James Gilmore and Joseph Pine were the first to coin the term “The Experience Economy” back in 1998. In a Harvard Business Review, the pair argued that the customer experience was the latest phase in economic history, following on from the agrarian, industrial, and service-based economies.
Some twenty years later, and the industry is starting to shift towards Pine and Gilmore’s prediction, albeit a bit late. The modern digital transformation movement in business is only the experience economy shrouded in improved technological advancements.
However, both Pine and Gilmore failed to anticipate how the revolution in mobile tech would enable an app-based consumer experience where anyone can pick up their phone and order a meal or hail a ride.
The business community is alight with the buzzword “digital transformation.” However, many people using the term don’t know what it really means. By orchestrating technologies like AI, machine learning, cloud computing, and digital workflows, companies change how they operate and bring products to market.
Furthermore, it also means building workplace experiences that are similar to the consumer-grade apps that we use every day.
The Three Elements of Successful Digital Transformation
To make your company’s digital transformation successful, you need to focus on three key elements to the process.
- Speed – Applying automation and machine learning to accelerate business functions.
- Intelligence – Using AI and machine learning to generate insights on decision-making.
- Experience – How do employees feel when navigating processes at work?
Workplace experiences are the most vital component of your workplace’s digital transformation because they directly contribute to results in your business.
Digital solutions enable better experiences for employees when working with processes, providing the desired outcome.
From Customer Experience to Employee Experience
Since most businesses believe that the customer comes first, the employee experience has yet to get the attention it deserves. However, business leaders are starting to realize the importance of the employee experience in driving business results.
Research shows that companies with an employee experience ranking in the top quartile, deliver twice the customer satisfaction and double the innovation. Companies implementing a quality employee experience also notice profits jump by 25% year-on-year.
The employee experience acts as a bridge to the behavioral norms and work complexity that influences your employees’ capability to add value. There are three critical areas where employees can build value, namely through collaboration, empowerment, and creativity.
Work complexity describes how challenging it is to get work done in your company. Research shows that by investing in technology solutions, companies can reduce work complexity by improving processes.
The most successful companies implementing a digital transformation realize that provisioned tools and practices connect employees in a virtual environment, reducing friction when completing non-value tasks.
In Closing
Over recent years, companies started to appoint Chief Experience Officers (CXOs) that work across all business departments and functions to provide employees with the high-quality, unified employee experience they deserve.
Happy employees increase productivity at your company, and happy employees are also less likely to leave you for greener pastures. Through creating favorable employee experience, organizations reduce work complexity, allowing employees to focus on the tasks that matter, adding value to business operations.
