Harvard Business Analytic Services report: Workflow digitization improves both employee and customer experiences
It’s rare to have almost 90 percent of businesses agree on something. But that’s what happened in a recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey, conducted in association with Adobe and Microsoft.
These numbers are really promising. But they pose an interesting question. If a large majority of respondents know that great employee experiences lead to great customer experiences, and workflow digitization improves the employee experience, why did just 31 percent say they’re good at workflow digitization?
Remove the friction. Improve the experience.
Workflow digitization is the process of converting manual or paper-based systems into digital processes and documents that can be automated and streamlined through software and technology. And with the speed at which business happens today, digitization is essential for keeping up. No wonder 94 percent of those surveyed said it is important to their organization.
When you automate and streamline processes, you boost employee performance, which frees up more time to create exceptional customer experiences. Furthermore, satisfied and engaged employees are more likely to exceed customer expectations.
“Every moment in the employee experience ultimately leads to the customer experience. With workflow digitization, you can improve both.”
– Toni Vanwinkle, vice president, digital employee experience, Adobe
This all makes the question posed earlier even more puzzling: Why do less than a third of organizations do workflow digitization well?
Obstacles and opportunities
The survey surfaced some of the hurdles that businesses face when implementing workflow digitization:
- Difficulties identifying and implementing the right technology
- Employee adoption
- Change management
For most organizations, the path to removing these hurdles is:
- A good workflow digitization strategy
- Solutions that employees can quicky and easily adopt — and will continue using
Get those right, and it’s much easier to solve the top challenges businesses face in delivering great employee experiences. This, in turn, leads to exceptional customer experiences.
Obstacle 1: Breaking down company silos
People often know what’s going on in their own little world, but not necessarily across the organization. Lack of visibility into the end-to-end process creates inefficiencies and roadblocks to great experiences. Furthermore, siloed content means employees spend too much time searching for what they need, leaving them frustrated and unhappy.
Opportunity: Digitized workflows help break down silos, increasing collaboration and efficiency. They improve document access, editing, sharing, and tracking throughout the entire work process. More work gets done — and done well.
Obstacle 2: Keeping employees productive
The shift to remote and hybrid work environments has created concerns around employee productivity, leading many companies to consider bringing employees back to the office. But whether in the office or out, there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Only 43 percent of organizations said they are very effective at enabling asynchronous work. And just half (51 percent) said they’re good at communicating via asynchronous platforms (project management software, work communications tools and email). A lot of this could likely be attributed to quick rollouts during the pandemic without proper integration or employee education. The lack of strategy here was the number one contributing factor in organizations’ challenges regarding the employee experience.
Opportunity: Digitized workflows create a truly connected workplace with seamless collaboration, which helps everyone work smarter and faster — no matter where they are.
Obstacle 3: Streamlining work processes
Almost 40 percent of respondents said the need to streamline work processes was one of their employee experience challenges. Inefficient workflows, wasted time, and delays are negatively impacting the employee experience, as well as how quickly they can roll out great customer experiences.
Opportunity: Workflow digitization provides a modern work experience where people don’t have to leave the tools they’re working in — or their desks — to get answers, assets, and signatures. Work and transactions get done more smoothly. And more quickly.
Better employee experiences make for better customer experiences
Leaders who have implemented workflow digitization are seeing big benefits. By cultivating and supporting strong employee experiences, they’re enjoying increased collaboration and productivity, higher quality work, and enhanced security and data analytics. All of which leads to more engaging and fulfilling customer experiences.