To enable the new distributed digital workforce, IT teams should focus on five key areas:
Create a digital workplace. Simplify workflows and integrate current applications and data to enhance the employee experience. This has the collateral benefit of reducing costs through automation and “self-healing” technology. Cloud-based solutions ensure that employees always have access to the most-up-to-date software without the need for intrusive manual updates. Cloud-based identity and access management solutions support zero-trust principles for higher levels of cybersecurity that are transparent to customers.
Innovate and manage digital experiences. Identify new opportunities for improving employee experience and productivity across the organization, with integrated analytics that deliver insights and innovative ideas. For example, in a service desk scenario, remote device management and trend analysis can help organizations reduce call volumes and end user frustration by identifying problems before they affect a large number of people and taking proactive steps to solve them before they break. Perlick calls this capability “looking around the corner.” “If you’re starting to see trends, be able to recognize them and be proactive about addressing them before they spread throughout the organization,” he explains.
Deliver omnichannel IT support. Apply analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation to provide a consistent, personalized experience that adapts to user preferences. Tools include voice response, self-service portals, FAQs, chatbots, and phone contact with live agents. “Instead of being on hold with the service desk, give employees an option to deflect messaging and communication to a convenient time and with a service agent who knows their background,” Perlick says.
Modernize endpoint management. Support secure and consistent employee experiences when accessing applications and data, regardless of the device being used. This includes seamless access from PCs as well as mobile devices. It may also include the option of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), which delivers preconfigured computing environments to users securely from a central server, regardless of the device they’re using. Implementing VDI requires a good understanding of employee personas, since not all users prefer it, but Perlick believes that VDI could be appropriate for most task-based workers.
Automate routine processes. Organizations can achieve significant cost efficiencies by using technologies such as chatbots to answer common questions. Scripted workflow solutions also improve efficiency by replacing manual tasks with automated tools that enable parallel serial workflows. For example, robotic process automation (RPA) encompasses a new set of tools that organizations can use to automate repetitive data entry and other highly manual information management tasks.
Organizations are expected to spend more than $30 billion on digital workplace optimization over the next several years. The need is compelling, given that Gartner reported that only 13% of employees are fully satisfied with their work experience and Gallup found that 48% of working Americans are actively searching for jobs or watching for opportunities in the months following the easing of lockdown restrictions.
Workplace redesign has benefits that fall directly to the bottom line. IDC3 says organizations that invested in digital transformation (DX) technologies in 2020 enjoyed a 20% increase in employee productivity.
By taking advantage of recent technology innovations, companies can significantly reduce costs and enhance both employee and customer experience by offloading routine tasks to AI-enabled tools. Automation reduces stress on employees and lowers turnover rates.
The combination of analytics, automation, and AI creates an intelligent support infrastructure that continuously learns with each employee interaction, helping deliver improved end user experiences and productivity. Help desk agents can diagnose and fix problems in employees’ computers before the users even know something is amiss.
Experience outcomes are measured with experience-level agreements (XLAs), which go beyond service-level agreements (SLAs) to focus on what's most important to the end user. Metrics include satisfaction scores on surveys, Net Promoter Scores, website response times, and time-to-resolution of customer support or employee service ticket requests. “XLAs recognize that delivering on service levels is inadequate if the end user is not satisfied with the experience,” Perlick says. “The goal is to resolve issues to the satisfaction of individuals and not offer one-size-fits-all solutions.”
Deploying self-service portals and FAQ resources such as chatbots can improve employee satisfaction as they take on repetitive chores, while reducing costs. One government agency reduced the number of monthly calls to its service desk by half with self-service tools. A financial services firm reduced the average time to resolve service tickets by 96%. Automating service desk interactions improves both employee and agent experience, by using AI to answer the most common questions without involving a human operator. End users see a faster resolution to their problems, and human agents are freed up to spend more time focusing on issues that require human attention.
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3 IDC blog, "Employee Experience and Customer Experience – What is the Connection?," September 17, 2021
IDG Communications, Inc.