Just think, three years ago, we were all running around like headless chickens, trying to respond to new ways of work. The chaotic times demanded quick solutions and rapid rollouts. And we did it, we managed! Now, it feels like we can finally breathe, kick back, and give our IT estates a good, hard look. Time for some smarter moves, eh?
But let’s not fool ourselves. Time isn’t exactly a luxury we’re swimming in, right? Market factors like economic pressures are speeding things up. Fun fact: Gartner says that four out of five CEOs are upping their game in digital tech investments to deal with stuff like inflation, talent scarcity, and supply issues. So, as a Modern CXO, you’re holding the hot potato of orchestrating a digital IT strategy that balances current tech value and optimization to deliver an engaging employee experience and some sweet gains for the company.
Why Employee Experience is Your New Playground
Ever heard of the phrase, “Happy wife, happy life?” Well, in the corporate world, it’s “Happy employee, successful company.” Here’s a bit of a bombshell – a study commissioned by SalesForce showed that tech-frustrated employees are more than twice as likely to quit their jobs within a year. Not just that, they’re less likely to advocate for their employer and feel less productive.
Put simply, tech quality can make or break employee engagement. CEOs are on board with this, with 90% saying that technology is crucial to boosting productivity and engagement, according to a Deloitte study.
Now, what ticks off employees the most about their workplace tech? Two words: fragmentation and noise. Also, a lousy user experience leads to efficiency taking a hit. Only one in three employees believe that their workplace technology is productive, empowering, and user-friendly, as per Gartner.
CXOs, this is your chance to shine. We’re all trying to keep our employees happy and engaged, and a top-notch digital employee experience could be the secret sauce. It’s high time to get your IT game on point.
7 Trends for the Digital Experience focused CXO
Employee experience is an all-hands-on-deck situation, but with the digital workplace era, CXOs are at the forefront. So, what are the smart CXOs watching the 2nd half of this year?
#1 IT Folks are Now Also Business Strategists
Gone are the days when IT just installed new software and then moved on to the next tech project. Nowadays, the IT crew needs to be partners in shaping the business strategy. We’re not just running the digital show – we’re also helping embed digital thinking across the whole company. This means sharing our project management know-how with other teams and helping them get the most out of the systems we provide. Our agility can help the whole business avoid getting stuck in a rut and instead keep adapting to the ever-changing digital landscape.
#2. It’s Time to Recheck Those Single-line-of-business Solutions
Remember all those tools we rushed to acquire during the pandemic? Communication apps, remote onboarding systems, culture tools – you name it, we got it. Now that we’re settling into the new normal, it’s time to check if they’re worth their salt. Duplicate or underutilized technologies are resource guzzlers and add to the confusion of app overload.
CXOs, grab your detective hats. It’s time to conduct a thorough IT inventory to identify consolidation opportunities for cost savings and efficiency. A good starting point? Communication technologies. It’s time to sift through the clutter and integrate necessary tools into a central hub, the intranet. If your intranet doesn’t support these use cases, maybe it’s time to check out other options.
#3. Going Digital to Fix Culture Hurdles
Here’s a bitter pill to swallow: hybrid work is here to stay, and it’s creating a roadblock for nurturing company culture. Early fears about productivity drops with remote work were unfounded. Instead, we’re facing a culture crisis in the era of work-from-home.
According to Gartner, 76% of HR leaders feel that hybrid work has challenged employees’ connection to organizational culture. To keep ahead of this trend, businesses need IT strategists to help create optimized digital environments where community can thrive. IT can play a big role in mending the looming culture cracks by guiding the business to the right technologies.
#4. Mind the Frontline Tech Equity Gap
There’s a bit of a troubling trend going on. In 2020, a Harvard Business Review survey showed that 78% of C-Suite executives believe that empowering frontline employees is critical to their success, which could lead to up to 12% higher customer loyalty rates. But a year later, Meta found that 94% of the C Suite traditionally focuses on office and desk-based technologies.
The COVID-19 pandemic only amplified this trend, with significant tech improvements made for knowledge workers to enable successful hybrid work. This has resulted in a widened digital experience gap between desk-based and deskless workers. Frontline engagement levels are dipping too. A 2021 survey found that 49% of organizations with mostly frontline or on-site workers have seen engagement decline over the past year.
It’s 2023, and it’s high time to address this digital inequity and invest in the right technology for frontline workers. Frontline workers are eager to align with business strategy and contribute ideas for improvements, but outdated or lack of technology is pulling them back.
CXOs, it’s time to take a close look at frontline communication and enablement tech to understand the digital experience disparity between knowledge and deskless workers. If there’s a gap, maybe it’s time to consider solutions like employee apps to bring frontline workers back into the loop.
#5. Always Improving with Active Employee Feedback
We’re all still learning how to navigate this digital work environment, right? So, an important step in refining the tech we use is to actually listen to what employees have to say. Continuous feedback can guide us in understanding what works and what doesn’t. So, as the tech leader, it’s a great idea to establish regular feedback channels. This way, we can adapt and tweak our digital tools to suit our team’s evolving needs. The more we understand the voice of our users, the better our digital solutions will be.
#6. The Superapp is Here, and It’s Big
Gartner’s got a fancy name for an app that offers core features and access to mini-apps created independently – “superapp.” Think of Careem, the Dubai-based multi-service app that Uber recently acquired. It’s a one-stop-shop for various services, all packed into one neat application. It’s making waves in the consumer world, and it’s making its way into the workplace.
At a time when the average enterprise deploys more than 175 business applications, a superapp might be the answer to tackle app overload and confusion. Employees are all for a “single pane of glass” experience – one place to access all their work needs, from booking time off to tapping into knowledge from different applications. Intranet platforms as enterprise superapps? It might just work.
#7. Everyone Gets a Slice of the Automation Pie
IT has been rocking automation for a while now, but it’s time to share the wealth. As CIOs, we can team up with other departments like HR and Communications and show them how automation can make their lives easier. Imagine transforming key moments in the employee journey by automating certain processes. This can lead to better employee engagement and a smoother workflow. As tech leaders, we can guide our colleagues to understand and apply automation in their own areas. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and help everyone get the most out of automation.
So, as you can see, this is the year for CXOs to put employee experience at the forefront. By staying in tune with these trends, we can create a tech strategy that truly supports our teams and makes work a better place to be.
