Digital employee experience (DEX) plays a crucial role in shaping how employees interact with technology in the workplace. Technology leaders are often tasked with empowering employees to transform their ways of working by aligning technology with business goals to enhance DEX.

To support this, they can follow seven steps to guide their organizations in achieving the following regarding DEX:

• Gaining visibility of the entire digital experience of the employee, even those aspects outside of the IT leader’s direct control.

• Identifying and eliminating both digital friction and siloed decision making by establishing a holistic view of digital work, related technologies and services, and their respective impact on DEX.

• Reducing technology fragmentation, sprawl and risk that hinder DEX by improving relationships and building alignment between different IT teams, especially information security.

• Prioritizing the most impactful investments by collaboratively setting and executing on a shared vision for DEX with across IT and line-of-business peers.

Step 1: Develop a Common Roadmap for the Work Hub

A high-maturity digital workplace requires more than just deploying and updating applications. It involves creating a cohesive strategy that empowers employees.

Start by auditing existing applications to identify redundancies and opportunities for improvement. Technology leaders can also establish a dedicated product team to oversee the integration and optimization of core work hub productivity technologies.

This team should implement a reference architecture and governance policies to enhance collaboration and mitigate risks.

Step 2: Actively Collaborate With Infrastructure, Operations, and Security Teams

Breaking down silos between digital workplace applications and infrastructure, operations, and security teams is essential for a holistic view of DEX.

Align digital workplace roadmap across applications and infrastructure to ensure a seamless user experience for employees. Redesign risk governance to balance security and DEX, enabling distributed autonomy while maintaining trust and compliance.

Step 3: Focus DEX Based on Employee Personas and Their Journeys

Understanding employee personas and their unique needs is crucial for a human-centric approach to DEX.

Identify digital personas based on roles, work styles, and technology preferences.

Align tools and applications to these personas, ensuring that each group receives the support and resources they need based on their ability and ambition, or digital dexterity. Map out employee journeys to identify critical touchpoints and optimize “moments that matter” for improved outcomes.

Step 4: Optimize Engagement Hubs for DEX

Intranets and employee portals are vital components of DEX. Tailor these engagement hubs to support different personas and enable role-based activities.

Continuously adapt them to meet changing business needs and workforce preferences to get information and support, and stay engaged at work. Consider the potential of workforce superapps to enhance mobile-centric engagement.

Step 5: Support Citizen Technologists and Enable Fusion Teams

Citizen developers and citizen data scientists, employees who create digital capabilities outside of IT, play a significant role in transforming work.

Recognize and empower these individuals by creating a community of practice and providing the appropriate no-code and low-code tools and governance support. Encourage the formation of fusion teams, where business and IT collaborate to drive innovation and improve DEX.

Step 6: Improve Business Workflows

Integrate work hub applications with business applications, such as ERP and CRM, to streamline workflows and reduce digital friction.

Form an automation center of excellence to align automation initiatives with business value and DEX. Empower employees to identify inefficiencies and create their own solutions to enhance productivity and value, such as through AI agents.

Step 7: Communicate DEX in the Language of Business Outcomes

To secure funding and support, communicate the value of DEX investments in terms of business outcomes, such as employee retention. Translate IT activities into measurable results that align with financial metrics and business KPIs.

Demonstrate how improved DEX contributes to competitive advantage in talent, employee satisfaction, and overall business success.

The Wrap

This DEX blueprint offers a comprehensive approach to improving employee experience through strategic alignment of technology and business goals.

By following these seven steps, digital workplace leaders can create a shared vision for DEX, minimize digital friction, and empower employees to thrive in a digitally enabled workplace.