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There’s no denying that business transformation – powered by digital communications – has vastly accelerated during the pandemic. 2020 started the decade as the most transformative year ever – setting the stage for digital acceleration and the dramatic rise of the employee experience as far more than just an idea or concept.

85% of 800 executives in a recent McKinsey survey said their organization has increased digitization somewhat or greatly since the pandemic began. Transformation in the pre-pandemic era was slow and painful, and often provided little benefit to an average employee other than often making them redundant.

The massive difference in post-pandemic transformation is the focus on, and active participation of, virtually all employees at all levels and areas of an organization. Digital communications and collaborations have flattened the organization while increasing the speed of responsiveness and employee effectiveness.

For companies to continue to build on these gains – since there’s no turning back the clock to ‘before covid’ – companies must move from making process-focused technology choices to making people-focused ones – and that means prioritizing the employee experience, underpinned by a foundation of digital employee communications.

What is the digital employee experience? How is it materially different today than the world before 2020? And where is it going next?

History can actually provide guidance on the road ahead. Looking back about 10-15 years the proliferation of digital process reengineering took the corporate world by storm – moving away from paper, and automating many labor-intensive and redundant efforts. Many of the early solutions were made by innovators – mostly deployed on-premise – and not well integrated. They were built for and used by, a limited number of employees with deep experience in specific areas/functions of the business that was being transformed.

As digital process transformation took hold, those early innovators gave way to major players like SAP and Oracle who built bigger, more integrated solutions that could manage larger end-to-end process flows. But still designed for, and used by, a limited subset of highly trained employees (such as HR and finance professionals or manufacturing management) with limited ‘self-service’ for the rest.

Fast forward to now; the focus of digitization is well beyond basic automation, and data/transaction processing and is squarely focused on helping people make better decisions – decisions that often involve complex data or context to determine the best path forward. 

The problem today – like the issues many years ago – is that the proliferation of innovative solutions has again become confusing and overwhelming – mainly because these new apps are used by virtually all employees (not a small subset of experts or functional areas), and these new solutions impact the day-to-day, hour-to-hour workloads of all company employees – including those on the front-line.

In fact, a recent survey of IT executives found that nearly 80% of employees use as many as 6-10 online tools just to communicate. And a recent Gartner report stated that workers are digitally overwhelmed:

• 68% of employees spend much of the day toggling between apps

• 28% of their time is spent on email

• 20% is spent looking for information

• 400x – how often they context switch (e.g., get interrupted) in a given day

As a result, much of an employee’s daily work experience is now dictated by their interactions with these solutions which are making life more stressful and complex – rather than less.

The solution is conceptually simple, but technically and operationally not – make communications as seamless and friction-free as possible. We know this approach is completely viable – it’s been the mantra for the consumer experience for many years. And it’s time for the employee experience to catch up.

IT, communications, and HR leaders have come to realize that employees are the “customers” in the new digital workplace. Employees have countless demands on their attention and, to be engaged effectively, must be reached at the right time and in the right place —much like consumers. Simply put, the medium is as important as the message. “When” and “where” is as critical as the “what.”

How to Succeed in the Post-Pandemic World: Take a page from the Marketing Tech Playbook

Companies have deployed dozens of technologies in an effort to digitally transform their business processes. But these have often created friction and silos for users. To address such challenges, take a page from the consumer experience world and apply marketing technology features to modernize and unlock the full value of your employee communications and the employee experience.

The key difference with today’s technology and that of 10-15 years ago is the Cloud ecosystems that innovators can build upon. Many new solutions are being built that plug directly into the major Clouds platforms – be that Microsoft 365 or Azure, SalesForce, SAP, Oracle, AWS, etc.

Most notable in the context of the employee experience and communications is Microsoft. The Microsoft 365 platform touches far more of an organization’s employees than any other simply because it provides the core applications employees use every day: Outlook and Teams. 

To leverage this nearly ubiquitous presence, and encourage third-party application development on the Microsoft 365 and Azure Clouds, Microsoft has launched a new Employee Experience Platform called Viva. This confluence of factors has resulted in a proliferation of new and innovative third-party employee experience and communications solutions available in the Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplaces to meet this rapidly growing market segment.

How to Make the Most of these Digital EX Platforms and Innovative Apps:

  • Meet employees Where They Are: Don’t force employees to change their ways of working. Put your content where they spend most of their working day. For most employees, that’s Microsoft 365 and especially, Microsoft Teams.
  • Omnichannel Reach: Your organization needs the ability to reach all employees everywhere—not just in a specific office or physical location, but also on any endpoint the employee uses for work – especially in a hybrid workplace. That endpoint could be any device – phone, laptop, tablet, running any OS.
  • Targeting & Analytics: Employees are busy – and overburdened with irrelevant content. The more focus on targeting the right content to the right people using the right channels at the right time will result in far greater awareness and engagement by employees. Marketing has been doing this for years.
  • Automation: The more granular targeting and channel management, the more personalized the experience is for the employees, and the more likely they are to engage with the content being delivered. In the past this effort has been mostly manual, resulting in either costly labor to accomplish the effort, or more often, simply not undertaking it in the first place. Today’s latest apps, including the use of AI, are automating the distribution and management of content far better than anything before. And again, marketing has been doing this for years.
  • Intelligence: As you take the pulse of your workforce and collect data on employee engagement, online and offline behavior, and preferences, you’ll gain insight to help optimize employee communications and the employee experience.

The digital employee experience has been on the radar of IT, communications, and HR executives for a few years but the pandemic has turned the spotlight on it as a true organizational priority. The rapid technological change coupled with the increasing demands of employees and the realities of a post-covid hybrid workplace will be a key factor in determining which companies succeed in the post-pandemic era.

About Michael Rudnick

Michael Rudnick is CEO and Co-Founder of Velaku, one of a new breed of Employee Experience solutions that plug directly into the Microsoft 365 platform, including Viva – to improve employee and HR communications. Michael is a graduate of Women In Cloud’s Accelerator cohort 4.0. Michael is a frequent speaker and thought leader on the digital transformation of employee communications to improve the employee experience. Prior to co-founding Velaku Michael founded one of the first Intranet consultancies, and spent a decade leading Willis Towers Watson’s global HR portal business. He is based in New York City.

The movement has begun! With the launch of the first-ever Lunch and Learn Series led by Hitachi Solutions in collaboration with Women in Cloud, the Women in Cloud’s #Fortune100 initiative is starting a new revolution in the technology industry. 

#WICxFortune100 Lunch & Learn Series is a networking experience designed to open the doors for leading fortune companies and brands to connect with technology business builders. This intimate learning series offers a space to learn about how to do business with Fortune companies, understand their company culture, and get access to decision-makers and procurement officers.

Under the leadership of Sharan Hildebrand, Hitachi Solutions, a business application consulting firm and trusted provider of vertical industry solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud, joined the Fortune 100 Initiative launched by Women in Cloud to make opportunities available for women in their network accessible. 

With Sharon Hildebrand, Vice President, Hitachi Solutions setting the stage for the panel discussion, the session was off to a great start. Sharon highlighted Hitachi’s dedication to the mission at hand. “Contribution is our keyword. Our vision to contribute to society through the development of superior technical products must welfare and benefit our employees, and customers. As a part of the Tokyo-based Hitachi limited, we are dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse environment for all our partners.

The Lunch and Learn Series Panel hosted, Mayr Tarvin, Director of Business Development, Hitachi Solutions; Lisa Mitchell, Vice President Human Resources, Hitachi Solutions; Sharon Hildebrand, Vice President, Hitachi Solutions and was moderated by Meg Johnson, Business Manager, Hitachi Solutions. 

The power panel dived into a discussion about career experiences and growth, Hitachi’s organizational culture, and also about opportunities Hitachi creates in the industry for female technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and leaders to contribute to an inclusive economy. 

Hitachi often organizes programs and sessions for employees and leaders which helps in adopting a growth mindset. “As a team, we are committed to continuous learning with various programs and sessions at Hitachi. One of the programs revealed some important facts about Unconscious bias and its presence across the spectrum. Personally, this helped me identify areas in which I had to change my views. Being educated from leadership to down helps promote collective learning”, Mayr Tarvin spoke about one of the programs conducted in the organization.

The leaders from Hitachi Solutions also spoke about their organizational culture and environment. “In my opinion, perfection is overrated! Adopting the growth mindset means being okay with not knowing everything, and asking for assistance when required. This is something we encourage in Hitachi; we strongly believe that failing is a part of success in the long run.” Lisa Mitchell spoke about Hitachi’s work atmosphere. 

The importance of stepping back from the routine to do better, which Hitachi encourages, was also discussed. “Earlier in my career, work harder, longer and faster was equated with success, but often leads to burnout. However, my view of that philosophy has completely changed today. I truly believe that self-care and taking time to connect with friends, family, and yourself is critical for success. Stepping back from my routine helps me show up better!” shared Sharon.

Furthermore, Mayr also highlighted the inclusive work environment created at Hitachi, which enables female employees to be part of various initiatives within the organization; “Hitachi’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion has been stronger than ever before. With the launch of our program, Kansai women; launched with a small group of women two years ago in Seattle inspired by Women in Cloud to now over 100 people in this community has been a big achievement for us towards building a greater and inclusive organization.”

Finally, towards the end of the panel discussion, Lisa Mitchell spoke about Hitachi’s organizational values and commitment to serving its customers. “At Hitachi, our foundation is built on Harmony, Sincerity, and Pioneering Spirit. Layered on top of that foundation are three pillars; What our clients can expect, what our employees can expect, and what our company can expect from the employees. Our entire operations are built on these values and operations and we are committed to creating the best for our customers and employees,” Lisa added. 

“Come as you are today with a willingness to learn and grow, and we will provide you with tools to build your career, expand your knowledge base, and deepen your sense of self, all while having fun along the way.”

 Hitachi Solution to their employees

Hitachi Solutions will continue to provide resources for women tech entrepreneurs, leaders, and enthusiasts via the Fortune 100 Initiative.

Click here to find out all the opportunities available for you and your company with Hitachi Solutions and also watch the complete power panel.

Women in Cloud (WIC) has partnered with M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Capital Fund to launch #empowHERaccess is an annual digital advocacy campaign by Women in Cloud to generate greater economic access for women in technology. 

Campaign pillars include the following:

Last year WIC released the inaugural COVID-19 Impact Report, focused on the disruptions women in technology entrepreneurs & founders were facing, and anticipating, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report predicted that, through 2020, COVID-19 would become a major obstacle for women in tech. Leveraging the 2020 insights from the research, WIC delivered targeted programming aimed to increase economic access for tech entrepreneurs founders and to build their business skills.  

Complete the #EmpowHERaccess COVID-19 Impact Survey

A year later, we are only beginning to truly understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on women in tech. Leveraging the 2020 insights from the research, Women in Cloud delivered targeted programming aimed to create access to business development opportunities for tech entrepreneurs & founders to get economic relief and recovery for continued success.   

Calling all Female Tech Founders and Entrepreneurs!

We would like to hear from you. Tell us how the pandemic has affected your business, and how we can help you, by completing our survey by June 30, 2021.

We are inviting you to represent your business, your voice, and the impact of the pandemic to produce the insights needed to develop valuable programming and solutions to relieve your business. 

Learn more: https://www.womenincloud.com/empowheraccess-campaign/

#empowHERaccess

On March 2nd, Women In Cloud Accelerator was launched with the Class of 2018 participants.

We congratulate and extend a warm welcome to the following companies who were qualified and attended the immersion session:

  • Clever Databases
  • Stylyze Inc.
  • Plantmatch, LLC
  • RightSciences
  • Daysaver
  • Agile Impact Group
  • Bitlume Inc
  • Computing Kids LLC
  • genneve
  • Automaton Marketing Inc.
  • Red Sky
  • Visual Media Group, DBA

The Women in Cloud, an organization dedicated to fostering women-led businesses to leverage cloud solutions and services to inspire their success and growth, launches their new Accelerator Lab.  The Lab is an immersive 6-month program to assist women-led companies to start and build their businesses with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft distribution channels.

“Super excited to accelerate our business and learn more about how we can learn from the Cloud and improve our business proposition, and I hope to get more clients,” said Amelia Neighbors, from Clever Databases.

The Accelerator Program has proven methodologies, resources, and tools to grow a business in the Cloud.  What is “Cloud”? According to Microsoft, “cloud is the delivery of computing services-servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and more-over the internet, the cloud”. What is it about Cloud computing and why is it so popular? The Women in Cloud Accelerator Lab, answers these questions and coaches women-led businesses, who want to accelerate their B2B solutions using Cloud Computing. The Accelerator Lab includes a 1-day workshop, targeting coaching, free migration to Azure, up to “100 hours of interactive training to discuss strategy, lead generation, co-selling, deal negotiation and pitch preparation”, and much more.

Feedback from the participants of 2018 Class:

“When successful women come together great things happen. Red Sky is thrilled to be part of Women in Cloud Accelerator program sponsored by Microsoft, HPE and hosted by Meylah. This is the missing link for our growth and boost in revenue leveraging the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program and secret sauce of the mentors. This is a huge opportunity for us to build our cloud business and utilize the support of these great partners along this exciting journey.” Sharon A. Davison, Ph.D. CEO Red Sky

“For the first time, I can see tangible ways to leverage the expansive networks of Microsoft and HPE to take my business to a B2B audience. They’re helping me visualize what a go-to-market cloud partnership looks like to grow my business.” Jill Angelo, CEO of genneve

“The journey to building a business in the cloud requires both a willingness to learn new ways of thinking about our business and a deeper understanding of the opportunities available.” Rebecca Ralston, CEO of Agile Impact Group

 

Gretchen O’Hara, VP Go-To-Market Strategy, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft, and one of the driving forces and founders of Women in Cloud, declares,  “We are deeply committed from Microsoft on this initiative, one of the things I am very excited to announce, is I have been working personally to get a Microsoft Executive assigned to each and every one of you as a mentor and advisor of this incubator, and I have been able to accomplish that.”

To learn more about Women in Cloud and the Accelerator Lab, go to www.WomeninCloud.com