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Why the digital employee experience is at the heart of business performance
Why the digital employee experience is at the heart of business performance
Though perhaps overused, the phrase ‘your people are your greatest asset’ is as valid today as ever. The recently publicized phenomenon of the 'toxic workplace' has been one of many examples where organizations charged with overlooking or denigrating their employees have faced severe consequences, ranging from poor commercial performance, damaged reputations, and high workforce turnover.
By contrast, organizations that have taken meaningful steps to invest in enhanced employee experiences have reaped the rewards. Not least with the higher productivity and overall improved performance that comes from having a workforce that is happy, engaged, and empowered to fulfill their roles optimally.
As technology becomes ever deeper embedded into corporate workflows, there are some concerns that it’s emerging as a potential friction point within the wider employee experience that could undermine other efforts to improve working environments.
From employees feeling overwhelmed by the range of new software they're expected to use to time wasted navigating through a maze of application features, there is evidence that technology often acts less as an enabler and more as an inhibitor.
Technology as an inhibitor
It was recently reported that six in 10 IT leaders are concerned that employees are failing to adopt new tech quickly enough, endangering the return on investment for digital projects. Moreover, organizations waste over a third of transformation investments on projects that do not meet intended goals.
Investments in new technologies are made to solve problems, whether to optimize operations, reduce time spent on manual tasks or minimize costs. But when end users don’t adopt new software or applications, resources are wasted, and frustration among staff and stakeholders quickly builds.
During our own research into the changing employee experience, we referenced a YouGov survey of over 2,000 employees that found that 58% of respondents claimed the number of applications they use has soared since March 2020, with 76% spending up to 6 hours a day using enterprise applications.
Whatever the software or application, whatever the organization, if employees are spending so much of their workday using technology, the experience needs to be as streamlined and as rewarding as possible. Yet, our research discovered that since March 2020, one in five employees within large organizations has become more frustrated with the scale and complexity of the applications they use.
This frustration is compounded by the time spent just looking for application support materials, with 39% of employees losing 30 minutes a day – or three working weeks each year - searching for guidance.
It is through such experiences that, rather than an enabler, technology becomes an inhibitor. Instead of improving the employee experience, technology can impair it.
Boosting the digital employee experience to boost business performance
Across a corporate landscape where innovation and agility are key pathways to success, it comes as little surprise that the ‘digital employee experience’ has become recognized as a pivotal factor driving performance. More than just a buzzword, the digital employee experience is the lifeblood of an organization, and whether that experience is good or bad is soon evident in the quality of business outcomes.
Why? Because your employees are not just cogs and wheels in a machine – they are the machine. Their experiences, perspectives, and sense of well-being determine how efficiently the machine operates.
However, shaping positive employee experiences in a rapidly digitizing world can be challenging. It is also where digital adoption platforms (DAPs) demonstrate transformative potential.
DAPs help users navigate the complex, ever-evolving labyrinth of digital tools, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to effectively complete tasks and enjoy a smoother, more enriching digital experience. In large part, this is owed to the DAP’s ability to stitch application estates together with a simple support experience. Rather than users needing to learn multiple different interfaces, with a solution like a DAP, they only ever use one.
Acting as a personal digital tutor, DAPs also offer real-time guidance and support that minimizes frustration and maximizes proficiency, turning potentially overwhelming digital transitions into manageable steps, all the while boosting confidence and encouraging self-driven exploration. For example, through use of a DAP, a global real estate leader received a multi-app productivity boost resulting from a support ticket reduction of 136% across 47,000 employees.
By fostering a culture of continuous learning, DAPs contribute to a more engaged, satisfied, and productive workforce, thereby elevating the employee experience further and, by extension, fuelling business performance.
DAPs also provide valuable analytics that gives deep, insights into user behavior and software utilization. These insights enable organizations to further personalize and improve the employee experience and promote a work environment that’s both tailored and conducive to high performance.
Getting started with a DAP
In the modern age, the digital employee experience is critical to your people and your organization. Though you may be familiar with the powerful ways a DAP can help, you may also be unsure how a platform can be introduced into your organization.
By developing a strategy in accordance with a digital employee experience framework, you can begin to confront some of the challenges your people face with the technology they use. However, first, you need to build a full picture of the software and applications your people use and the challenges they encounter.
By examining any actionable data that can expose these challenges, you can develop a more thorough understanding of the digital environment in which your employees operate, including areas that need particular attention. Even here, DAPs can help. By sitting in 'listening mode', DAPs reveal how users interact with and move between applications, where they dwell, and where they appear to become stuck, allowing you to pinpoint support where you know it will have the greatest impact. Using this mode, a global consultancy firm were able to identify improvements to an account management process in Microsoft Dynamics which could save the value of one full-time employee a year in their sales team.
Ultimately, your employees are the bedrock of your organization. With an industry-leading DAP, you can ensure this bedrock is robust enough to bear the weight of your ambitions and can drive you towards a thriving digital future.
Article by
Adam McVey
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