Software update error. These three words can send a chill through IT teams and lead to catastrophic consequences.
In July 2024, a faulty software update from the cyber security firm Crowdstrike caused a worldwide IT outage affecting millions of users. Even the Post Office Horizon scandal, widely believed to be the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice, was reported to be partly down to software update errors.
However, spectacular meltdowns like these – or Knight Capital Group losing $440m to rogue trading software in 2012 – are far from typical. In reality, many software failures are more insidious: less like a 200mph collision and more an almost imperceptible slow puncture. These quieter catastrophes gradually wear down an organisation as productivity falls away and competitors race ahead. They can also lead to employees losing heart and even leaving – a key takeaway from this post.
Below, we’ll look at some of the figures around software failure, which we hope will prompt all organisations to take the issue of software testing seriously. This applies whether you're using our partner Zebra's LifeGuard for Android solution, the Samsung Knox security platform or any other software service that provides security updates to your devices. The point is not that these platforms are problematic – they can contribute significantly to your organisation's security hardening. Rather, it's that all updates of this type need rigorous testing.
Lost Productivity: the Scale of the Problem
According to PR newswire, Robert Half Technology reported that employees are losing more than a two-weeks’ holiday worth of time due to failing computer equipment. The data revealed that professionals waste 22 minutes each day, on average, coping with IT problems. For someone working five eight-hour days for 50 weeks per year (this is a US scenario), that’s a loss of more than 91 hours per year.
Closer to home, a report in Elite Business Magazine cited data that showed the average office worker wastes at least 24 days of work time each year waiting on slow or outdated hardware or software. One particular statistic seems to be the very definition of dead IT time: just booting up their machine can amount to 8.8 days of actual work time for the average British employee.
Disengaged Employee, or Ex-Employee?
Employee engagement has become one of the most discussed and studied elements of good business in the 21st century. According to Thomas Recruitment Group, highly engaged teams are 17% more productive and have a 59% lower turnover rate than those with less engaged staff.
With those figures in mind, now imagine the sheer grind of failing technology: slow-starting machines, crashing apps, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it battery life, connectivity issues, and failing specialised hardware such as barcode scanners and RFID readers. We haven’t even mentioned the hell of unresponsive or under-responding touch screens.
We’ve all experienced some or all of the above. And each of these scenarios can occur as a result of software update errors or incompatibilities with IT ecosystems. But how much does it affect employees in terms of engagement?
Maybe it’s time to ask them…
Cloud-based software provider Freshworks found that 91% of employees were frustrated with workplace software. It also discovered that 71% of leaders acknowledged that their employees will consider seeking a new job if their employer doesn’t work harder to give them the right technical tools for the job. Similarly, Elite Business Magazine research found that one in 10 people would go as far as to quit their job when faced with regular computer and software problems.
This is bad now. And it’s likely to get worse. All the signs suggest that workers are becoming increasingly intolerant of failing IT. A report by PWC revealed that 41% of Millennials prefer to communicate electronically rather than face to face or over the phone.
It also states that, ‘…technology is often a catalyst for intergenerational conflict in the workplace and many millennials feel held back by rigid or outdated working styles.’
If that's the case, imagine how digital natives from Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2012) will view substandard IT. As more and more of them enter the workforce, businesses failing to maintain good tech hygiene – and rigorously testing updates – are living on borrowed time.
Untested Software Issue? What to Look Out For
Some of the signs you may be suffering from the effects of untested software include:
- Reduced employee productivity due to frequent application/device crashes or performance issues
- Increased help desk calls and IT support costs to troubleshoot update problems
- Missed deadlines or delayed project completion from disrupted workflows
- Increased customer complaints or support tickets.
- Reputational damage from public failures related to poorly tested updates
- Lost revenue from downtime, productivity losses, and frustrated customers
- Wasted time and resources rolling back problematic updates
- Strained employee morale from repeated technology failures; and even reverting to paper-based processes.
How to Go About Testing Your Software Updates
Earlier, we published a companion post to this one about the need to update Android devices – and to test those updates prior to launch. It includes a first pass at what to do to develop a good methodology for testing. The post also acknowledges the sheer difficulty organisations face in undertaking rigorous and timely updates. Even their software development partners struggle with the workload.
We’ll end on a positive note. If you’re using Zebra devices and Zebra LifeGuard for Android updates, we have developed a methodology that ensures rigorous and comprehensive testing. It provides complete assurance that your Android mobile device, and the apps on it, will perform as expected, maintaining business operations and continuity, and keeping the mobile devices secure. Crucially, our rigorous approach significantly reduces the time and cost of undertaking testing.
Our solution will ensure you implement your Zebra LifeGuard Android updates in a safe and timely way, while reducing costs and the burden on your IT teams or partners.
And you really must test if you want to keep your business running efficiently and your employees happy. In fact, there’s a strong case for arguing that testing updates is essential if you want to hang on to those employees at all.
To find out more about our Zebra LifeGuard Android update testing service, get in touch.