Feature
Information Technology (IT) plays a critical role in enhancing digital experiences by enabling personalization, improving performance and ensuring accessibility — at least in theory. While progress has been made in recalibrating the IT role to be more end-user friendly, this understanding hasn't yet become universal. But the potential the IT department can unleash when it leans into digital employee experience (DEX) creates business value throughout an organization.
The Cost of Poor Digital Employee Experience
The ways IT can enhance DEX come in many formats. The introduction of data analytics, AI and adaptive user interfaces allows companies to tailor content and services to individual preferences. By streamlining communication and collaboration tools, IT makes daily tasks more efficient and user-friendly. Strong integrations between cloud-based platforms can help ensure seamless communication and teamwork, in the hopes of improving productivity.
The counter to this is the impact poor DEX can have on employees and as a result, the business. The importance of this cannot be overestimated. Modern workplaces are increasingly digital, and according to research from Scalable Software published in May, poor DEX wipes out nearly four hours a week for the average employee.
The cause of these "lost" hours include non-performant technology, unnecessarily complicated digital processes and notification overload from a host of applications, all leading to digital friction.
That this is happening isn't a surprise. More recently, Scalable research also found that in spite of the substantial investments companies have made into digital technology to facilitate connectivity among hybrid employees, the user experience often remains unclear, which Gartner refers to as a "black box" for numerous companies.
This is where IT-driven DEX enters the picture. Initially rooted in the historical monitoring practices of IT teams, the insights derived from DEX data now benefit multiple departments across the business.
Related Article: EX Problems? Enter the Digital Employee Experience Management Platform
The Close Alignment Between IT and DEX
The relationship between IT and DEX is closely aligned, as both are essential for enhancing the overall employee experience, Pranjali Ajay Parse a data scientist at Autodesk within the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) team, told Reworked. IT focuses on ensuring that systems and infrastructure run efficiently, while DEX aims to improve how employees interact with digital tools to boost productivity and reduce frustration, she said.
“In my work at Autodesk, for one of our digital platforms projects, we gathered key metrics from gigabytes of data related to digital activity to power tools that help 10,000s of employees visualize and improve their work habits, such as reducing burnout and improving collaboration,” she said.
She points to Microsoft research as an example. Microsoft studied the impact excessive meetings have on workers and found they contribute to fatigue and burnout. Notably they found some companies where workers spent over 85% of their time in meetings, which led to digital exhaustion.
By analyzing these patterns, companies can reduce meeting overload and help employees make better use of their time, improving overall productivity and well-being, Ajay Parse continued.
“IT plays a vital role in maintaining the systems that collect this data, while DEX ensures these insights are presented in ways that employees can easily understand and act upon,” she added.
Although IT is already collaborating with DEX, Ajay Parse sees the relationship becoming even more integrated in the future, with IT playing a proactive role in shaping the digital employee experience. The shift will see IT move beyond maintaining systems to collaborating closely with DEX in creating intuitive tools that enhance productivity and well-being.
IT’s role will increasingly focus on creating seamless and personalized digital experiences that align with how employees work, whether through better integration of tools, smarter workflows, or improved accessibility. “Rather than just maintaining systems, IT will be key in providing innovative solutions that foster creativity, collaboration, and engagement, ensuring that employees can thrive in a digital-first environment,” Ajay Parse said.
IT Shifts From Firefighting to Project-Focused Workloads
IT also has a role in the deeper integration of applications into workflows and business processes, Last Mile's Dan Udale-Forrester said. He shared how important strong integration across systems is, flagging the transfer of information between HR and payroll systems as a case in point.
“Companies are desperate to move away from the limitations of spreadsheets and move towards information rights management where the data journey of a document can be captured, tagged and version controlled,” he said. "The bigger picture is that there is a need for a 'single pane of glass,' one system to rule them all.”
Companies are looking to leverage APIs and other connectors to connect multiple data sources into intelligent systems that can better inform the leadership teams that steer the ship, and help them to make better decisions, Udale-Forrester continued.
“IT departments these days are about joining and making partnerships with the business seeking out their requirements on what is needed to make sure that operationally they are as efficient as possible,” he said.
He's seen IT teams shift towards project-focused workloads rather than business as usual work. “We prioritize what can make a lasting impact to working lives, rather than the firefighting we might've done in the past.”
Related Article: Don't Let Your Company's Digital Tools Sabotage the Employee Experience
One Way to Be an IT Superhero? Reduce the Need for Context Switching
Localizey CTO Aleksa Krstić also highlights the need for stronger integrations, saying the focus should be on designing digital solutions that facilitate easier integration of various applications. This will allow IT to create a solution that minimizes the need for switching between multiple tools, thus reducing the cognitive load for completing everyday tasks.
“It's easier said than done, but those who achieve this will undoubtedly be recognized and appreciated by their users,” he said.
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These problems don’t arise in isolation either, he added. Addressing the issue of data silos, where information is isolated and disconnected, has been a longstanding challenge. Creating a tool or solution that fits every use case is difficult, leading to a proliferation of independent applications. Integration represents a natural first step in addressing this issue.
Imagine, he said, using just two tools instead of five each day, with repetitive data automatically synchronized through integrations.
“As for the issues of crashes, frequent freezes, slow load times, and notification overload, these are more straightforward to solve,” he said. “They require a greater investment in design and development. Producing higher quality software products could mitigate these issues to a significant degree.”