Unify the digital engagement experience to support both customers and employees as a Total Experience (TX)

Survey results from the past three years indicate a positive correlation between employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX). In IDC's Future Enterprise Resilience & Spending Survey Wave 6, published July 2021, 85% of respondents agreed that an improved employee experience and higher employee engagement translated to a better customer experience, higher customer satisfaction, and higher revenues for their organization. ServiceNow’s recent "The Age of Experience," which surveyed 1,000+ C-suite executives about their customer and employee experiences, concluded that improved digital customer experience also leads to better employee experiences, creating a virtuous business cycle between these stakeholders.

It’s no surprise that highly empathetic companies will be able to apply these human-centric principles to both employees and customers. Furthermore, a positive employee experience translates to higher engagement, morale, and ultimately productivity. Imagine the service you might receive at an institution staffed with happy, engaged workers; imagine the difference if they were confused and overworked.

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital interaction and boosted customer expectations for products and services tailored to their fast-changing needs, attitudes, and behaviors. A digital journey around "moments that matter" and "meeting users wherever they are" with the benefit of self-service will enable a Total Experience (TX) for employees and customers.

Let’s put on our customer hat first. When we shop and get support, we want to manage when (morning or night), where (in transit or in bed), what (current issue or potential interest), and how (call, text, or chat) with a straightforward goal: get what we need—now.

The picture below illustrates how a customer, Jack, engages with text and voice at various moments with self-services in a "smart-home" solution, on different engagement channels, like a phone or a smartwatch.

Jack has his routine activities, and at every moment, there are a set of actions Jack needs to manage. For example, when Jack leaves home for his daily hike, he must turn off the air conditioner and all the lights, turn on the alarms, and close the garage door. Jack configured a “Leaving Home” automation to quickly do this as a digital assistant on his Apple Home Kit. Now, with one tap, Jack can complete all four operations. Jack knows he can be forgetful, so he sets up geofencing so that the App can detect when he’s left his home and proactively ask Jack if he wants to run the automation on his Apple Watch and his iPhone. If Jack is driving, he can say, "Hey Siri, leaving home."

Now let’s imagine the employee experience. Sandy's first day back to the office is full of micro-moments where she needs to either get support or complete tasks quickly on the company’s channel (Teams, company intranet or mobile App, etc.).

Sandy follows the company’s new guidelines to start her day with a health check. After she passes, she proceeds to reserve a workspace. After Sandy logs on, she gets a notification about her active directory password expiration date with an option to change her password. Sandy changes it quickly using ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent. After lunch, she receives an approval request from her teammate; again, Sandy uses ServiceNow Virtual Agent to approve with a simple click. Sandy’s first day at the office ends with ordering more face masks for future use.

These moments in Sandy’s first day go without a hitch with automated workflows that provide Sandy with a similarly seamless experience to Jack's. The only difference here might be the specific employee engagement channels or the job-specific tasks that trigger each moment.

Additionally, our employees want work-life balance and integrated online and offline collaboration at their convenience, allowing them to choose when and where to work. The Great Resignation of our moment is about more than compensation. It is also about engagement, fulfillment, and growth. That is what the new employee engagement experience needs to include.

Employees have solid preferences for collaborating, getting needed support, and delivering the work. Millennials make up most of the workforce now, and digital platforms such as video or chat messaging are part of their life. Business leaders need a new way to attract, engage, and grow talent. By taking an employee-centric approach, with the self-service capability to ensure employees get all they need for productivity and job satisfaction, we can get employees' engagement experience rocking and improve employee loyalty.

The Total Experience (TX) trend gives a unique opportunity for product leaders who practice human-centric principles to help organization leaders deliver a Total Experience (TX) that both improves employee engagement and results in better customer experience and loyalty.