Why Reducing Enterprise Friction Requires More Than New Technology

When organizations talk about “friction,” they often assume the problem starts and ends with technology. But after reviewing the findings from CDW’s latest research —Eliminating Digital Friction: How To Build a Frictionless Enterprise — and speaking with customers across industries, I believe the reality is much more nuanced.

Technology certainly plays a role, but friction is really the result of misalignment between people, process and technology. If organizations only focus on deploying new tools without adjusting workflows, training or governance, they often create even more complexity instead of reducing it.

Our research reinforced that point clearly. More than half of respondents — approximately 51% — defined friction primarily as process inefficiencies and workflow obstacles. That tells me organizations are struggling less with access to technology and more with how work actually gets done.

I often describe friction as a three-legged stool. People, process and technology all influence one another. If you change one leg without adjusting the others, the entire structure becomes unstable.

That’s why organizations frequently struggle when implementing new IT tools. In fact, 54% of survey respondents said implementing new IT tools is one of the slowest and most difficult processes within their organizations.

What I see happening is that many organizations design workflows around the tool itself instead of redesigning workflows around outcomes. Teams inherit legacy processes, layer on new technology and expect efficiency gains to happen automatically. But without rethinking how employees actually interact with those tools, friction persists.

User experience becomes especially important here. Employees judge tools based on how easily they can accomplish their work. If a process takes too many clicks, approvals or manual steps, frustration grows quickly. Over time, that frustration affects productivity, adoption and ultimately the return organizations expect from their technology investments.

Another major takeaway from the research is how tightly connected AI and cybersecurity have become. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said their organizations are increasing cybersecurity spending, while 67% are increasing investments in generative AI.

Some organizations still see those as competing priorities, but I view them as fundamentally intertwined.

Generative AI and agentic AI will dramatically influence cybersecurity operations moving forward. AI can help organizations automate repetitive security tasks, improve threat detection and simplify how IT teams interact with complex systems. At the same time, organizations must govern AI carefully to avoid creating new security blind spots.

This is one reason CDW has made AI for IT a major strategic priority. We believe IT departments should start implementing AI internally to improve their own operational workflows before “the ask” inevitably comes in to scale those capabilities across customer-facing business functions.

That internal adoption matters because it creates institutional experience. IT teams learn how to govern AI, integrate it into workflows and understand its operational implications before rolling it out enterprisewide.

One of the most exciting opportunities I see today is the ability for AI to reduce friction through natural language interaction and intelligent automation.

Historically, enterprise automation has been rigid and rules-based. Organizations built complex decision trees to automate specific tasks. But agentic AI changes that model entirely. Instead of forcing users to adapt to the tool, AI systems can increasingly adapt to the user and the required task.

That shift creates immediate value.

Our survey found that 53% of respondents identified automation and efficiency as the most important benefits AI can provide when reducing organizational friction. Meanwhile, 57% said they are exploring AI for real-time cybersecurity response and mitigation.

What makes these technologies powerful is that they allow employees to interact with systems more naturally. Instead of navigating complicated workflows or memorizing technical processes, users can increasingly rely on AI-assisted interfaces to help them complete tasks faster and more intuitively.

That doesn’t eliminate the need for governance or oversight. But it does fundamentally improve the user experience.

Friction doesn’t stay confined to internal operations. Eventually, customers feel it too.

The survey showed that 55% of respondents believe operational friction creates customer frustration, while 51% said it slows processes and increases wait times.

That’s why reducing friction is ultimately a business issue — not just an IT issue.

Organizations that simplify workflows, improve user experiences and modernize processes create better outcomes for employees and customers alike. When friction decreases internally, customer experiences improve externally.

The pace of innovation around AI and automation is moving incredibly fast. Organizations cannot afford to wait for the “perfect” solution before getting started. In my experience, the companies making the most progress are the ones willing to begin now, learn incrementally and continuously adapt their workflows over time.

The frictionless enterprise is not about eliminating every obstacle overnight. It’s about building organizations that can evolve quickly, modernize intelligently and empower employees with technology that actually makes work easier.