The technology gap

Leaders think they are technology innovators, but users disagree. Office technology still lags behind consumer tech when it comes to convenience and ease-of-use.

The innovation perception chasm

When asked how their organization’s enterprise applications environment compared to competitors, more than half of decision-makers think they are innovators or early adopters. But only a quarter of end users agree.

And while 91% of decision-makers believe their systems and enterprise apps have changed since COVID-19, only 70% of users agree

The gap widens from C-suite to employee

We are innovators (current enterprise applications environment is several years ahead of the competition)

C-suite	70%
VP level	56%
Director level	58%
Senior Management	54%
Middle management	32%
Employee	26%

All figures found in this eBook are based on a Unit4 study with 4171 respondents – 507 decision makers and 3664 end users.

Older companies feel they lag behind

Almost half, 48% of companies established since 2010 believe they are ahead, compared to just 23% of organizations that are more than 50 years old.

The perception gap varies across regions

This perception gap is largest in Singapore, where 76% of decision-makers think they are ahead, versus 33% of users.

It’s smallest across the six European countries surveyed, where the gap is 36% compared to 22%.

In the UK and Ireland, the gap is 61% against 28%, and in the US it’s 75% to 43%.

The work-home technology gap

There’s a gap between the usability of work systems and non-work technology. More than two out of five users think the applications and technology they use at work are (significantly or slightly) less user friendly than apps and other tech in their personal lives.

Only 13% believe work tech is more straightforward than non-work.

Regional variations

This varies across the regions surveyed, with closer to half of the users in Ireland and Sweden saying that their organization’s systems are less user friendly than those in their non-work lives, but less than a third reporting the same experience in the Netherlands.

The generation gap

And there’s a big generational gap, with around one third of the Boomer generation (aged 55-75) saying work tech is less user friendly, compared to almost half of Generation Z users (aged 18-24) reporting the same.

Using apps at my organization is significantly or slightly less user friendly than in day-to-day life

Gen-Z (aged 18-24)	47%
Millennial (aged 25-39)	44%
Gen-X (aged 40-54)	42%
Boomer (aged 55-75)	35%
Silent (76+)	17%