The landscape of business is rapidly changing as technology continues to advance. Those organizations that start to undergo a digital transformation of the workplace are those that will make it in the coming digital era.
However, many companies are still on the fence about introducing as a digital strategy to the way they do business. Resisting change is what human beings do well, but the environment is changing at such a rapid pace, that those that fail to conform, risk finding themselves on the fringes of obscurity.
What most companies fail to realize is that introducing technology into the workplace benefits employees more than it does customers. When companies look at spending money, they usually have a focus on tweaking some part of the model that leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction.
The thought of spending money on enhancing the employee experience is a shock, and most aren’t willing to invest the money into developing this side of the business. However, these companies are slowly starting to realize that boosting the employee experience (EX), leads to increases in revenues far beyond what they could ever expect with changes to the customer experience.
How Does Technology and the Digital Workplace Affect Productivity?
Digital solutions for business present an excellent means of boosting employee productivity. Are your employees using outdated legacy systems or paperwork for handling business processes? Using manual forms for sales, HR, and IT processes is a very inefficient way tom operate, especially when there are digital solutions available.
Digital workplace solutions, such as CRMs, allow salespeople to keep customer data on hand at any point, without the need to refer to notes of client files that might be at different locations. A cloud-based platform that allows mobile access to data and processes provides employees with on-demand access to anything they need, at any location.
Digital workflows help HR and IT departments manage support ticket requests or requests for benefits packages. When your people have everything they need on hand, it reduces the time they spend searching and collecting information.
As a result of enhanced efficiencies in the workplace, productivity rates start to increase. Automating workflows like emailing new prospects prevents human error, and allows salespeople to focus on more prominent business tasks, like closing deals.
Digital workflows can also assist HR departments with processes like onboarding, bringing new employees into the business by providing them with access to multiple departments in the organization, all on one platform.
How Does Technology and the Digital Workplace Affect Engagement?
Technology solutions in the digital workplace play a significant role in increasing employee engagement. However, it’s no good to simply introduce a digital workplace, without taking feedback from your employees before, during, and after launch.
The millennial and Gen Z workforce demand more from organizational EX platforms. Today’s consumers are spoiled for choice when it comes to consumer-facing apps that focus on doing one thing well.
Modern workplace solutions need to take a cue from consumer apps and produce tech that’s user-friendly while offering superior functionality. When organizations provide tech solutions that employees can work with and provide feedback on, then companies can expect to increase employee engagement.
Research shows that engaged employees are more likely to stay with a current employer. As a result, employers get to retain top talent and build an employer brand that starts to attract new talent to the company as well.
Engaged employees are also more likely to be innovative with the ideas they offer to the company. Organizations must create feedback loops that allow management to capture feedback on the spot in real-time. Leaving your feedback system to an annual employee survey does nothing to serve your employee experience.
With intuitive digital workplace solutions, organizations keep employees engaged, and maintain levels of engagement through regular feedback channels that give the employees a voice.
What Are the Results of Improved Employee Engagement?
By introducing intuitive digital solutions to the modern workplace, organizations enhance productivity. When employees work fast, and they find they have more time on their hands during the workday. As a result, they have the opportunity to extend their business activities, provided they have the correct management supervision.
If managers can harness the free time employees get due to the advantages created by a digital workplace, they have the opportunity to boost productivity and engagement. An increase in productivity leads to more revenue in coming into the company.
However, an increase in employee engagement affects company culture. When employers start to consider their company culture, they are beginning to move along the path of a successful digital transformation.
Digital workspaces aim to increase communication across all departments within the organization. As a result, employees engage more actively with one another, instead of going down the traditional management channels. An increase in the transparency of communications leads to inspired employee confidence in the organization.
When employees find themselves actively engaged in a culture that promotes learning, development, and balance of work and play, they start to thrive. By increasing your employee experience with innovative and intuitive tech solutions, you create a culture of an employer brand that people want to work for, boosting your hiring program.
What Are the Results of Improved Employee Productivity?
Higher levels of employee engagement mean that your employees are willing to do more with the time they spend at work. In a survey, millennials and Gen Z workers state that finding meaning and purpose in their work is more important to them than the size of the paycheck.
Engaged employees are purposeful employees. When your team is eager to walk into the office every day, and they feel they have a say in how the company operates, they are willing to do more. As a result, you can expect your employees to step up to the plate when you need them.
For example, you have a huge deadline on Monday, and you need help over the weekend. Engaged employees are willing to go the extra mile for the company, and they’ll show up for work on Saturday and Sunday if necessary.
As a result, engaged employees have higher rates of productivity, getting more done in the time they have on the job. When organizations experience boosts to worker productivity, it translates into more revenues on the bottom line, keeping the C-suite and shareholders happy.
Customizing Technology Solutions for Organizational Needs
When companies go about signing on to a digital transformation, they need to take a unique approach to execute the strategy. Every business is different and has different needs when it comes to digital solutions that transform the workplace.
What works well in a law office, won’t do well in a retail sales location. The digital revolution of the modern workspace is all about customization. By providing your organization with the tools it needs to thrive, managers and executives can expect higher rates of productivity and engagement from the workforce.
Customized workflows and digital workspaces are the next steps in creating growth for companies in today’s digital economy. Those organizations that fail to get on board with the digital revolution will find themselves left in the wake of their competitors.
Organizations need to focus on providing employees with digital workplace solutions that add to the overall employee experience. Employees are demanding more from business applications designed to drive a digital workplace.
Today’s employees want a consumer-style app in their business solutions, offering them the same user-friendly interface they expect from consumer-facing apps. However, organizations need to keep their ears to the ground when rolling out these platforms.
Creating feedback loops with your employees regarding their experience of the digital workplace is paramount. Through collaborative efforts between departments, it’s possible to build a customized solution that enhances employee engagement and productivity.
Why Companies Need to Focus on the Employee Experience
Those companies that decide to take the initiative and focus on the employee experience will thrive in the coming digital age. Every aspect of the employee experience matters, with digital workspaces being one of the first areas of a company’s digital transformation.
Companies must learn to communicate and collaborate throughout the roll-out period of the digital strategy. Those companies that build strong cultures of transparent communication have the best chance of successfully navigating a digital transformation.
Implementing a digital transformation is a challenge for any organization. Many companies rely on current IT teams or business leaders to navigate the way through the digital transformation. However, the reality is that these individuals don’t have what it takes to bring the company through to the other side of the change. They rely on the consulting of others to help provide them with direction during the process.
It’s for this reason that many organizations are turning to a new position to manage the process of digital transformation. The CEEO, or Chief Employee Experience Officer, lead the transformation from the employee perspective.
Research shows that those companies using a CEEO to manage the organization’s digital transformation have a higher success rate with the project.
