Employee Experience: The Missing Ingredient in Digital Transformation

Ivanti’s Digital Experience Research Report Series

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IT leaders are under intense pressure to deliver digital transformation. Ivanti’s research shows how companies can optimize transformation by prioritizing digital employee experience (DEX).

Digital employee experience falls under the radar

Successful digital transformation requires a positive end-user experience, but most organizations still don’t prioritize digital employee experience (DEX) as a critical variable.

When organizations refer to “digital transformation,” they are often referring to disruptions to both technical infrastructure and internal workflows — and these changes don’t just affect IT teams; they also affect employees. Managed well, digital transformation drives higher efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, it can also be a source of stress for end users, who may feel overwhelmed by new technologies and processes.

It stands to reason that measuring digital employee experience (DEX) should be a critical part of digital transformation. DEX refers to the way employees interact with their organization’s digital environment — be it hardware, software, help-desk support or myriad other touchpoints.

Managing DEX is a key effort because DEX influences so many aspects of work performance.

In fact, nearly all (97%) non-IT leaders agree that effectively managed DEX positively impacts employee productivity — whether through streamlined workflows, improved collaboration, reduced downtime or a host of other performance improvements.

And yet … in a study of IT and security professionals, just 29% say improving DEX is a strategic priority for their team — far behind issues like optimizing costs or implementing AI and automation.



Why the contradiction?  

Clearly, making IT operations more efficient is a major push for many organizations — for example, automating aspects of the service desk, or remotely monitoring application and device performance. These investments can also positively impact employee experience by reducing service-desk workloads and driving up employee productivity — all with the end goal of providing better service to end users.

But Ivanti’s research shows companies are not taking an intentional approach to managing DEX; instead, they’re treating it as a happy byproduct of efficiency programs. In other words, if IT efficiencies lead to positive DEX, that’s a win. But most organizations are not specifically targeting DEX improvements.

And because DEX isn’t intentionally measured or optimized, organizations miss out on big potential upsides of DEX management, including:

  • Smoother adoption of new tools and workflows (i.e., less resistance to change).
  • Faster deployments of new applications and tools.
  • Greater employee engagement.

These benefits collectively lead to stronger business outcomes, such as sustainable operational efficiency, more productive employees and stronger return-on-tech-investment.

Action steps

"IT leaders really need to ensure that digital employee experience (DEX) is included intentionally in tech adoption and operational improvement decisions by tracking and measuring how technology is used and how often it's used. This allows you to take that data and focus on remediating or eliminating technology that's creating digital disruption within your environment and negatively impacting your productivity."

Daren Goeson, Senior Vice President, Product Management, SUEM, Ivanti

Why IT can't ignore DEX

Tech complexity: a workplace hazard

Despite decades of investment in digital transformation, knowledge workers say they feel overwhelmed by their workplace tech tools.

Ivanti’s research shows that office workers and organizational leaders alike feel stress and a lack of support when it comes to the technology they use at work.



A majority (57%) of office workers say they’re stressed by the number of tools they use, and 62% say they feel overwhelmed by the need to learn new technologies. These feelings are even more widespread among organizational leaders. The statistics are troubling on their own, but they also have wide-reaching implications for both individual productivity and the bottom line.

End-user experience can be make-or-break for digital transformation initiatives. When employees feel stressed, frustrated or overwhelmed by their workplace tools, even the most promising new tech deployments can fail.

AI implementations are the ultimate DEX testing ground. Companies are investing hundreds of millions in deploying AI and maximizing its value, but too often overlooking how DEX impacts that deployment. Knowledge workers are already burdened by tech complexity; the pressure to adopt new AI tools, often without appropriate guidelines or sufficient training, only exacerbates the burden.

Additionally, most organizations are not adequately meeting their employees’ IT needs. Nearly 2 in 3 office workers say they feel unsupported when they have a tech problem at work.

For organizations to truly embrace digital transformation, IT leaders must champion a cultural change within their organizations. This means providing on-demand, responsive IT support and delivering effective, dynamic tech training.

54% say their employer expects them to teach themselves how to use new tools, and 70% of office workers say they’re embarrassed to admit when they have tech problems!

No longer can technical improvements be the sole consideration in digital transformation. Companies must also weigh the impact of digital disruption on employees’ work lives and daily workflows. And just as importantly, organizations must support new digital initiatives with adequate service-desk support, education and training.

Action steps

"With any deployment, digital employee experience (DEX) must be top of the list. We need to ask, ‘How does it help each and every employee do what they're doing today?’ A big part of DEX is understanding how the tool will be used and understanding how we educate every employee in the organization that's going to interact with it."

David Shepherd, Senior Vice President, EMEA, Ivanti

Prioritize DEX for AI success

Empowering Everywhere Work

Employees working remotely report their digital experience is inferior when working outside the office — a nonstarter for companies that care about employee engagement.

Employees want the option to work remotely or in a hybrid environment, yet those who do report that their tech experience out of the office doesn't always match their in-office experience.



Nearly 50% of employees today report challenges collaborating with work colleagues, and 43% of office workers say it’s not very easy for them to access all the same tools when working remotely.

These findings are troubling considering that flexible work is now preferred and expected by many employees, and many companies have made significant operational changes to accommodate it.

Everywhere Work is a mantra that applies not only to hybrid or remote workers, but to all employees who want the flexibility to work anywhere, anytime. Even full-time in-office employees often need to access their work remotely and securely — answering emails on the weekends, opening files from their smartphones, working while traveling or unexpectedly working from home due to unforeseen circumstances.

Your employees want to be productive, efficient and engaged when working off-site. DEX has a major role to play here. As organizations continue to find ways to make hybrid and remote work more productive and sustainable, they should:

  • Consider user experience when investing in new tools. Consistently measure digital employee experience to identify points of friction and frustration for remote/hybrid employees and optimize their experience.
  • Provide more options for remote, on-demand training and support — including self-service knowledge bases and asynchronous learning.

Implement remote monitoring of endpoint and application performance and use automated remediation to address problems proactively. Proactive remediation is critical for the entire organization, but even more important for remote workers, who may have less day-to-day contact (and familiarity) with IT team members and be less likely to initiate a request.

Action steps

"Organizations should set objectives early and upfront to measure and understand digital employee experience (DEX). By doing this, they can access more information about their employees, how they work and what areas to fine-tune or invest in. This enables organizations to create a better experience for those employees that doesn't deprecate overall efficiency and security."

Corinna Fulton, Vice President, Solutions Marketing, Ivanti

Tools to Empower Everywhere Work

Methodology

This report is based on two surveys conducted by Ivanti in 2024: 2024 Everywhere Work Report: Empowering Flexible Work and 2024 Digital Employee Experience Report: A CIO Call to Action. In total, these two studies surveyed over 15,500 unique executive leaders, IT professionals, security professionals and office workers.

Thank you!

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