The digital employee experience is a critical factor for firms looking to boost talent acquisition and retention as the future of work continues to move toward hybrid and remote workplaces. While culture is an important factor in employee engagement and satisfaction, tools and technology can have a big impact on the overall working environment. In order to assist IT leaders in enhancing customer service, reducing shadow IT, and equipping staff with the appropriate tools and technology to enhance the overall employee experience, Info-Tech Research Group, the trusted research and advisory partner of IT leaders worldwide, has released a new industry blueprint.

According to Sandi Conrad, principal advisory director, IT Infrastructure & Operations, at Info-Tech Research Group, “An organization’s workers are expected to be productive and contribute to operational improvements or customer experience, but those workers don’t always have the tools needed to do the job.”

According to the company’s research, which can be found in the new blueprint, in a recent survey of more than 10,000 office workers, IT specialists, and C-suite executives, nearly half of the respondents said their tools gave them trouble, and more than a quarter said they were considering quitting because of inappropriate technology. Shadow IT, which is defined as any software, service, or equipment brought into an organization outside of the ownership and control of IT, is frequently used more frequently as a result of this irritation.

The findings highlight the urgent need to address the problems that IT is having, but businesses might not know how to go about finding a solution.

“One option is to give the business greater control, allowing them to choose and acquire the solutions that will make them more productive,” says Conrad. “However, if the business doesn’t want to manage applications but simply wants access to better ones, IT is positioned to provide services for application and equipment sourcing that will enhance employee experience while ensuring applications and equipment are fully managed by the asset, service, and security teams.”

Info-Tech has developed a strategy for IT executives to enhance the request management process in order to provide sourcing-as-a-service for the business in response to the need for guidance on enhancing service and decreasing shadow IT.

The strategy consists of the following four steps:

1. Construct the service. The first phase entails working together with the company, identifying problems and barriers, reaching an agreement on priorities, and creating the service.
2. Create the catalogue. The second step requests that IT executives decide on the catalog’s scope, develop a procedure for developing and maintaining the catalog, and specify KPIs for the request management procedure.
3. Create the library. The requirement to develop an application portfolio, come up with descriptions for catalog products, and construct catalog forms and workflows follows. Definitions for different licensing types, procedures, and service level agreements (SLAs) are also developed during this phase.
4. Publicize the service. Finally, IT leaders need to decide on message, develop a communications plan, and construct a roadmap.

The company also advises IT leaders to make sure there is executive sponsorship in place because service request management may necessitate spending money on tools, upgrading one’s skills, and dedicating time. To strike the ideal balance between controls and service, stakeholder teams may need to engage in negotiation. It will be challenging to make transformational change without executive sponsorship.

Source: HRTech Series