How AI-Ready Devices Meet Modern Workday Needs

Over the past few years, the modern workday has evolved to accommodate remote work and new digital-savvy employees, as described below.

The digital space is larger than ever

From tracking projects to delivering work, most business activities operate in the digital space. Manual processes continue to give way to new apps and services that offer a digital alternative with an improved online experience.

This has made endpoint devices central to business productivity, exposing a greater attack surface for cyberthreats and emphasizing the need for security.

The rise of hybrid workstyles

With many Canadian workers returning to the office at least a couple of days a week, employees and employers must find a balance between work-life balance and improving productivity. Their devices travel from office to home and beyond with elevated needs for battery life, performance and connectivity.

This has led IT teams to alter how they manage, service and monitor endpoints that move beyond office boundaries regularly.

AI usage continues to solidify

AI is quickly progressing from a nice-to-have feature to a workplace necessity as AI use cases mature within organizations. The focus is shifting from cloud-first AI to local compute resources to facilitate a secure, low-latency AI experience for employees.

This is where organizations must plan to equip their employees with AI-ready devices to help them extract maximum value from AI applications.

As Dellas Wreikkinen, Solutions Architect for Endpoint, CDW Canada, remarks, “If an organization doesn’t refresh with an NPU device today, they may struggle obtaining the longevity from their non-NPU devices, given how quickly AI is advancing.”

The following features of NPU-enabled, AI-ready devices meet modern productivity needs by offering a solid footing for expanding AI use cases and empowering hybrid work models.

When employees use internet-delivered AI applications, the AI tasks get executed on a cloud-based service and are transmitted back to their devices. This may introduce latency issues and accessibility hurdles in the absence of strong internet connections.

Moreover, IT teams may need additional resources to secure cloud-based AI apps, which may complicate the employee experience.

AI-enabled devices equipped with an NPU can process tasks locally, eliminating the need to send requests to cloud servers. This local compute capability can reduce wait times significantly by processing AI tasks in real-time.

The NPU comes with a specialized chip architecture that offers greater performance for AI tasks when compared to traditional GPUs. This means that employees can run LLMs and advanced AI agents right from their local laptop or PC.

Employees can see quicker results in apps that use generative AI or smart features like real-time translation, voice summarization or content generation.

It boosts productivity, improves responsiveness and even allows AI tools to function offline. As Wreikkinen noted, “The faster the NPU, the closer we get to cloud performance, and that means your data stays local and secure.”

With hybrid work environments and increasing cyber risks, data protection is a top concern for IT teams. As per CDW’s 2025 Canadian Cybersecurity Study, 86.5 percent of Canadian organizations reported a security incident in the past 12 months.

This calls for heightened measures for employee devices. Hybrid employees may connect to unsecured networks outside the office or even download malware without knowing. The risks of shadow AI (unmonitored or unapproved use of AI) may also come into the picture, which may lead to data privacy concerns.

AI-ready devices can enhance security in two broad ways. First, they can keep data on the device secure by reducing exposure to man-in-the-middle attacks or external breaches. Many AI use cases, like summarizing documents or interpreting files, no longer need to be routed through external servers when adopting local AI applications.

Secondly, they are compatible with AI-assisted security tactics such as extended detection and response (XDR) that can mitigate sophisticated threats.

By leveraging AI, organizations can gain stronger control over data, meet compliance requirements more easily and reduce the attack surface.

Wreikkinen summed it up: “Having on-device security that’s assisted by AI means your data is more secure and your users can use AI offline too.”

AI-enabled niche software, especially those that come with generative AI features, often require high-performance processors for adequate outputs. For instance, video editing and generation are highly compute intensive and may fail to deliver without the right chipset.

As the demand for similar niche software increases, employees need on-device processors that can handle the required heavy lifting.  

AI-optimized devices intelligently manage resource allocation. NPUs offload background tasks like speech recognition, image editing or data parsing, so that CPUs and GPUs remain focused on core applications.

This way, employees experience fewer slowdowns, better responsiveness and seamless multitasking, even with demanding apps. This also improves user satisfaction and supports niche use cases like video rendering, CAD modelling or data visualization without compromising speed.

A large part of an employee’s workday may go towards drafting emails, sorting through documents or pulling insights from content. Such tasks can be readily automated with the help of AI assistants and agents that cover a variety of capabilities.

But due to data privacy and security concerns, organizations often look for ways to automate these tasks without sharing company data over the internet.   

AI-ready devices come with built-in assistants, on-device AI tools or downloadable OEM suites that can process everyday tasks locally. The NPU assists in handling tasks like transcription, organization and scheduling on-device, without the need for internet access.

It not only enables employees to execute routine work in an easier and faster way but also simplifies data security for IT teams.

Employees working on the go need long battery life to stay productive without constant recharging. As hybrid workers may work from multiple locations throughout a day, low battery capacity may disrupt their productivity.

NPUs are more power-efficient than CPUs or GPUs when handling AI workloads. By offloading AI tasks to the NPU, the system consumes less energy overall. It can also help optimize power consumption using AI algorithms to extend the battery life at the same battery capacity.

Longer device uptime without compromising performance can help remote employees be more productive. They can choose to work from locations that may not have an outlet, knowing their device will still support them.

As the number of employee devices grows in an organization, IT teams may face challenges in delivering service support and device management. For large organizations, this problem can be compounded if cyberattackers get ahold of a vulnerable device.

Consistent device management requires IT teams to properly monitor and remediate issues remotely and many AI-ready devices now offer device management suites that integrate with the NPU to enable better diagnostics, updates and performance optimization.

IT teams can monitor threats, release software patches and ensure proper device health no matter where the devices are. This reduces vulnerabilities in IT service management processes, leading to a stronger, safer fleet of AI devices.

It ultimately results in faster troubleshooting, reduced downtime and smarter provisioning. Wreikkinen noted that many tools are “available out-of-the-box or with a quick download,” making them easy to get started with.

Transitioning to AI-ready devices isn't just about buying new hardware – it’s about making the right investment for your business’ future.

At CDW, we can help you plan and execute that transition seamlessly. Whether you're refreshing your existing fleet or equipping your workforce with AI-ready laptops for the first time, our experts provide the guidance, services and support you need at every stage.

CDW partners closely with leading AI device manufacturers to bring you the latest AI-enabled endpoints designed for today’s hybrid, high-performance workstyles. Our team can evaluate your unique needs and recommend the best-fit devices for your organization.

From procurement and configuration to deployment and device lifecycle management, we help reduce complexity while ensuring you're ready for what’s next.

As Wreikkinen remarks, “With our advisory, enablement and funded programs, we can help clients realize actual value from AI-capable devices.”