Presented by Qualcomm Technologies

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After “business as usual” was disrupted by the pandemic, and two years of working in a distributed model, workers don’t want to return to the status quo. They’re reluctant to head back to the office full time, and give up the work/life balance and increased productivity they’ve achieved by going remote.

As a result, 80% of professionals are asking their business and IT leaders to expand the hybrid arrangement they prefer, according to a study by Harvard Business School. And a McKinsey study found that 30% of employees say they are likely to switch jobs if they are not allowed to work in a hybrid environment.

“Enterprises and IT must keep this in mind as they formulate strategies and make sound investments on how to expand their hybrid offerings to attract and retain top talent,” says Kedar Kondap, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Compute and Gaming, Qualcomm Technologies.

As IT leaders start to make these investments in digital transformation and connected technologies, they’re turning to their partners — device manufacturers, network operators, and channel resellers — for the innovative solutions that can meet the needs of their workforce and business.

Mobile solutions for a mobile workforce

In order to work from anywhere, employees are looking for mobile experiences that match the capabilities of their smartphones and PCs that keep them connected to their teams and the company in order to do their best work. They rely on cloud tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, OneDrive, CITRIX, Office 365, Crowdstrike, VMware and more.

They also need powerful video tools, because collaboration can happen at a moment’s notice. Users should to be able to jump on a call from anywhere with cellular, high-quality camera and audio, and advanced AI accelerators, for features like noise suppression, background blur and auto-framing. And they need to access these tools wherever and whenever they need them.

As IT administrators move towards modern technologies and cloud-based solutions, they must adopt the hardware that can maximize these investments.

Choosing hybrid work devices

IT admins have a whole grocery list of requirements for the devices that can power these solutions. They’re looking for powerful connectivity, performance and AI to optimize digital transformation investments, and deliver compelling hybrid work experiences for end users. And they want peace of mind when managing and securing endpoints.

That’s because their biggest challenge with the “work from anywhere” workforce is in securing and managing their corporate fleet of devices.

“We have heard from our enterprise customers that x86 devices can fall out of compliance for months because of the lack of visibility,” Kondap says. “They need devices that stay visible to the corporate network, no matter where the employee is, and always-connected PCs to help manage policies at a distance and push software patches to users, even when the devices are idle or in connected standby.”

In addition, they want these devices to not only leverage cloud intelligence but on-device AI to help detect, protect and remediate threats faster than on traditional PCs.

Finally, for a device to be truly mobile, battery life is essential.

A look at the increasingly light, high-powered hardware on the market shows that PC companies are taking note of the way the wind is blowing, and stepping up to the plate to deliver laptops that are designed specifically to support the work format that employees prefer, while also maximizing productivity, collaboration and security.

One of the strongest entrants into the field, the new Snapdragon compute-powered Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, won several awards at Mobile World Congress. This new ThinkPad marks greater investments by OEMs to deliver laptops for the shift to modern PC platforms and usage.

Mobile laptops designed for ISVs

Lenovo announced the first ever ThinkPad powered by the new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Compute Platform, the Lenovo ThinkPad x13s at MWC 2022 and now is commercially available to order. The device takes full advantage of Windows on Snapdragon features and capabilities, including 5G connectivity, AI-accelerated experiences, exceptional performance and multi-day battery life to deliver next-generation experiences for business users and IT.

Not only that, over 100 of the top Windows ISVs are optimizing their applications for Windows on Snapdragon and 225+ enterprises are testing or deploying Windows on Snapdragon devices within their environment.

“ISVs are excited to work with us because it creates opportunities to enhance their applications,” says Kondap. “The efficiency, connectivity and on-device 5G connectivity and AI can be leveraged by ISVs to improve existing experiences and create entirely new ones.”

For instance, Zoom has utilized dedicated technology blocks, 5G connectivity and hardware accelerators for more immersive video communications while connecting longer with multi-day battery life. Since Office 365 is optimized for cloud collaboration and experiences with Outlook, OneDrive and more, connectivity plays a central role in ensuring the software keeps teams in sync.

“Whether it is for productivity, collaboration or security, Windows on Snapdragon only creates more use cases for an ISV to tap into,” he says. “Plus, our network knowledge and expertise, a differentiator in the PC ecosystem, is helping to facilitate and streamline device certifications for OEMs and operators.”

Qualcomm is also working directly with enterprises to help them devise a digital transformation strategy to leverage wireless technologies to make them more modern, efficient and competitive within their industry.

Learn more here about the Snapdragon compute-powered Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, from detailed specs to how it’s changing the way mobile employees work.

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