Digital friction has become a major drag on productivity. Whether it is a failed authentication loop or a screen freezing just before a deadline, these everyday issues now carry outsized consequences.
And in the UK, where businesses are under pressure to lift output in a difficult economic environment, unreliable technology has moved past being a minor inconvenience to a strategic risk.
Vice President of Strategic Technology at TeamViewer.
What we’re seeing across the UK is how widespread the problem has become. In fact, nearly half of UK businesses (46%) say digital friction has directly led to revenue loss and 55% report delays to critical projects.
At a time when British employers are searching for efficiency gains, those are hard numbers to ignore.
A growing productivity problem in the UK
Digital friction is often dismissed as a series of small hiccups, but the cumulative impact is far from minor. For many UK employees, IT dysfunction regularly eats into the working month, taking time away from productive, high-value work.
The causes of that lost time are familiar. Across the year, the majority of workers encounter connectivity issues, experience software crashes, and deal with hardware failures or authentication problems.
These interruptions inevitably slow project delivery and frequently lead to missed deadlines. And it’s not just limited to one industry; most (if not all) are touched by its widespread impact.
UK organizations continue to invest in digital tools, but the systems designed to streamline work are instead adding new layers of complexity. Ultimately, the complicated technology environment has created a growing leadership challenge that must be addressed.
Human consequences: workarounds, trust gaps, and rising turnover
The impact of digital friction shapes how UK employees feel about their jobs and whether or not they choose to stay. Technology frustrations are a big driver here, with a significant number of employees choosing to leave due to their experiences with persistent IT issues and digital friction.
Younger workers feel this the most. Having grown up with intuitive consumer technology, they have little patience for tools that slow them down. When systems fail repeatedly, they mentally disengage, leaving teams to feel the fallout.
Every departure carries its own productivity cost with respondents estimating it takes around eight weeks to onboard a replacement.
Workarounds are also becoming a common issue, with many employees resorting to personal devices or unapproved applications to stay productive.
Although these shortcuts may keep work moving in the short-term, they create security gaps and reduce organizational visibility at a time when cyber threats are growing, a global trend the UK is not immune to.
Trust compounds the problem. More than half of workers worldwide do not believe their IT teams can resolve issues quickly or effectively and also doubt that they have access to the latest AI or digital tools. When employees feel unsupported by their technology, it affects motivation and ultimately productivity.
AI is changing the equation for the workplace
Despite these challenges, UK workers are optimistic about the role AI could play in reducing digital friction. Nearly half (48%) believe AI can help minimize IT dysfunction, and just over half (52%) are open to AI taking on routine tasks such as troubleshooting or password resets so they can focus on higher-value work.
The shift from reactive to proactive IT support is central to this optimism. AI-driven detection and remediation can spot issues before employees notice them, apply fixes automatically, and identify patterns that are difficult to see manually.
Instead of waiting for a ticket to be raised, something 54% of workers admit they often avoid doing, systems can resolve problems in the background and escalate only when necessary. This creates a smoother digital experience across different work environments, whether remote, hybrid, or office based.
Even so, there are limits to this optimism. Workers sometimes report that AI tools they’ve tried have fallen short. Many employees remain unsure what AI agents do or how they fit into their workflow. Without trust, clear communication and the right infrastructure, AI risks becoming another layer of complexity rather than a solution.
When organizations explain how AI is used, how data is handled, and how these tools support employees, trust rises and friction falls.
Building a resilient digital workplace
Reducing digital friction starts with visibility. Many UK leaders still lack real-time visibility how their digital environments perform or how employees experience them day to day.
Without quantitative insight into digital workplace tools and qualitative feedback from staff, friction remains hidden and unresolved. AI can help surface issues earlier through continuous monitoring and automated remediation.
In the year ahead, more organizations will shift from reactive supports models to proactive, automated remediation, which reduces the need for Shadow IT, builds trust between IT teams and the wider business, and establishes a resilient foundation for employee productivity.
With expectations rising and resources under pressure, this kind of forward-looking approach is becoming essential for productivity.
Digital friction won’t vanish overnight, but organizations can reduce it substantially. The UK businesses that thrive will be those that recognize productivity is driven less by where people work and more by whether their tools allow them to work without disruption.
Hybrid work is the norm, and AI is more deeply embedded in workflows. As a result, the advantage will sit with organizations that remove barriers and embrace intelligent systems to support their teams and keep work moving.
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