Are your digital systems empowering your people to do the best job they can every day? Good digital employee experiences are vital to healthy, thriving organisations. But could your systems be slowing your employees down and is there any room for improvement?
Providing the best possible digital employee experience means leveraging the best that technology has to offer and making everyday processes as productive and satisfying as they can be.
What influences the digital employee experience?
A great digital employee experience is achieved when there is clear awareness of how to deploy and use your enterprise technology. A variety of use cases are likely to form your digital strategy. While some may be commonplace, others will be tailored to your business.
In-depth understanding of how your workforce should use your digital tools combined with a solid adoption programme will help keep you on track.
A ‘what to use and when’ strategy removes any ambiguity or confusion around how the tools should be used and which benefits they will deliver. Your strategy will help your users to get the most from the technology available to them.
Devices
Ageing, poorly performing desktops and other devices can have a significant impact on employee experiences. Speed, device crashes, updates at inconvenient times; all can be a source of frustration and stress.
A cost centre mentality to keep your old corporate devices in production until assets are fully depreciated is bad for business too.
Modern, fully supported devices – such as the Microsoft Managed Desktop, make a measurable difference to the digital employee experience. A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting found that compared with a Windows 10 commercial PC, a Microsoft managed desktop device:
- Takes 23 seconds to boot up instead of 87 seconds
- Crashes 1.5 times a year instead of 6.6 times
- Gives 7.6 hours of battery instead of 3.2 hours
Microsoft managed desktops can also liberate your IT team from everyday tasks which can be automated and keep your desktop estate secure and evergreen.
Line of business systems
Most long-established companies have accumulated a collection of systems over the years. This can lead to disjointed employee experiences, as they have to log in to multiple business applications throughout their day.
Often, different systems don’t talk to one another, which can mean, for example, re-keying data and information residing in silos.
Application modernisation is one route to establishing better digital employee experiences. Many organisations are leveraging Microsoft Azure to migrate their legacy systems, empowering their people to access their systems more efficiently.
Connectivity
Network connectivity, speed and latency are all huge influences on employee experience.
As work is increasingly something that we do and no longer a place that we go, cloud-based telephony solutions are a compelling proposition for enterprises.
Inclusion and accessibility
Declaring a disability is an individual and sometimes deeply personal decision. You may have employees who would welcome the option of specific tools for improving their digital experiences but are reluctant to request them.
Highlighting the features of the software you invest in, such as auto-generated subtitles or captions or larger, brighter screens, could encourage their use among your teams.
In the words of Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President, Office 365 at Microsoft, “To address a diverse customer base, you need diverse perspectives. It’s clear from the research that diverse teams are better teams”. Microsoft offers various accessibility tools which are weaved across its services and solutions and are, in many cases, included in your existing Microsoft 365 license.
Training and support
The level of training and support you offer your employees, especially when introducing new systems, has a considerable bearing on their digital experiences.
When a project fails, it can be tempting to attribute it to a lack of user adoption. But often, it’s because the crucial employee engagement piece – together with the appropriate training, wasn’t considered sufficiently.
Goal-orientated change management models are immensely valuable in supporting and engaging employees.
As well as making your employees’ experiences more positive, a well-designed business change and user adoption programme could help you gain greater return from your IT investment.
Access to systems
A frictionless sign-on process is core to a good digital experience. The challenge for many IT leaders is to strike the right balance between the user experience and protecting corporate data and IP.
To go too far in one direction could risk compromising your security. Go too far the other way and you may frustrate your employees.
Modern identity and access management solutions offer the best of both worlds. For organisations operating cloud and hybrid environments, Azure is an excellent option. Microsoft has invested heavily in security and has over 90 compliance certifications.
Community
Most corporate organisations offer various collaboration tools, like Yammer and Teams, but also continue to rely heavily on email for internal comms.
From an employee’s perspective, they face a myriad of systems, making it difficult to find an important conversation thread or risking missing a crucial company announcement.
A digital workplace – a modern company intranet, acts as the gateway to your organisation’s communication and collaboration tools. It can surface everything your employees need in one place, delivering an intuitive and user-friendly experience.
What are the organisational benefits of good digital experiences?
Good digital experiences benefit organisations in the below ways.
Increased productivity and efficiencies
Research has found that employees spend about an hour a day – or up to seven weeks a year – searching for or recreating information. Technologies such as Microsoft Viva Topics address this challenge head-on, creating more time for value-adding activities.
Consolidating and streamlining processes makes for a more efficient workplace. For example, making simple changes to how your people work, like enabling automated expense and holiday approvals.
Support flexible and remote working
A global study has revealed that flexible working enhances performance with:
- 61% of respondents saying that their company’s profits increased
- 83% reporting an improvement in productivity
- 58% believing that flexible working policies have a positive impact on their organisation’s reputation
And there are other organisational benefits, such as talent attraction and retention.
Higher employee satisfaction
Equipping your people with the tools to do their best job, enabling greater autonomy and self-service and eliminating inefficiencies will make them happier.
Happier employees are 13% more productive, with scientific studies showing that happy employees are:
- More creative
- Have better analytical abilities and are more accurate
- Are more resilient in the face of adversity
- Take less sick leave
- Provide better service and complete more sales deals
- Are more likely to stay with their employer
- Are stronger brand advocates
The modern workplace gives you tools to offer unparalleled digital experiences.
Fewer IT support tickets and reduced shadow IT
Giving your employees good digital experiences means they are less likely to use Shadow IT, which is a serious security and data protection concern for many organisations.
And improved experiences mean fewer support tickets for your IT team, giving them more time for innovation.
Digital employee experience quick FAQs
What is digital employee experience?
The digital employee experience is a core part of the broader employee experience. Every digital touchpoint and online interaction they have throughout their working day forms their digital experience.
How can I improve the employee experience?
Good workplace culture and regular employee engagement are vital elements of the employee experience. Empowering your people with the modern tools they need to do their best job will also increase their job satisfaction.
How do I measure employee experience?
Employee surveys and technologies such as Microsoft Workplace Analytics and Viva Insights help businesses understand employee opinions, pain points and aspirations.
What does a great employee experience look like?
A great employee experience can include company culture, opportunities to learn and develop, flexible working options and modern tools that empower people to do their best jobs.
Join our experts for more advice on how to drive cultural change
Join our online event – Understanding the importance of Business Change and User Adoption.
Our business change and user adoption specialists will address the core challenges your organisation may be facing and offer tips and insights on how to navigate them. For more information and to register for this free event, click below.
