An IT Leader's Guide to Implementing Digital Experience Monitoring

This article was originally published in June 2023 and updated to reflect recent research and advancements in AI capabilities. 

Executives across industries are turning to their IT leaders to improve the digital employee experience (DEX). The problem is that many IT departments lack the visibility, data and actionable insights to make informed decisions about enhancements.

To help IT leaders shift from being reactive to proactive in improving the DEX, many vendors are now offering digital experience monitoring (DEM) that combines real-time analytics, employee sentiment data and AI-powered automated remediation. DEM can be a powerful tool for transforming the DEX and preventing digital disruption for employees when implemented correctly.

The key is to think of DEM as a component of your holistic DEX strategy rather than a point solution. To do so, we've identified five steps IT leaders should follow to support a smooth implementation of DEM and fresh employee experiences. 

1. Align DEX goals with specific metrics

Each organization will have different goals and objectives for improving the DEX. Identifying these goals and objectives allows IT leaders to understand what's most important to track. For example, if an organization is focused on improving workplace culture, it should track employee net promoter scores (eNPS), turnover rates and company ratings as part of DEM.

Remember: You don't need to measure everything; you just need to measure the components that impact your key business outcomes. 

2. Determine what's currently being monitored and establish baselines

Before implementing a DEM solution, IT leaders should understand their starting point. Assess the current state of your digital environment and employee experience. Are you already measuring the metrics you deemed important in Step 1? What tools are currently being used to measure the DEX? Where do you have gaps? 

If key metrics are already being tracked, establish baselines. This will allow IT leaders to show incremental progress and demonstrate the ROI of their DEM solution.

3. Select and rationalize suitable DEM tools

There are dozens of DEM tools on the market today. How do you know what's right for your organization?

Odds are you won't find a single tool that measures everything you need. Instead, IT leaders typically select a set of tools that can work together to provide a holistic view of the DEX. We advise our clients to "crawl, walk, run" when adding DEM tools. Start small by adding a tool that addresses your biggest problem area or gap in measuring the DEX and expand from there. 

You'll also want to evaluate whether your existing DEM tools are worth keeping. If they can't measure the key metrics you identified in Step 1, it may be time to retire them. Avoid tool sprawl, as it only adds unnecessary complexity and costs.

4. Develop processes for monitoring, analyzing and optimizing the DEX

DEM solutions provide IT teams with real-time data insights they've likely never had before. While this information makes it much easier for IT to improve the DEX, leaders should consider how these insights will impact workflows. 

Work with your team to determine protocols for reviewing insights and deploying improvements. Consider answering the following questions:  

• Which alerts and notifications should be addressed immediately?
• How often will we review and act upon DEM insights (daily, weekly, monthly)?
• What are our agreed-upon service-level agreements (SLAs) and experience-level agreements (XLAs)?
• How frequently will we deploy enhancements?
• How will we manage and act on AI-powered alerts and automated remediations?

Setting clear expectations and guidelines helps DEM take root across the IT department and deliver the greatest ROI. 

5. Communicate changes and improvements

Building trust with employees and business stakeholders is key to long-term success. The use of monitoring tools can cause stress, uneasiness and general discomfort for employees if they think their manager is watching their every digital move. One effective way to address these concerns is by explaining why monitoring is being used, communicating improvements and being transparent about the insights revealed through DEM. This shows the rest of the organization that IT's intention is to proactively reduce friction and improve experiences, not police employees.

Consider creating and sharing custom dashboards tailored to specific stakeholders or employee groups that show information related to their experiences. For example, you might create a dashboard that focuses on frontline workers' digital experiences to share with operations leaders.       

Get started today

When it comes to DEM, many IT leaders struggle to determine what to measure to validate their efforts and move the needle for the business. If you're stuck on one of these five steps or need help getting started, request our Digital Employee Experience briefing today. 

Our team can tailor these steps to your organization and discuss how to prioritize key metrics, distill insights using AI and agentic AI, and automate remediation.