The pandemic has led to the emergence of a hybrid workplace. Your employee now works from anywhere, not just the coffee shop but also the mountain top.
But for an employee working from anywhere, the Grade-A experience is mainly derived from work technologies. IT leaders are expected, now more than ever, to keep employee experience at the centre of all their endeavours. And for this to happen, leaders need to ask the remote or hybrid workforce a critical question: “Does your workplace technology frustrate you?”
Most of the employees’ discontentment with workplace technology boils down to one or more of these issues:
- Disparate systems requiring employees to log in and out of multiple tools and solutions that do not interact with one another.
- A mix of manual and automated steps to accomplish a task instead of end-to-end automation.
- Inability to resolve employee issues in real-time.
- Tools and apps with little or no support for mobile devices, hindering work-on-the go.
The transformative role of IT leaders in driving employee experience
Over the last few years, Indian consumers have become remarkably digital savvy, expecting proactive and contextualised engagement. The pandemic has only accelerated this behaviour further.
An employee at the workplace is also a consumer in the outside world. So, employees do know what seamless use of applications, on-the-go tool accessibility, and an intuitive user interface (UI) feel like. And employees expect nothing less from workplace technology as well. This shift in employee expectation has moved the needle on the role of IT leaders and IT departments in an organisation.
As businesses adjust to new ways of working, IT leaders are expected to take up the mantle of introducing workplace technology that maximises employee engagement and boosts employee productivity, no matter where an employee is located. Keeping workers engaged is critical to employee retention, and consequently, to business stability.
Here’s what IT leaders can do to deliver optimum employee experience:
Explore the Power of One
Let’s take the example of an employee who chooses to work remotely. Now, if something as simple as procuring a laptop to work from home requires this employee to log in and out of three different portals to complete the necessary formalities with the HR department, the IT Help Desk, and the Employee Support Centre, the experience is bound to be frustrating.
IT leaders can remediate such issues by offering employees a unified digital support experience for:
- quick and easy access to information
- raising tickets
- collaborating with team members
The mobile-friendly Salesforce Concierge app, for instance, combines self-service and helpdesk functionality into one single application. It offers employees a predictive, Google-like search functionality and a chat feature. The Concierge app is contextualised to display content relevant to department, rank, office location, and more, which helps employees quickly resolve their issues, keeping productivity intact.
Extend the on-premises infrastructure to ‘anywhere’
In the new normal, as employees take up the ‘digital nomad’ avatar, it is important to extend an organisation’s network, solutions, data, and security to wherever the employee chooses to work. Here’s what IT leaders can do:
- Deploy cloud-based solutions and SaaS applications
- Provide remote access to on-premises apps and services
- Offer a comprehensive and flexible data security model
- Streamline employee access to apps and data with single sign-on
- Balance enterprise-grade security with friction-free employee experience using two-factor authentication
Train and enable the workforce for maximum results
While IT leaders can launch the most sophisticated and user-friendly tools and solutions, even the best of technology is only as successful as the digital proclivity of its users. The mandate for upskilling employees and instilling a digital-first mindset also lies with the new-age IT leaders.
Enter myTrailhead, a completely customisable digital self-learning platform. On Trailhead, companies can upload tailored learning content to upskill employees, monitor and reward their progress, and cultivate a vibrant online learning culture.
In the new normal, technology is the torchbearer for organisations to build workforce efficiencies, drive productivity, and create resilient digital infrastructure. The focus will be on the ability of IT leaders to move away from process-driven innovation to creating employee experience platforms that drive employee satisfaction.
For more insights and an APAC-wide perspective on how IT leaders can fuel employee experience and set companies up for success in the new normal, download The APAC Employee Engagement Report that captures 3,000+ responses from office workers and IT leaders in Australia, Singapore, and India.
And to go digital fast with apps that employees simply love to use, try Salesforce Platform today.
