Attribution: Vivek Behl, Digital Transformation Officer, WalkMe.
Singapore is in a unique position to capitalise on innovation opportunities and deliver exceptional experiences via digital solutions. Through its Smart Nation initiative, the country hopes to empower government services through personalisation, accelerate business growth beyond its borders, and improve the lives of its citizens.
However, these achievements can only be made possible by putting people at the heart of their digital transformation strategy. This means understanding how their solutions can serve end users’ needs in a way that prioritises human impact. Organisations that invest in this approach will be better equipped to encourage a seamless working experience for their talent and attract more customers.
Business success starts with people
A knowledgeable and talented team is capable of providing unique perspectives and out-of-the-box solutions that can unlock growth opportunities for companies. By equipping them with solutions that can meet their needs and overcome specific challenges, businesses will be able to derive successful outcomes from their digital transformation initiatives.
In other words, businesses that can advance people’s potential are more likely to thrive in this highly competitive landscape.
The importance of a people-first digital transformation strategy
Adopting a people-first digital transformation hinges on five core reasons that can define a company’s future. These include:
1. Improved customer experiences (CX)
In today’s digital age, customers are more likely to respond favourably to simplified and personalised experiences that are available any time of the day. Understanding customers’ goals and challenges is crucial to building a positive brand image that will push companies ahead of the rest. In Singapore, the Digital Government Blueprint (DGB) was drafted with the aim of connecting government services and clients through integrated platforms. This is reflected in digital services like LifeSG and GoBusiness that tailor their services to meet the needs of end users.
2. Increased employee engagement & improved employee experience
An engaged employee is a happy employee. Happy employees are more likely to give their all to the company and stay for the long haul. With a people-first digital transformation program, employers prioritise the digital employee experience and ensure that all employees are able to fully harness the technology resources at their disposal. After all, if employees cannot use these technologies, they cannot reach their full potential and peak productivity and the company cannot realise the full value of their technology investments. Investing in a digital adoption platform (DAP) provides customized guidance and automation across applications to empower employees to use their technology tools precisely how they need to in order to do their best work.
3. Improved business processes with data insights
Putting people first and investing in a DAP in particular can also lead to improved business processes and ensure services are operating perfectly as intended. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are central to this, as they remove the burden on employees to execute mundane and repetitive tasks. Not to mention, DAPs provide organisations with access to unprecedented actionable data analytics into employee user behaviour, which can drive better decision-making, improve the digital employee experience, and maximize technology investments.
4. Increased competitive advantage
The best-performing organisations are those that can enable their workers to harness digital solutions effectively to serve customers and maintain excellent service operability. By integrating smart, simple, and relevant solutions, businesses can maintain their survivability while also outpacing their rivals in business output and customer service. Full adoption and not just buying innovation is also crucial to creating fresh new offerings that can boost retention and loyalty.
How to embrace people-first digital transformation
A successful people-first digital transformation hinges on organisations implementing the right digital adoption strategy for their employees to do their best work. Technology is constantly evolving, as are user interfaces within the many enterprise applications in use in today’s enterprise; digital adoption strategies must be agile and able to respond to user behaviour to continue to put people first.
Digital adoption platforms (DAPs) are instrumental in accomplishing these goals by guiding workers on effective usage where they are when they need the guidance. These platforms come with the necessary tools that can assist employees in completing specific tasks and fully harnessing technology across the software stack.
With DAPs, companies are able to reap tremendous benefits, including reduced digital friction, deeper actionable data insights, increased satisfaction, productivity, and increased business output. Ultimately, they will be able to fully harness modern technologies to unlock their true value and position themselves as market leaders.
A digital transformation strategy that can support people’s individual roles will be able to achieve better business outcomes. Through DAPs, organisations gain a deep understanding of what customers and employees want, along with the ability to create smart solutions that can meet both groups’ expectations.
Simultaneously, the use of DAPs allow businesses to adapt to new innovations within the digital landscape without causing more friction and frustration for their employees. Not only will this accelerate productivity and business output, but it can also create a seamless working experience that can delight employees. As a result, companies will be well on their way to outpacing their rivals and attracting new talent to strengthen their workforce.
