Why your employees are the cornerstone of your digital success

Digital transformation requires many things. A focus on high-value digital solutions in the cloud. Increased customer engagement. Willingness to change. But who’s doing all of these things? Your employees.

Two key components of your business are its culture and people. Your company’s culture, embodied by your leadership, is essential in establishing the values and behaviour of your employees. This is an important factor in any business, but even more so for one that is digitally transforming…

Reconsider how you engage with employees

Microsoft’s latest series of eBooks on Digital Transformation, featuring research by the International Data Corporation (IDC), reinforces our own recommendation that it’s a good idea to review how you currently engage with your employees.

As your focus shifts from time and materials projects to recurring revenue streams, a customer-centric, customer-for-life mentality becomes the norm. And while you can’t hire an entirely new staff to fit this model, you can be creative in using attributes such as training and flexible work hours, as well as equipping employees with the right tools, to build an engaging work environment.

Cloud technologies and applications also play a significant part in enabling employee engagement. It means employees can work anywhere at any time and they can collaborate with colleagues and connect with customers – all in ways that are secure, flexible and that can accommodate innovation.

For this reason, collaboration and communication must permeate your company. Use the right tools that allow access to relevant data, providing the ability to solve problems or take appropriate action, and respond to customers quickly.

Recruit the right people, develop the right talent

The pace of change in digital technology is accelerating daily, and so too are the skills requirements for your company in meeting the needs of your customers. It’s important for your business to have a range of skill sets that can be rapidly assembled to address a customer’s ever-changing needs.

You can predict some elements of what you will need in your staff, but there are always new skills emerging. Technical and business process evolutions will drive a continual reassessment of your ongoing recruitment, development and professional training – and this includes initiatives for employee retention and leadership development.

It’s crucial to harness the breadth of your team’s skills and experience, recognise talent and invest in growth to instil confidence in employees to achieve longer term outcomes and results.

Create an enriching experience

Anil Singh, founder and CEO of Hanu – an Azure expert managed service provider – features in the Microsoft’s eGuide series. His opinion is that “you want your employees to look at your business not as a means to an end, but as an enriching experience” in order to help drive employee retention.

Openness and communication is key to keep your best talent happy and content. And a healthy company culture seeks to align the values, expectations and goals of your business with those of your employees – so take the time to find out what your team really wants and clearly define your own expectations. Finally, aim to foster a culture of learning within your organisation. And make collaboration a priority.

At Westcoast, we can help you achieve all of these things – and more. We can show you how to empower your employees, and power your digital transformation. Simply contact us to find out how.