from external drives to their PC for editing. It’s also possible to daisy-chain up to six Thunderbolt devices, which means multiple devices can be connected to a laptop without needing a direct connection. Users can also connect a USB device to a Thunderbolt port.
The Intel Evo vPro platform integrated with Intel® Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), the next generation of Wi-Fi, offers speeds of up to 9.6 Gbps (WiFi 5 was up to 3.5 Gbps). Its real importance is in environments where multiple devices are connected to a network.
A router can only communicate with so many devices at once, with the consequence that as more devices (laptops, phones, game consoles etc.) are connected, the network becomes slower. WiFi 6 lets routers communicate with more devices at once by sending data to multiple devices in the same broadcast. In technical terms, MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output) allows a router to communicate with multiple devices at the same time.
Put these together in the same laptop, add-in the exceptional audio and high-quality webcam capabilities, and business users can enjoy smooth connections that are blazingly fast, with immersive video conferencing experiences.
3. Supercharge your productivity with improved content workflows
Today’s content creators and graphics designers can hugely benefit from the Intel Evo vPro platform, powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core vPro processor and the new Intel Iris Xe graphics technology that lends richer graphic capabilities coupled with real-world high performance and immersive work experience that users’ value.
When it comes to video editing, PC performance matters. High resolution videos require computing horsepower. Video editing performs better with higher performance multi-core processors. Also, the number of PCIe lanes and maximum memory supported by the processor can have an impact on performance. A processor with six cores and 12 threads plus a high turbo clock speed is ideal for video editing.
Comparing the 11th Generation Intel Core vPro processors with AMD’s Ryzen Pro 4000 lineup, Intel said the Intel Core vPro i7-1185G7 processor offers 52% faster productivity during video conferencing calls,[4] 1.8x faster video editing[5] and is up to 24% faster for web browsing.[6] The Intel Iris Xe graphics are integrated with the CPU and give double the performanceOpens a new window over the previous generation in thin and light laptops.[7] This means more functions can be offloaded to the GPU from the CPU, including security functions, keeping the user more productive.
4. Hardware-enforced security that lets IT sleep in peace
While ransomware attacks may be the biggest threat that most IT security teams worry about, it seems that hackers have found an easy way to get access to endpoints and the network – firmware attacks. Firmware malware allows hackers to exfiltrate data and remotely control devices. A second threat in remote working environments is malware access to laptops and the network through those frequently used USB ports. It’s critical to prioritize devices with built-in hardware-based security to defend against these attacks. Against this background, refreshing and purchasing endpoint devices is a significant security decision.
Intel has considerable leadership when it comes to PC security, and the Intel® Hardware Shield breaks new ground with additional security features. Available exclusively on all Intel vPro and Intel Evo vPro platform-based devices, the Intel Hardware Shield delivers integrated hardware-based PC protection for more security, including:
- Below-the-operating system security, which locks down memory in the BIOS against firmware attacks and supports a secure boot at the hardware level
- Application and data security
- Advanced threat detection
Without a doubt, the growing security threats make it imperative that organizations use endpoint devices bulked up with hardware-based security, right from the firmware to the software.
5. Empower IT with remote manageability and stability to move ahead
For years, organizations have relied on the Intel vPro platform for improved performance, stability, and manageability to lower hardware refresh costs and drive new intelligent performance levels for end-users. The Intel Evo vPro platform provides all the benefits of the Intel vPro platform, including powerful features such as Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT), which helps reduce overall PC maintenance and administrative costs.
With Intel AMT, IT teams can remotely discover, repair, and protect networked computing assets. It provides persistent out-of-band connectivity that operates independently of the OS, allowing fixes to a wider range of system issues, even when the OS is down.
The proliferation of endpoint devices has greatly accelerated the need for automating IT management. In this context, the Intel Evo vPro platform simplifies PC fleet maintenance and enhances security, meeting the needs of organizations and contributing to cost savings. While remote manageability has always been critical to PC fleet management, remote monitoring and management tools are now crucial for standardizing and streamlining processes and allowing IT admins to focus on strategic projects.
Final Thoughts
For organizations aiming to improve end-user productivity in distributed work environments, the Intel Evo vPro platform, powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core vPro processor effectively responds to the real-world needs of end-users and enables them to do more. In addition, remote manageability capabilities allow IT administrators to simplify PC deployment and help reduce costs.
Notes and Disclaimers
Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex. Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates. See backup for configuration details. No product or component can be absolutely secure. Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy. Your costs and results may vary. Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. ©Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel vPro, Intel Evo vPro 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 unique features and performance testing (as of December 1, 2020) on industry benchmarks and Representative Usage Guides across 3 key usages: productivity, creation, and collaboration of Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-1185G7, including in comparison to AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U. Visit www.Intel.com/11thgenvpro for details. Results may vary.
2 Time taken to drain from 100% to critical battery level while performing typical workflows in a realistic environment. Visit www.intel.com/11thgenvpro for details. Results may vary.
3 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 for details. Results may vary.
4 As measured by Productivity and Collaboration Workflow. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-1185G7 Processor vs. AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U. Visit www.intel.com/11thgenvpro for details. Results may vary.
5 As measured by Video Editing workflow. 11th Gen Intel® CoreTM vPro® i7-1185G7 Processor vs. AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U. Visit www.intel.com/11thgenvpro for details. Results may vary.
6 As measured by testing 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-1185G7 against AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U. For workloads and configurations, see www.Intel.com/11thgenvpro . Results may vary.
7 2.01x as measured by Gears Tactics fps (1080p Medium) on 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor vs 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7U Processor with variable rate shading enabled. Visit www.intel.com/performanceindex for details. Results may vary.