It’s time to stop talking about DEX and start delivering

Now is the time for organisations to prioritise the digital employee experience (DEX). Tim Christensen, CTO at SocialChorus, explains why.

The last 12 months have seen many organisations digital transformation plans accelerated by years.

We have seen numerous barriers to remote working removed, and hybrid working is clearly our new normal. We have seen an increased appreciation of our frontline workers and recognition of the need to communicate with all employees equally.

As a result, many CIOs are now talking and thinking about the digital employee experience (DEX) and how to achieve it. There is a deepening understanding of why it is so critical to business success, recognising that the employee experience directly impacts customer experience, affecting revenue.

All of this is great news. Every employee deserves to have an excellent and equal, digital experience at work. And yet, while many business leaders are now engaged in the DEX conversation, they are yet to take action needed to deliver this personalised digital engagement for the whole workforce, with many frontline workers still being marginalised when it comes to business communications.

So what is holding IT leaders back from making the changes to ensure that every worker receives personalised digital communications that meet them where they are, regardless of role, location, or shift pattern?

Of course, it’s not an easy problem to solve. It is much more tricky than engaging with those who sit behind a laptop, and it will, of course, take time and money.

At present, IT is predominantly thought of, and thinking of themselves as a cost centre. This means that it is usually about trying to keep costs low while meeting targets. But the only way we will see that transformation materialise is if we flip this on its head. We need to start thinking of IT as a revenue driver.

This means being judged on businesses measurables. Which, in the past, has been difficult as there hasn’t been the data across the business to draw meaningful conclusions about how IT decisions translate into revenue – which links back to the need to reach all employees. If you don’t have data on half of your workforce, how can you?

This is where DEX comes in.

The very thing that IT leaders are wavering over jumping into is what will give them that clear, tangible data that shows that they have the capability to drive business performance, and ultimately, revenue.

A best-in-class DEX system will enable businesses to engage with the entire workforce and give data on those interactions and the resultant action. Meaning that it becomes easy to see the impact of business decisions as they filter down the line.

It’s now time to take the leap from talking about DEX to delivering a truly excellent employee experience for all. With every employee online, and systems being used by all, there will be an abundance of rich data, which will return solid measurables.

Communicating equally with all employees in a personalised way that enables them to do their jobs to the best of their ability isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ — it’s a business essential. The issue is quickly ramping up in employees’ eyes, who are increasingly expecting the same customised digital experience in work that they experience in their personal lives.

READ MORE:

• Proofpoint: why email is the top cybersecurity threat in 2021
• Supporting your remote workforce: cloud migration for your business in five steps
• SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2021: Building a Secure Future
• Snow Software on cybersecurity trends and challenges in 2021

Organisations who take steps now to make an excellent digital employee experience a reality for their business will be the ones to reap the benefits of enhanced levels of employee engagement – including employee retention, talent attraction, the ability to cascade important messages quickly and easily, and of course – the impact on the bottom line.

For more news from Top Business Tech, don’t forget to subscribe to our daily bulletin!

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter