Only 1% of corporate technology investment goes to frontline workers, despite this group representing the majority of the workforce in numerous sectors. This is highlighted by Ommnio, which warns of the persistence of a structural digital divide within organizations.
The company emphasizes that, while digital transformation has advanced significantly in office environments, deskless workers continue, in many cases, to operate with tools, processes, and communication dynamics that have not evolved at the same pace.
“We experienced the pandemic as a missed opportunity for essential workers. Because while they were the ones sustaining operations by going to work, the technology investment to modernize communications with employees was almost entirely aimed at facilitating telework for office staff. Years later, many organizations continue to interact with their frontline personnel via WhatsApp, locker-room signage, papers, and voice calls. Once again, frontline staff have been left out of technology investments,” state the company.
Uneven Digitalization Across Companies
Deskless workers, those who perform their duties outside of an office setting, represent a majority of the global workforce, yet they remain the least integrated group in corporate digitalization strategies.
According to Ommnio, 99% of corporate tech investment remains concentrated on office employees, while only 1% is allocated to deskless workers, despite these profiles underpinning much of daily activity in sectors such as industry, logistics, retail, health, or services. “For years, technological innovation has been designed with the office worker in mind, while the operational reality of the majority of employees has been relegated to a secondary priority,” they note.
Fragmented Communication and Dependence on Informal Channels
In the absence of corporate solutions tailored to their reality, many of these frontline workers turn to informal channels such as WhatsApp groups to coordinate their daily activity, which generates fragmented communication within organizations.
This fragmentation makes information traceability difficult, reduces efficiency in coordinating teams, and leads to significant differences in employees’ digital experience within the same company.
Moreover, the lack of tools specifically for this group limits organizations’ ability to structure their communication and operations in a homogeneous way.
Ommnio warns that, in full 2026, many workers of this profile still interact with their companies using dynamics more typical of 1994 than of today’s digital environment.
“Digital Justice” in the Workplace
The company frames this situation within the concept of “digital justice,” which refers to the need to guarantee equal access to technology within organizations, regardless of an employee’s role or location.
For Ommnio, digital transformation cannot be considered complete while there remains a structural gap in access to tools between office employees and frontline workers.
“We don’t buy the argument that frontline employees aren’t tech-savvy. Everyone has a mobile phone, they communicate daily via WhatsApp, book appointments at the barber, or authorize payments in the bank’s app. If these people can use technology in their day-to-day lives as citizens, they can also use it in their relationship with the company. If today they don’t use technology to interact with their employer, it’s because the company hasn’t provided it, or because the solution offered to them is designed for office staff.”
