To provide a great CX, you need to achieve great EX via great WX!

Businesses could achieve up to a 16% increase in annual revenues and reduce operational costs by 13%—just by transforming their workplace experience (WX).

In a survey conducted between July and August 2019, 1,375 global senior decision-makers in HR, Operations, IT, Marketing, Service and Support and other leadership roles including C-suite members were polled from the Industrial Manufacturing, Retail Banking/General Insurance, Consumer Packaged Goods/B2C Manufacturing, Resources, Retail and other commercial sectors. Respondent countries included: US & Canada, UK & Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Nordics, Japan and Australia.

As an outcome, 94% of respondents, which included C-suite roles across the board, including CEOs, senior HR, Operations, IT, Marketing Services stakeholders and other business leaders, cited their employees as a main source of competitive advantage for their business. Other key findings include:

  • 96% agreed that a successful workplace experience transformation requires a holistic approach
  • 38% said an executive leadership team member should lead workplace transformation with a cross-functional group
  • 26% indicated they would like to see their IT lead take charge of transformation with no other functional leads involved
  • When it comes to deployment, approximately half (47-58%) of senior decision makers report that their organization’s executive leadership should be involved in deploying a transformation

The 6 Nov survey report by Avanade shows that taking a holistic approach to WX—modernizing technology platforms, services and physical workspaces, reimagining culture and employee experience, and optimizing everyday processes—is a competitive differentiator.

“But most organizations are not where they need to be,” said Florin Rotar, Avanade’s Global Modern Workplace Lead. “What’s encouraging is that 95% of survey respondents agree that to maximize ROI, businesses need to put the workplace experience at the heart of their business transformation strategy. Overwhelmingly, our research highlights a great employee experience is as critical as delivering a great customer experience. Workplace modernization is a proven driver of sustainable business value.”

Challenges for creating good WX

While the case for workplace transformation is compelling, challenges persist across multiple areas, according to respondents. Almost 47% cited modernizing IT as a significant challenge, and just over a third (34%) jointly cited upskilling talent, recruiting talent, and managing evergreen IT as additional obstacles companies need to overcome when implementing workplace experience strategies.

Security was another key area highlighted by participants with 92% agreeing that “attack opportunities” facing enterprises are increasing in both scope and complexity. The same percentage believes ensuring that the IT security of an organization is at its best and most up-to-date will help to deter threats from outside and inside the business.

Despite these challenges, almost all senior decision-makers interviewed emphasized the importance of the following elements for a successful WX transformation:

  • 99 percent say modernizing workplace platforms and services is important
  • 96 percent say optimizing/modernizing operations is important
  • 95 percent say bridging the physical and digital gap is important
  • 94 percent say reimagining culture and employee experience is important

Methodology for measuring WX

To address the market need for a holistic approach to modernizing the workplace from a customer and employee standpoint, Avanade is developing a new and exclusive methodology that measures the relationship between a company’s Customer eXperience and Employee eXperience and its effect on their overall revenue, profits and ROI. Backed by extensive research, the company believes this methodology can guide companies on how to transform their overall WX to improve financial performance. The methodology leverages a set of algorithms, methods and data recommendations based on advanced data science, multivariate analysis, AI, machine learning and predictive analytics.