Editorial
Technology moves fast. That speed, coupled with mounting workloads, looming deadlines, noisy notifications and multiple meetings on the calendar can make it difficult for employees to adjust to necessary tech changes and updates.
At the same time, IT teams currently face the challenge of accommodating five distinct generations in the workplace: the silent generation, baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z. Each generation may have unique expectations of their workplace digital employee experience (DEX), which is determined by comfort levels surrounding technology and user preferences.
Closing the generational gap and catering to a diverse workforce will require organizations to implement several innovative strategies to ensure IT remains inclusive and adaptable. IT teams can achieve this balancing act by taking a proactive stance with IT support, harnessing data for insight and providing user-friendly solutions.
Generational Differences
As digital natives, Gen Z and millennials are often naturals when it comes to adapting to technology. Not only can they quickly navigate the latest software updates, but they are also most likely to get up to speed on a new device or system update with little to no training. Based on my own experience as the dad of a Gen Z’er, I know rapid tech changes don’t often faze them; in fact, they expect it. And because Gen Z and millennials will make up 75% of the workforce in 2025, meeting their digital needs now is vital to any organization’s future success.
For earlier generations like mine, however, the digital employee experience is less about streamlined efficiency and cutting-edge technology. Instead, we tend not to be huge fans of constant tech changes.
Despite various preferences and comfort levels, today’s work landscape relies on digital technology. From hiring and payroll, to communication and productivity, digital technology is everywhere. In order for it to work efficiently and effectively across generations, organizations must ensure their employees are set up with devices, software and apps that are not only functional, but also capable of providing consumer-like experiences.
The goal, really, is to make employees unaware of their tech stack — as if it’s a seamless extension of themselves, much like our phones. That’s because calling attention to tech often means a problem has popped up.
Related Article: Why Gen Z Shouldn’t Dictate Your Collaboration Culture
Proactive IT Support
Increased reliance on technology also means increased risk of business disruption. As a result, organizations must move from a traditionally reactive IT posture to a proactive stance. This is especially true when it comes to meeting the diverse needs of all employees.
In reactive IT, teams prioritize repairs made after a problem is reported or after there is a major outage that impacts a lot of users. With a proactive stance, IT teams focus on preventative measures to combat incidents before they turn into problems. Transitioning to proactive IT ensures that technology caters to each generation's diverse preferences, expectations and comfort zones, promoting inclusivity and productivity.
Digital natives may feel more comfortable tackling issues on their own. While this seems productive, it leaves room for errors and can create data blindness because users are acting as shadow IT. This is known as the dark estate, or when IT teams lack visibility over their entire IT environment. Furthermore, speaking from personal experience, Gen Zers are not likely to endure a phone call to the IT help desk and may even think a company is behind the times if that’s the norm for resolving tech issues. Earlier generations who may be taking similar actions, or who are unaware of issues, also contribute to this data blindness by not speaking up when problems arise.
By implementing proactive monitoring, IT teams can reduce costly support desk issues and outages while simultaneously improving the end-user experience. Additionally, data visibility is increased with proactive monitoring and can help lower help desk ticket volumes, reduce downtime, increase user productivity and improve overall employee satisfaction. Proactive monitoring based on automated incident detection allows level one and level two service agents to prioritize issues based on severity.
Harness Data for Insight
By harnessing robust data from endpoints, organizations can identify and support employees who may be struggling silently with device performance. Analytics provide visibility into IT problems employees may be facing, quickly providing solutions to support and meet employees where they are. And adding intelligent support options based on AI models enables companies to start bridging knowledge gaps. This makes it so that IT teams no longer need to be specialized in one area of IT, or an inch deep and a mile wide in their knowledge.
In terms of support for end users, data insights about the digital employee experience can help IT teams to deliver the right digital tools and software to the right employees. With this information, IT teams can improve the organization’s DEX strategy to minimize employee downtime, device latency and end-user frustration. In the long run, customer satisfaction improves as a result.
Furthermore, data delivers the necessary metrics to determine IT health, uncovering gaps in an organization’s tech stack, showing areas for improvement and highlighting areas that are performing well. With complete visibility across an IT estate, IT teams become aware of the issues that can potentially impact end-user productivity, making proactive adjustments to suit each individual’s needs.
Related Article: Engage Next-Generation Leaders in Responsible Tech Efforts
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User-Friendly Solutions
With technology becoming increasingly integrated into daily work, user-friendly solutions simplify the adoption and use of tools, reducing barriers and frustration. A proactive approach enhances productivity and job satisfaction, particularly among generations who may be less tech-savvy, by making technology more accessible and intuitive. Moreover, as digital-native generations often embrace newer technologies, user-friendly solutions bridge the generational gap, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing across age groups, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious and productive workplace.
For digital natives in particular, user-friendly technology is critical to incorporate elements of the consumer experience to DEX. Millennials and Gen Z employees have become accustomed to a frictionless digital experience that includes fast download speeds and the ability to choose and customize their devices. This control is especially true for a distributed workforce that prefers flexibility.
Organizations ultimately can translate these expectations into the consumer experience, ensuring all employees, regardless of their generation, have the tools they need to provide seamless digital experiences that are personalized, secure and reliable.
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