I have spent the bulk of my career focusing on improving the customer experience. However, with my new position at 7signal.comes an interesting twist…a focus on the digital worker experience. In other words, your employees. In many ways, the same principles apply. When satisfied, digital workers demonstrate loyalty by performing at peak levels and contributing effectively. However, when IT services are sub-par, it affects attitude, which affects job performance. For those of us who manage customer-facing employees, this is a huge risk. Below are 3 tips to improve the experience for your employees in this digital age.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a driving force causing major changes in the marketplace. Many IT professionals have resisted because of security concerns. While it is certainly your job to have these concerns, it is also paramount that you get on board. To deny employees of their most personal possessions of productivity is foolhardy and a revolt in the making. Digital workers are most productive when they can be fast and efficient…and they are most efficient using the smartphones, laptops and tablets of their choosing, the ones they use every day to run every aspect of their lives. It has reached critical mass and our devices are truly a part of us now. Working with this trend instead of against it is both wise and productive. So, do the legwork required to address your security concerns and support this trend.
Mobility describes more than just something we do. Rather, it defines who and what we are as human beings. We are mobile. During the day we are constantly on-the-go and in pursuit of serving our customers. At night, we are serving our friends and families. To support this, we must have reliable Wi-Fi. The "Internet of Things" is upon us as interconnectedness and the growth of wireless devices is exploding. Highly reliable Wi-Fi networks will provide organizations with a competitive advantage because it increases workforce productivity and reduces the business risk associated with dropped calls and failed transactions between you and your customers. Therefore, explore and invest in solutions that will continually optimize your wireless network and ensure peak performance. Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly critical to a new generation of workers who simply expect it to work well all the time.
UC systems are not new. However, are you promoting its features and benefits? Are you encouraging adoption so that you can realize the return on investment you adamantly once believed in? You don’t have to be a salesperson, but using the capabilities of the system, such as presence, and demonstrating to others how it can increase their personal productivity is no hard sell. It's just being helpful.
As business and IT professionals, we serve our internal or external customers best when we can reliably and efficiently perform our jobs. When we get frustrated due to degraded services and poor quality of experience, it bleeds through in the form of a poor attitude towards our customers. But with some careful attention to detail, the quality of experience can remain high and this will translate into elevated productivity and improved overall customer service.