A digital key can unlock any door - including organisational efficiency

It’s now generally accepted that employee experience (EX) now matters just as much as CX - yet employee disengagement continues to run rife across all sectors. Gallup’s research found that 85% of the global workforce are actively disengaged, equating to more than $7tn in lost productivity. 

Headlines around ‘Quiet Quitting’ abound. Hybrid working models - including four-day weeks and work-from-home schemes - have been introduced to try and meet employee expectations and reduce staff churn. But they don’t get to the heart of the problem of removing the menial and labour-intensive tasks that can be so disheartening. 

Digital transformation can unlock greater organisational efficiency and optimise processes and operations. Investing in seamless internal processes and prioritising where teams can concentrate the bulk of their time is the first step towards spreading positive engagement across your business. 

(Technological) progress never stops

Organisations see building the perfect team and attracting the best talent as being key to delivering success. And this is true - on paper. 

Maximising employees’ potential and allowing them to add value to the business, in reality, starts by assigning them to the right tasks. Bombarding them with menial administrative duties isn’t just poor time management - it can be detrimental to both morale and productivity. 

Embracing greater automation and replacing disparate legacy systems with modern, innovative tech-solutions can put an end to this - provided it is properly integrated with employees’ workflows. Organisations need to invest in developing a seamless user experience (UX) for their teams, just as they would when building a customer-facing application. 

Spending money on tech won’t automatically solve your problems - it needs to be optimised for the specific users. Content management system (CMS) platforms such as Umbraco and Sitecore, for example, allow users to create, maintain and adapt website content with ease. Their simple user interfaces ensure anyone can use them and give creative-oriented employees the opportunity to focus their talents on tasks more aligned to their skillsets. 

Disruptive challenger brands have sent shockwaves across all sectors - and it is time for long-established brands to take notes. Digitally-mature market leaders shouldn’t be content with standing still. Google is a titan in the tech space yet remains committed to innovation. It recently announced that Assistant and Calendar will be integrated with Tasks - unifying these siloed platforms should deliver an unrivalled UX.

Digital transformation projects can appear daunting - they require bravery. Appointing an experienced digital partner that understands the finer details of revamping digital architecture and overhauling outdated systems should take the weight off of your own IT team. And this is where Shout Digital enters into the picture. 

Experience really is the best teacher

Shout specialises in delivering digital experiences which impact people’s day-to-day lives and we understand that digital transformations should be driven by the needs of the audience, whether that is the customer or your internal team. 

Parkdean, the UK’s largest holiday park operation, has an unwavering focus on delivering a quality customer experience. Its digital estate contributes over £100m in revenue every year. The business, however, recognised that siloed legacy systems were hindering its ability to deliver a cohesive user journey. 

We collaborated with Parkdean’s internal experts to gain an in-depth understanding of the business’ existing infrastructure. This allowed us to identify prime areas for improvement. Our work was comprehensive - from migrating the company’s digital estate to Sitecore 10 and building an Azure Integration Services (AIS) platform to providing ongoing technical support across the programme roadmap and building new infrastructure.

And our expertise isn’t limited to the leisure & tourism sector. Northumbrian Water (NWL) previously approached us for a mobile application that would consolidate its extensive network of field operatives’ work management activities in a single location. The app, which incorporated the Azure Cloud app service and Microsoft Xamarin, tackled NWL’s three core issues: 

1. Personnel Coordination: employees could seamlessly monitor their workloads and update task progression
2. Task Management: geo-location technology allowed employees to choose jobs based on proximity; QR codes were implemented to quickly and efficiently deliver comprehensive job information
3. Customer Communication: employees could rely on in-app calls and texts to negate the need to trawl through the system for unique customer information

Looking for a digital partner? 

100 years have passed since Coolidge’s call to organisational arms and his lesson continues to resonate throughout the business world. Eliminating ineffective workflows and introducing seamless internal processes should be an ongoing priority. And investing in digital transformation can make this a reality. 

Technology is the great enabler. Its ability to help businesses achieve specific, tangible KPIs is rivalled only by the way it spreads positive employee engagement. And it is this engagement boost which will gradually fuel productivity-based improvements throughout your business. 

Shout Digital delivers exceptional digital experiences which transform lives - both for brands and consumers. To find out more about how we can guide your digital transformation, get in touch today.