Getting technology to work at work

Today, the complexity in our personal lives is made simple through well-orchestrated services and great experiences enabled by digital technology. The seamless digital experiences to which we have become accustomed in our personal lives has created an expectation for better experiences, with near-flawless technological enablement, in our work lives as well.

However, the experience we have as a worker is not the same than the one we have as a customer since we may be asked to maneuver through complex internal organizational structures, processes, and systems, often with no straightforward way to get support. In a world where people expect to be able to engage with each other and with organizations with the greatest of ease, a digital workforce experience that doesn’t measure up to the commercial standard can cause a great deal of frustration—contributing to a negative workforce experience overall. For this reason, organizations should improve their digital workforce experience along with worker engagement and productivity.

By leveraging technology and establishing cross-functional, enterprise-level governance, organizations have the chance to streamline and simplify the transactions between the workforce and the enterprise, fostering greater engagement and driving more productivity in both the front and the back office.

Workers often need to go through multiple systems in order to access different information because organizations have several back-end technologies. This problem can be solved with technologies that create a “unified engagement platform” which is a user experience layer that can span across systems to provide a seamless digital experience. It can also include enterprise-grade workflow tools to simplify service delivery and improve service delivery speed and accuracy across the enterprise. Pioneering enterprises are also looking at the bigger technological picture by integrating innovative automation and collaboration technologies into their unified experience platforms.

To do this type of implementation successfully, organizations must drive collaboration across functions and platforms but also create enterprise governance structures that optimize workflows and experiences for the enterprise as opposed to optimizing them for any single function. No matter what function takes the lead, it’s important to take a “worker-centric” rather than enterprise-grade workflow tools a “process-driven” approach to building a unified experience platform.

Furthermore, it is important that an enterprise manage change continuously in an effort of this nature in order for a seamless digital experience to arise. The bottom line: When people experience technology that works for them at work, they are on the path to a positive workforce experience overall—one that can increase organizational loyalty, engagement, and productivity. The sophisticated digital experiences that today’s workers enjoy in their private lives has set a high bar for enterprises to clear, but the potential business benefits can be well worth the effort.

Key Contacts:  

Sandra Houillier

Director, Human Capital practice