Does your business need a DEX strategy?

Employees today interface with technology more than ever before, whether they work in the office or from home, which is why it’s become increasingly important for employers to craft a digital employee experience (DEX) strategy.

A DEX strategy refers to the experience of employees when it comes to the technology they use for work, whether that’s software or hardware.

“There’s a good DEX and a negative DEX, and where you find your organization depends on the extent to which technology either enables or inhibits your staff being able to get their work done,” explains Andrew Hewitt, a principal analyst at Forrester.

In today’s working world, a strategy for understanding, measuring, and constantly improving DEX is essential to running an effective workforce. IT leaders are increasingly investing in DEX tools that collect and combine qualitative measurement (employee feedback) with quantitative measurement (performance, stability, and use) of technology to better understand their organizational position.

“There’s a growing wealth of data about employees’ workstyles, workplaces, productivity, friction, and activity,” says Gartner VP analyst Dan Wilson. “A DEX discipline turns the noise of telemetry and sentiment into insights – what we call workstyle analytics – while still protecting employee privacy.”

Why a DEX strategy matters

A DEX strategy uses best practices for digital experience, such as personas, journey mapping, and voice of the employee (VoE), to boost digital dexterity and help employees deliver against business outcomes, and is essential for a number of things, including attracting and retaining talent.

As remote workers represent more of the working world, with around 63% of those surveyed for Forbes Advisor indicating they work remotely for some or all of their week, it’s especially important that employers take DEX into account. If employees aren’t in the office altogether, their only interactions with their organization will be via work-provided systems.

According to Wilson, workers who say that their relationship with IT involves more than break/fix support are twice as likely to recommend their organization as a good place to work, while those who are satisfied with the applications, service, and devices they receive from IT are three times as likely to want to stay and grow in their roles as those who are dissatisfied.

Improving your organization’s DEX is also likely to lead to a rise in employee engagement, maximizing workforce productivity.

“A holistic, coordinated approach to DEX across IT and non-IT partners can minimize digital friction, reduce silos and maximize workforce digital dexterity and wellbeing,” Wilson notes.

Organizations with a strong DEX strategy can create better working environments where employees feel supported by the tools and technology they rely on. This in turn leads to faster decision-making, improved innovation, and enhanced collaboration.

Wilson adds that there’s direct correlation between improving DEX and a company’s bottom line, citing fewer IT tickets, less downtime, and more streamlined workflows.

“These capabilities allow employees to work more seamlessly together and accelerate onboarding efforts for new team members,” says Roman Ptakowski, chief commercial officer of CX at digital consultancy Bridgenext. “Measuring the efficacy of employee tools allows companies to understand what works and where the friction lies, enabling targeted investments in technologies that yield the highest returns on employee productivity and satisfaction.”

Taking a proactive approach to DEX

Organizations looking at a DEX strategy should begin with their service desk and ITSM tools, taking a proactive approach to employees’ experience with technology. In other words, they’re not waiting for members of staff to report a problem, they’re using the data coming out of their technology to fix issues as they arise.

“A large share of clients are focusing on automation and proactive remediation with their service desk, and that’s often a good entry point for DEX,” Hewitt notes. “That’s because it brings that data-centric story into how you’re running your organization.”

Those companies with the most mature DEX strategies and are now considering it across multiple elements of the technology stack, Hewitt says, as well as beginning to expand outside it. He notes this is where it becomes a business-wide initiative, with IT collaborating much more closely with different departments.

“A very small percentage of organizations are at this level today, but we expect that to continue to grow, with multiple different parties within the organization having a role in DEX,” Hewitt says. “Although IT will play a significant role, in terms of choosing, deploying, securing and managing the technology, HR, executives, facilities and communications, etc also have a role to play, because if you want a full transformation, then it has to be an enterprise-wide initiative,” he notes.

How to develop a robust DEX strategy

For those looking to develop a DEX strategy for their organization, experts advise beginning with a baseline assessment of your current digital environment, including tools and processes, as this will help you identify the areas that need improvement.

From here there are then four core components to consider, says Hewitt.

“These are the people in charge, the insights I’m collecting around the experience, the new metrics I’m using to gauge whether I’m successful or not, and finally, governance. For example, how do I make sure I’m keeping costs in check?”

Your insights and metrics are particularly important to put into place, he says, as these enable you to understand what an employee’s daily journey looks like, what their experience currently looks like, and what their preferences are, and work out how to design that.

“You need to have the insights and unique metrics in order to really drive that needle forward when it comes to their digital experience,” he points out.

It’s important to keep in mind that employees’ digital experiences may differ greatly dependent on their role – for example, a developer will use very different tools to that of a general knowledge worker. A strategy will need to include several different personas, but there will be common features that appear across them all. For example, they’ll all need some kind of device, to be able to collaborate, submit expense reports, etc.

It’s important to keep in mind that your employees’ digital experience may differ greatly according to their role. For example, a developer will use very different tools to that of a general knowledge worker. Any strategy will need to cater to a range of personas, but there will be common features that appear across them all. For example, they’ll all need quality devices, opportunities to collaborate, clear guidance on submitting tickets i.e. for IT and expense reports, etc.

“I often find organizations start there and try to address the majority of the workforce with a more general persona. Then, when you get to more specific personas, like let’s say creatives or executives, you want to be a little more nuanced and see if there’s room for higher budget technology or more choice,” Hewitt advises.

He concludes by noting that an important piece of the puzzle not to overlook is the people component. He advises organizations to have a dedicated person that is responsible and accountable for DEX and has seen many organizations recruit a VP for DEX. These are often employees with a history in user experience (UX) research and data science.

“If you want to make a substantive change, then you’ve got to think about the organizational component when you invest in this. Otherwise, there’s a risk that it will just fall off your organization’s radar.”