Summary
COVID has taught business many lessons on how important it is that they become resilient to navigate the uncertain future. As such, many enterprises are planning Digital Transformation programmes for 2021 to help them get to resiliency. Digital Transformation is the way to navigate the “New Normal” as to equip your organisation with tools flexible yet precise enough to handle what’s next. If you’re not careful, though, you can impact your frontline workers multiple times as you change your ecosystem, leading to frustration, inefficiencies, and in the worst–case non-engagement.
The opportunity to “Lead from the Front” is clear. With a Digital Workplace in the hands of all your employees, not just the managers, you can execute a single platform for all your frontline worker’s needs driving adoption and transformation. A good digital workplace can tie into any back office solution, allowing you to present one user interface to the frontline, and giving you the flexibility to upgrade/change any back office system without interrupting the daily objectives of your frontline. Once you deploy a digital workplace, you have a single point of truth for the frontline. Adoption is high, engagement remains high, and your Digital Transformation will deliver what it promises rather than falling at the frontline hurdle.
One app. One change. One Frontline Digital Workplace. There’s only one WorkJam.
2021 – the year of Digital Transformations?
The COVID crisis of 2020 is having a far-reaching impact on individuals and businesses alike. Having made it through the initial crisis phase and as the slow unlocking of society continues, we are moving into the post-COVID world, and it is not the same! Most businesses are forming plans on how they need to change to survive and thrive in the new world.
2021 is looking like the year of Digital Transformations as organisations start programmes of change which range from short programmes addressing the most critical areas, through to 3- and 5-year programmes executing complete Digital Transformations with multiple systems evolving, rationalising, and being replaced. Exciting times for any organisation but there are considerable risks to consider and mitigate.
Digital Transformation and the Frontline Worker
The Frontline Worker is a critical consideration in any change programme, and it’s the most significant opportunity. First, the Frontline Worker has a considerable impact on the customer experience. They are the face of your business and a critical factor in your operational performance. The degree of training and communication you provide is directly correlated to how well they will do their job in the eyes of your consumer. Thus, their change experience is crucial to the overall success of your Digital Transformation. Yet typically employers or brand managers have no direct connection or relationship with the staff at the frontline.
Second, the Frontline Worker is impacted by many different systems within your organisation. They interact with HR systems, payroll, learning systems, and performance. They need to see schedules, change shifts, request holidays, call in sick. Execution starts at the front, so systems such as Task Management are essential for the frontline worker. For these areas, you may have one or many solutions deployed through which employees work. These separate systems that make up your current frontline digital experience need to be considered while designing and implementing any change programme.
Lead from the Front
One way to ensure that your Frontline Workers become more productive is to “Lead from the Front” – start with the frontline in mind and give them the tools to deliver your objectives every day.
Leading from the front has two main elements:
1. Positive Early Impact
If an early act in a change programme delivers value to the Frontline Worker, then this has a great effect on the whole change programme. Providing the frontline with a single application to interface with is a huge benefit to them. The days of asking them to learn 5 or 7 or 9 different apps with 5 or 7 or 9 different user interfaces will be behind them. Give your Frontline Workers one app that delivers everything they need in a simple manner. Give them easy access to training materials, HR documents, schedules, training, and more — everything they need in one place. This first step (which can take place regardless of other elements in your ecosystem) ensures high engagement from your workforce, which is a necessary component of any successful change programme.
The WorkJam Digital Workplace delivers value to the Frontline Worker (as well as fast ROI to the enterprise) in many different ways – so ensuring that the impact on them is viewed positively is easy. Some will love the Open Shift Marketplace, and its easy way to choose, view, and change shifts. Others will like the ExpressPay possibilities with faster access to earned money. Yet others will like the easy access to training materials and documents, not to mention easy communications and social interactions. The Digital Workplace has something for everyone, which means adoption, engagement, retention, and success. Your future change depends on it!
2. Minimal Future Change
Once you have a single app and platform in place, widely adopted and actively used on a daily basis, you can then address the other elements of your change programme with one huge difference: Every other back-office system change can happen “under the radar” (as far as your frontline workforce is concerned). Their interface remains the same – so what if a sub-system changes underneath, this doesn’t mean a new app (the newly changed sub-system will plug in to their existing interface). It doesn’t mean a new change management process with all the risk of inefficiencies and lack of adoption. Having a Digital Workplace in place means the rest of your transformation can take place and deliver its benefits, all while minimising the impact on the frontline. Instead of a sequence of frontline changes where week-in week-out there is a new app to use and a new interface to adopt, the Frontline Worker can get on with their job using their one application.
Lead from the front. Transform at the Front. The rest will follow. Implement a Frontline Digital Workplace early in a change process makes the rest of the change easier and more successful.
Learn more Frontline Digital Workplaces: What is a Digital Workplace… And Why Do You Need One?
