The Amazon Effect in the Workplace: 3 Ways You Can Meet User Expectations

The Amazon effect has changed the way a lot of people view the shopping experience. Elements like one-click ordering, same-day delivery and an overall smoother customer journey have forced retailers on the ground to evolve their own practices to keep up. Whether in front of a computer screen or physically in store, customers are demanding the same seamless shopping experience.

This amazon effect has also changed expectations in other industries and in the workplace itself, where employees (just like online shoppers) now expect a seamless experience with the tools they use to get their work done.

The benefits of a better employee experience:

• Higher engagement
• Improved levels of retention
• Better company culture
• Less employee absence
• Happier, more effective employees
• Higher profits

The Amazon effect on your employee

At work we expect our business IT to be as smooth and responsive to our needs as the tech we use in our personal lives. In the current climate, with so many working remotely, a spotlight has been put on your business’s IT and the processes your company is built on. If these don’t hold up, you risk falling behind competitors. Companies who don’t act fast to ensure their employees have the right solutions may find themselves in the position of traditional retail stores a decade ago.

Employee expectations

• The consumerisation of IT is increasingly normal, so employees expect the same experience at work as with their home technology
• They expect high quality, intuitive systems
• Accustomed to access their data from devices anywhere, and at any time

The risks for companies who rely on outdated systems

• Poor quality interfaces slow work done
• Risk of frustrated staff
• Wasted resources (time spent, energy, training required)

Building a better employee experience

Your mini checklist:

• Develop an employee experience mindset
• Create meaningful employee experiences
• Construct an employee experience that delivers measurable impact

Meeting employee expectations

Many companies are heavily invested in their legacy solutions and dropping them for a new environment can be daunting. Then again, the recent circumstances that we find ourselves in has highlighted the fact that organisations in every industry simply cannot afford to stand still, either.

The following are three places to begin meeting your employee expectations and creating an IT environment that enables them to do their best work.

1. Identity and access management

Identity and access management has been a challenge for businesses since the increase in remote working capabilities and Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD).

Today, IT managers no longer must sacrifice security for user experience. By moving away from archaic password-based authentication, businesses can combine the benefits of both. For example, Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory brings together state-of-the art identity and access management capabilities, such as:

• Location independent secure access
• Multi-factor (including biometric) authentication
• Device registration
• Auditing
• Security monitoring and alerting

A solution for you: Azure Active Directory

With many more employees working remotely, IT teams have been adopting technology like Azure Active Directory enabling easier employee access to their line of business applications. This is a step forward for workers looking for a smoother and more productive user experience from their workplace technology.

2. Mobility of applications and data

In 2020 companies around the world, regardless of their industry, have realised they need to set remote working up for their whole organisation, and quickly too. An enterprise mobility strategy must protect sensitive business information while providing the frictionless user experience your employees demand. Simply implementing a mobile app into your business is not enough. You must consider how the app fits in with your company’s data and employee workloads. Before you choose a mobile platform, take time to understand:

• Your employee
• How they will use the applications
• Constraints that will affect user experience

Share data

Make sure you store your data in shared environments like OneDrive or SharePoint. This makes a big difference to how sustainable remote work is. For many businesses, transformation can be about joining products and services in innovative ways or making better use of data analytics to help your employees do their best work.

A solution for you: Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is a unified bundle of services that combines Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) to give users the power to access their data and applications, and work more productively, flexibly and securely anytime, from anywhere.

3. Task-based consumer level user experience

Usability is always going to be key to adoption of any technology solutions. Your employees expect to use intelligent software at work to get their tasks completed, as they do in other aspects of their lives.

We expect software to continue to become more intelligent, adaptable, and responsive using intelligent analytics to create that all important frictionless experience for users no matter where they are working from.

A solution for you: Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure, through its advanced cognitive and machine learning capabilities, opens up the possibilities when it comes to efficient remote working and a slick user experience. The cloud platform has a range of benefits, including:

• Simplified IT infrastructure
• Seamless access to Microsoft productivity suites (Microsoft 365)
• Top class security
• Scalability

A fast-paced and changing world

Businesses of all sizes have likely experienced changes in how they have had to work over the last few months. The necessity brought on by the COVID19 pandemic has led to real and practical steps that businesses can benefit from as we move into a new way of working. But this crisis has also brought a great opportunity to create an environment for your employees to be more engaged and empowered to do their best work. So, what are you waiting for?

If you want to find out more about planning and implementing a digital transformation strategy for your business, get in touch with the experts at Talk Think Do today.