Partner POV | Eliminate digital friction

This article was written and provided by Omnissa. 

Make sure technology is a help, not a hindrance

Digital friction is the extra effort employees or customers must exert when using technology to do their work. Unexpected technology shutdowns or malfunctions, difficulty accessing business tools and apps, and time spent waiting for a response from the helpdesk are all forms of digital friction.

Employees expect technology to make their lives easier, so when they encounter complexity and delays it can be exceedingly frustrating, especially in our tech-reliant and productivity-focused world. Digital friction negatively impacts digital employee experience (DEX)—the ability of employees to be productive with the hardware, software, and networks they use on the job.

Investing in a DEX solution can help enhance the employee experience for both IT teams and the larger organization. Adding tools to streamline work and keep employees productive can improve engagement, satisfaction, and retention—and ultimately greatly benefit your organization.

Choose a DEX solution based on your organizational goals

This guide walks through the common ways a DEX solution can fix problems and improve employee experiences in your organization, then examines specific features and capabilities you might want to consider.

Find the right DEX solution

The goal is simple: Make it easier for your employees to use the apps and tools they need to do their jobs. To achieve this, you'll need a DEX solution that can:

* Use advanced analytics to provide deep insights and automations for your entire digital workspace. 

* Harness AI to proactively identify issues, perform root cause analysis, and quickly remediate.

* Get clear visibility into your systems with an organization-level experience score and deeper historical reports and dashboards.

* Collect data from multiple sources, including your end users, devices, and network, to provide insights into predictive actions.

* Automate policies and remediate systems across the entire ecosystem.

* Collect usage statistics to inform license negotiations and understand employee behavior.

* Identify the root cause of blue screens and poor app performance, and push fixes to bring employees back to full productivity.

* Find hardware issues in near real time and correlate across hundreds of data points.

* Automate actions such as ordering new batteries and alerting users.

Leverage emerging trends, commit to continuous improvement, and position your company for success. Pinpoint opportunities for growth, then harness the power of AI and machine learning to future-proof your infrastructure and stay ahead of the curve.

Enhance usability and intuitiveness

Providing employees with user-friendly, intuitive software and apps reduces the learning curve and minimizes frustration. Simplified interfaces and consistent user experiences ensure that employees can perform tasks efficiently and without unnecessary obstacles. Here's what to look for:

* Tools that streamline and consolidate, eliminating redundancies and reducing the need for employees to juggle multiple platforms.

* Centralized operations to help drive smoother workflows, optimize the use of resources, and empower your team to achieve more with less effort.

* The ability for employees to switch seamlessly between tasks, platforms, apps, and devices.

* A scalable solution that can grow with your organization, adapting to new needs, integrating additional features, and handling increased user demand without sacrificing performance.

A streamlined and centralized set of tools is the cornerstone for fostering collaboration, making it easy for employees to connect, share information, and make decisions together in real time. Adding automation empowers your workforce to prioritize high-value tasks

and work more effectively.

Personalize digital environments

Offering digital experiences that are personalized for individual roles, preferences, and workflows can reduce friction by ensuring that employees have quick access to the tools, apps, and resources they need to perform their unique tasks efficiently. Here's what to look for:

* Seamlessly integrated tools that allow employees to transition smoothly between tasks without disruption.

* AI and automation to streamline routine tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic activities.

* Analytics capabilities that provide valuable, data-driven insights into how digital tools are being used, helping your organization identify opportunities for improvement and optimization.

The right technological tools enable your DEX solution to enhance efficiency, reduce friction in daily workflows, and provide actionable insights that drive continuous improvement in the digital workplace.

Automate repetitive tasks

Leveraging automation to handle repetitive tasks such as data entry, report generation, and workflow approvals helps reduce digital friction and free your employees and IT staff to focus on higher-value activities.

IT support

Simplify password recovery and resets to reduce helpdesk tickets. Automate software deployments, updates, and new device onboarding for faster setup. Proactively manage support by categorizing IT tickets from system alerts and conducting regular device and app health checks for optimal performance.

Security

Keep systems secure and up to date with automated patch deployment. Protect sensitive data by remotely locking or wiping lost devices. Detect unusual activity patterns and flag for review. Adjust tool access automatically based on role or department changes. Ensure up-to-date employee profiles and permissions across platforms. Streamline MFA rollout and enforcement across all accounts. Isolate compromised devices immediately upon detecting threats. Enforce device compliance, and automate encryption and endpoint protection to stay within regulatory standards.

Lifecycle management

Automate device setup and decommissioning for new hires or departures. Continuously track device and app performance, and trigger alerts if thresholds are exceeded. Send alerts about potential issues like low storage or outdated software. Monitor license usage, reallocate unused licenses, and automatically uninstall deprecated or unused software from devices.

Improve IT support and self-service options

Fast and efficient IT support reduces downtime when digital tools fail. By offering self-service troubleshooting options and a robust helpdesk, your organization can eliminate delays, minimize frustration, and keep productivity high.

Faster incident resolution

DEX tools monitor device and app performance, spotting potential issues early. When problems arise, IT Service Management (ITSM) helpdesks receive diagnostic data on device health, software, and network performance. The root cause analysis tool then suggests or automates fixes,

minimizing the need for manual intervention.

Smarter ticket management

Automate ticket creation and categorization in ITSM systems based on anomalies or employee reports, improving accuracy and efficiency. Helpdesk teams can prioritize tickets by impact and urgency to address critical issues first and take preemptive actions on potential problems like software updates or hardware failures.

ITSM helpdesk: With a DEX-integrated ITSM platform, you can enable consistent support for your distributed workforce and help ensure a high-quality experience. Analyze trends, recurring issues, underlying problems, and reduce the frequency of incidents.

Monitor and optimize performance

By continuously monitoring digital tool performance and collecting feedback from employees, your organization can identify and address bottlenecks, crashes, or slow applications. Proactive optimization helps reduce the frustration caused by sluggish or unreliable systems.

Before you can improve DEX, you need to accurately assess your current standing to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Here's how:

* Usage analytics – Analyze how digital tools and platforms are being used. Metrics such as login frequency, feature usage, and time spent on tools

provide insights into their effectiveness.

* Performance metrics – Evaluate the impact of digital tools on productivity, collaboration, and employee satisfaction. Look for correlations between tool usage and business outcomes.

A thorough assessment will provide a clear picture of your current DEX, enabling you to make informed decisions and prioritize areas for enhancement.

Provide regular training and user-friendly interfaces

Offering ongoing training and resources ensures that employees understand how to use their digital tools effectively. Providing updates on new features or workflow optimizations can help your employees stay productive and avoid friction caused by lack of knowledge.

Inclusion is fundamental to creating a supportive workplace where everyone can contribute and thrive. Offer your employees multiple communication channels to accommodate different preferences and needs. Develop and enforce policies that promote flexible working hours, diversity training, and equal opportunity initiatives. Here are some things to consider:

* Responsive design – Ensure that digital tools and platforms are responsive and accessible on various devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This flexibility allows employees to work effectively from any location.

* Continuous improvement – Regularly gather user feedback and conduct usability testing to identify pain points and areas for improvement. Use this information to make iterative enhancements to the digital workplace.

By providing a well-optimized user experience, you can increase efficiency and free your employees to focus on high-value tasks.

Leverage data and analytics

Using data analytics to track how employees interact with digital tools can help identify friction points, such as systems that are underperforming or processes that take too long. This information can help your organization make informed decisions and continuously refine the digital experience.

Analyze how often and in what ways employees use various tools to determine what types of resources you should invest in next. Identify which features are popular and which features are underutilized. Examine patterns in behavior, such as peak usage in common workflows, to optimize tool performance and accessibility.

Use DEX to collect and analyze feedback from employees to understand preferences and pain points. Sentiment analysis can highlight areas of concern.

Key metrics for DEX success

* Employee engagement – Measure engagement levels through surveys, feedback forms, and participation rates in company activities. High engagement indicates a positive DEX.

* Productivity metrics – Track productivity indicators such as task completion rates, project timelines, and output quality. Enhanced productivity often reflects an effective digital workspace.

* Tool adoption rates – Monitor the usage of digital tools and platforms. High adoption rates suggest that the tools are user friendly and meeting employee needs.

* Employee satisfaction – Conduct regular satisfaction surveys to gauge overall happiness with the digital workplace environment. Metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) can provide valuable insights.

By tracking these metrics, you can identify strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring your DEX solution effectively supports employee engagement and productivity.

Tools to continuously improve DEX

Omnissa's DEX solution includes advanced products and services to help you constantly refine the employee experience. For example, Omnissa Intelligence offers historical reports, dashboards, workflows, and integrations with third-party apps that enable you to monitor and analyze tool usage and employee interactions. You can then use these insights to optimize your digital tools and processes, and continually enhance the digital

workplace to better meet employee needs.

Invest in DEX for better business outcomes investing in DEX isn't just a tech upgrade, it's a strategic imperative that directly impacts

organizational success.

*  Enhanced productivity – A well-designed DEX minimizes disruptions, allowing employees to focus on high-value tasks and drive business growth.

* Increased employee satisfaction – Giving employees access to intuitive and supportive digital tools increases job satisfaction, leading to higher engagement and better performance.

* Talent retention – A robust DEX attracts and retains top talent, as employees are more likely to stay with organizations that provide a superior digital experience.

* Competitive advantage – Organizations that prioritize DEX are better positioned to adapt to changing market conditions, innovate, and maintain a competitive edge.

With all this to gain, now is the right time to start assessing your organizational needs and identifying the right solutions to support process and outcome improvements.