DIGITAL EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
Experience required As many businesses struggle to recruit and retain employees, more emphasis is being placed on digital employee experience as a means of keeping staff happy. It has a wide scope, and it is something resellers should be paying attention to.
For many businesses, regardless of the sector they operate in and the size of the business, finding talented employees is difficult. Manpower reported that 75% of employers find difficulties in filling roles – double the figure reported in 2015. This means that businesses are focusing more than ever on having a proposition for employees that attracts the best employees and helps to retain them too, and digital employee experience (DEX) is a vital part of this. “The cumulative effect of employees becoming disengaged, difficulty attracting younger workers and a disconnect between what’s on offer and the working environments that staff want, mean that the challenge of attracting and retaining staff today is significant,” says Matt Hudson, presales director at Ultima. “Improving employee morale and satisfaction isn't just a nice- to-have; it's a fundamental necessity for businesses aiming for sustainable success and growth. DEX is critical for nurturing employees to avoid talent leakage.” Austin Ayres, head of global partners at Lakeside Software, adds a hybrid workforce model is also important when considering DEX. “It will be imperative that companies ensure that the DEX is the same whether the employee is working from home or in the office. The transition to and from must be seamless, or employees will get frustrated and lose productivity. No one working from home will want to log in to 10 systems to get the same access at home as in the office. “Take something as seemingly simple as battery health; its impact on device performance will continue to be super important as employees carry their laptop between environments and can lead to hard and soft dollar value impacts for clients.” To optimise DEX, businesses need to focus on providing a seamless, user-friendly and consistent digital experience across various work environments, Austin adds. “This includes adopting a proactive approach
to IT, allowing IT teams to address issues related to access, performance, and security. Investments in automation, AI and self-service options can enable faster issue resolution,” he says. Importance of parity Boom Collaboration co-founder Fredrik Hörnkvist adds that hardware is a vital consideration in DEX. “A poor employee digital experience can have a big impact in so many ways,” he says. “Low quality end points can undermine an expensive platform which then leads to a poor user and customer experience. Everything begins to unravel. Not being seen and heard clearly provokes a ripple effect that has far reaching consequences for productivity and even extra IT support being required. “Take an inbuilt camera on a laptop compared to a high-quality professional webcam. There’s no contest. Employees can feel siloed, unengaged, a separate entity of the unit and start to look for a better, more inclusive cultural fit elsewhere. “Meeting equity and parity is very important. Using higher quality devices keeps people engaged and limits these natural barriers. “There are lots of factors that need to combine, not just high-quality end points. Good network connectivity, IT support and wider user platforms that are engaging and easy to use are all needed to optimise the experience. Training and education matter too. You can have the best equipment in the world but if no one can use it, it becomes worthless. “Remote workers need the correct tools to do their job wherever they are working – from laptops to end points. Our advice is to use equipment that is backed by longer warranties for complete reassurance. Simplicity and flexibility will be the way forward in 2024 in the office and elsewhere.” Richard Howson, partner account manager at Evolve IP, adds that platform integrity, security, and reliability as well as ease of
Matt Hudson
ultima.com
Austin Ayers
lakesidesoftware.com
Fredril Hörnkvist
boomcollaboration.com
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