Digital Employee Experience Is Essential To Anywhere-Work Success

Our recent report on anywhere work, The Anywhere-Work Guide For Tech Pros, 2022, revealed that 66% of enterprise leaders plan to pursue hybrid or fully remote workplace models. With many employees continuing to rely heavily on technology to connect them to their company’s culture, coworkers, and customers from outside the traditional office, the importance of digital employee experience (DEX) will only grow.

At Forrester, we’ve noticed an uptick in the usage of the term “digital employee experience” from both enterprise customers and vendors.

But What Is DEX, Exactly?

In our hundreds of inquiries and briefings with end user companies and vendors each year, we’ve found no shortage of DEX definitions. Some common ones include:

  • Tools that help measure the technology experience on endpoints, apps, and other IT services.
  • Platforms that serve as a central place for employees to collaborate and communicate with colleagues.
  • An alternative name for a corporate intranet.
  • Human resources tools that cover many capabilities, from learning to recognition to pay and benefits.
  • A new type of strategy designed to help improve employee tech experience.

Unfortunately, these definitions miss the mark. DEX is neither a tool, a platform, nor a strategy. In our new report, The Rise Of Digital Employee Experience Teams, we offer another perspective on what DEX is. We define it as:

The sum of all the perceptions that employees have about working with the technology they use to complete their daily work and manage their relationship with their employer across the lifecycle of their employment.

If every interaction a customer has with your company can impact customer experience, then every interaction an employee has working with your company’s technologies or processes can potentially impact their experience. DEX is not a single tool or strategy — it’s an employee’s perception of how an ecosystem of technologies, processes, and policy choices either improve or degrade their work experience.

So If Every Technology Interaction Impacts DEX, How Can Organizations Improve It?

Our research with dozens of end user companies and technology vendors reveals that DEX improvement requires stakeholders from across IT, HR, facilities, and other departments to adopt a new, cross-functional approach. In this new report, we offer guidance on how to get started with your own DEX team, along with the key roles, technologies, and processes you need to adopt now to begin your DEX journey.

Of course, these aren’t the only DEX resources we have available. We’re also deep-diving into specific technology categories essential for addressing DEX. Check out the following reports to learn more:

Five Trends Shaping Intranet And Employee Communication Technologies In 2022 To 2023

Now Tech: End-User Experience Management, Q2 2022

Role Profile: Digital Workplace Experience Analyst

If you’d like to learn more or get help crafting a DEX strategy, reach out to inquiry@forrester.com to schedule a call with Andrew and Cheryl. And be sure to check out Andrew’s session at the upcoming Technology & Innovation North America event.

We’re also currently conducting interviews for an upcoming report on digital workplace strategy. If you’re interested in participating, please reach out to Chris Langlois (clanglois@forrester.com).