Employees Are Customers Too

How experience-led transformation will empower your employees driving business growth

Digital experiences surround us in all aspects of our lives. Today, as consumers of products and services, we can accomplish most of our tasks digitally. This digital ecosystem has been carefully crafted by brands who have spent millions of dollars to create experiences to build and grow relationships with their customers.

Fast forward to a world impacted by COVID-19. Though none of us may have seen this coming forward thinking companies understood the impact customer experience led transformation could have on their businesses. As a result, companies created digital touchpoints that customers want. Now these experiences are the lifeblood of many companies and allow them to safely and efficiently interact with customers. But what about employees?

Employees Need Digital Experiences Too

Experience-led transformation for employees is the next frontier. We see incredible unmet need to ensure the same level of rigor and purposefulness when it comes to supporting and caring for your employees through the creation of digital experiences that help them do their jobs better.

Imagine if businesses spent as much time thinking about and using digital to support their employees as they did their customers. Team members would be happier, more productive, and your business would more successful.

The benefits of implementing better digital experiences for your employees are massive. First and foremost, you take care of your most precious asset — your people. In addition, employees spend less time 17% on manual processes, drive 5% additional revenue growth over three years, and have increased retention and overall higher organizational profitability. The bottom line is improving the employee experience will result in improvements in the customer experience.

Remember Human Connections

Remember the time when we could visit shopping centers, restaurants and theaters without fearing for our own safety? The impact of COVID-19 will unfortunately linger long after its presence in the media. But people still long for human connections, digital experiences may be the only way your employees can create and build these connections without face to face contact.

Think about the power of texting, video chatting, audio messages and personalized A.I. All of these digital touchpoints can help your employees stay connected with each other throughout the company. What if your employees had a digital tool (or tools) that could illuminate your company culture to the outside world? Think about how powerful that would be.

For example, Chick-fil-A’s mission is “to Be America’s best quick-service restaurant” and this mission doesn’t just stop with serving customers. If you’ve ever been to a Chick-fil-A, you know their employees are happy. They are supported in their jobs with the technology and back-of-house systems that allow them to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. This investment in their employees certainly shows in their customer service.

It is still possible to foster connections even in a world that on the surface lacks physical connection. In this new world, technology will stop being perceived as a “necessary evil” threat to monopolize people’s lives. In the “New Normal,” its role will evolve to become a facilitator and enabler of community and connection. We call this “enabling the other side of the equation.” Meaning placing just as much focus on employee-to-customer connections as you have on brand-to-customer connections. We believe technology will be one of the greatest facilitators of humanity that we have.

Digital experiences will positively impact team members in all verticals and employee-led experience transformation will drive business growth. How can your organization lay the foundation for driving deeper human connections with your customers? The answer is by utilizing your biggest asset, your employees. Through this evolving world, Connected Employees are your company’s future.

This article was originally published on Medium.com.