There’s something weird going on in the world of enterprise tech.

IT support—often stereotyped as being distant, detached, and uncharismatic—is somehow becoming a source of cultural inspiration for employee productivity and happiness.

Most think a Sales Manager, C-Level Executive or HR Leader should be the ones to repair a toxic work culture. This line of thinking isn’t necessarily wrong—it’s just incomplete. Yes, those roles are well positioned to influence employees, they shake hands, lead public speaking events, and represent the face of the company.

But the people that can uncover and fix real root problems work in IT. They are your Head of End-User Computing, CIO, or IT Project Lead. Unfortunately, these decision makers work with support tools that only offer limited insight into the employee digital landscape—they solve problems exclusively based on what they see in the data center without taking into consideration all of their endpoints and end-users. By default, the rest of the company views IT support as one-off problem-solving technicians, incapable of seeing the bigger digital workplace picture.

There are of course solutions available today that can equip these new heroes with the power they require, but we first must define what we really mean when we say “employee productivity and happiness”.

What truly makes employees productive and happy at work?

There are a number of factors that can be attributed to a productive and happy employee work experience but we think two in particular stand out:

1. The ability of an employee to make progress (known as the Progress Principle); and
2. The ability of an employee to self-regulate their work by balancing both demands and resources.

Conventional wisdom has us thinking employees only care about things like tangible incentives, clear goals, and recognition. While those factors are certainly at play, research from thought-leaders like Forrester proves that employees care most about their ability to make “small wins” throughout their work day.

The modern digital worker expects zero technology interruptions. They want to work in a safe computing environment where they can rely on their digital applications to perform well and help regulate their time. When a digital worker enters into a “state of flow”, or an uninterrupted period of work, they are able to comfortably complete their projects and feel accomplished with their work experience.

That’s an oversimplified explanation for what makes a worker productive and happy, but by and large a smooth and safe end-user computing environment yields a positive overall work experience.

So, understanding what makes an employee productive and happy is quite simple, but why then do so many organizations fail to deliver?

Problems from the start

Unfortunately for most companies, their IT department takes the standard incident-centric, inside-out approach to technology monitoring and service. This means that IT’s perspective is almost always reactive and distorted from the world of their colleagues.

Here is a common scenario we hear from companies:

IT sees nothing but green lights on their end, all networks appear to be running smoothly, memory space is normal, and there are few if any tickets in the pipeline.

Life seems pretty good, right?

Wrong.

Most employees rarely submit tickets because it either takes too long or the process itself is too confusing and frustrating. Workers lose precious time fighting through disruptions like error messages, reboots, and blue screens. The daily struggle of getting knocked off course triggers many employees to feel helpless, unsafe, and annoyed. And unfortunately, most employees develop a negative opinion about their IT department. With each technology disruption, the divide grows deeper between the two camps.

Who’s the victim? Who’s the culprit?

It doesn’t really matter.

The bigger picture is that a poor digital experience breeds nothing but a toxic work culture. Fortunately, there are powerful IT solutions out there that support teams can use to boost their profile and their company’s work environment.

A new type of hero, with the right IT solutions, is exactly what you need

Let’s be clear: maintaining a happy, engaged work culture requires collaboration between company-wide leadership, HR, and technology. No one entity working alone can serve as a “silver bullet”, nor can the right CIO, or head of EUC magically fix all of your enterprise problems.

But here at Nexthink we believe the role that IT leadership can play in fixing employee culture has been grossly underestimated.

With our solutions, IT departments can finally adopt a legitimate, continuous people-centric approach to their tech support. We collect invaluable hard metrics and user sentiment data directly from employee devices, helping to feed IT leaders with meaningful, real-time insights that measure their employees’ digital experience. Based on this information, support teams can quickly execute one-click automation and remediation techniques. Our solutions integrate with every imaginable tool on the market and we can solve one-off tech problems to deeper, cyclical challenges that naturally arise for any competitive, agile business.

No more guessing whether your employees are satisfied with their digital work environment. Collect hard metrics and user sentiment on your company’s devices, business applications, web browsing, and security, and operationalize that information to boost productivity and collaboration.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in Nexthink’s solutions, schedule a 30 minute demo today to see our platform in action.

More of a visual learner but don’t have the time for a demo?

Check out an overview of our platform here.

The post Want to Repair a Toxic Work Culture? You Need a New Type of Hero appeared first on Nexthink.

Imagine for a moment you work as an IT project manager. Your boss just granted you the permission to deploy one of the most powerful workplace collaboration tools on the market. 

The tool, MS Teams, is like the “Excalibur” of our day—a seemingly magical piece of software that can put order to chaos, and instill direction and security across the entire digital employee landscape. 

As owner of MS Teams, you have the chance to make a real impact on the lives of your colleagues. This wonder tool will help your employees with productivity, communication, and inject a little modern “culture” into the workplace with trendy gifs, and emojis. More selfishly put—the success of a Teams rollout will elevate your professional profile, maybe even warrant a promotion or bonus from your boss.  

It all seems like an easy slam dunk. There’s only one tiny wrinkle:  

As popular as Teams is it’s really difficult to access timely, detailed information that can tell you exactly what you need to know in order to successfully deploy it.  

Sadly, this is the exact and very real scenario many IT managers face.  

Yes, Teams seems to be everywhere—just this summer Microsoft announced the tool surpassed Slack with more than 13M daily active users, and it’s reportedly used in 91 of the fortune 100 companies—but getting over that initial hump during your Teams rollout can be extremely tedious and costly.  

Never before has so much online “guidance” left so many still scratching their heads

Like any good IT manager, you’ll probably go right to the source before deploying a new business services tool. The Microsoft support site does provide plenty of useful tips and guidelines about Teams, but you’ll quickly realize they can only get you so far. 

For example, Microsoft details the network and bandwidth requirements you’ll need to sustain the type of traffic Teams demands, and there’s a helpful “discovery questionnaire” you can use to get a general sense of whether or not your organization is ready for a rollout. But IT managers don’t work in the world of questionnaires and “general sense”—they need hard data presented in an actionable format, reliable end-user metrics, and a technology platform that can help them proactively fix problems with remote actions and remediations.  

If you look for other help online, you’ll find the same type of point-you-in-the-right-direction-but-leave-you-to-fend-for-yourself information. 

The AvePoint blog, another useful source for all things digital, dishes out some good tips on what type of technical and governance questions you should ask before deployment, and they highlight which departments you should pick to “sell your users on Teams”. They recommend rolling out Teams first with employees from engineering, support, and sales due to each group’s presumed familiarity with the product and natural need for its services—again, helpful to know but nothing ground-breaking that speaks directly to your exact enterprise system and digital workplace environment. 

The reality is you will inevitably have specific questions that require specific answers. 

Luckily, that’s where we come in. 

With the Nexthink Digital Employee Experience solution we offer clients the ability to tackle any challenge—from IT questions regarding visibility into your devices, to business challenges like how to calculate your true ROI, and much, much more. Even better, we provide powerful IT solutions that work during any phase of your Teams rollout:  

• Planning phase – before you start, determine whether your enterprise estate stands on firm ground or quick-sand. Identify potential trialists to pilot Teams based on real-time device metrics, uncover key communication circles, and isolate which collaboration tools end-users already use and how their activity could impact Teams.

• Migration phase – steer your migration with confidence and perspective. Answer questions like: How is Teams comparing to Skype and my other business services? Are we more productive and responsive as a support team now compared to pre-deployment? How is Teams impacting the company’s memory, disc space, CPU, and network strength?

• Post-migration phase – set your Teams project up for continuous improvement with the ability to benchmark your progress and effortlessly adopt new updates and features. Initiate remote actions and one-click remediations that proactively resolve problems for your employees experience a productive and enjoyable computing environment without any interference.

Online help docs and guidelines certainly have their place—but if your goal is to find an MS Teams solution that can answer your specific end-user computing questions—save yourself some time and get in touch with Nexthink. 

Dive into our product and see how we can transform your MS Teams deployment. 

The post Your MS Teams Rollout Needs Specific Help—Not General Guidance appeared first on Nexthink.

It’s the 2nd day of the Gartner Digital Workplace Summit in London. I’m waiting in line for coffee at the venue and I hear this:

“How’s the summit going for you?”

“Well, great and not-so-Great”

“How so?”

“Great that I have my business case nailed down. Great that I now have hundreds of ideas to improve experience in my organization”

“And the not-so-Great?”

“I have no idea what to do next”

I found myself nodding in agreement.

We are big fans of the Gartner Digital Workplace Summit here in Nexthink.

Each year, hundreds of IT professionals meet under common enterprise goals, engage with the leading analysts in tech, and learn from Gartner’s deep domain expertise and session content. For us, the summit presents a key opportunity to read the pulse of the tech market, so we were delighted to sponsor it (refreshments were on us) and present a breakout session.

But the comment I heard from the guy in line for coffee keeps coming back to me.

This year’s summit highlighted that the business case discussion around digital employee experience (DEX) is now pretty much done. There was unanimous agreement from attendees that positive digital experiences are fundamental to employee engagement and productivity and they can be directly linked to bottom-line business outcomes such as: accelerating time to market, improving market innovation and disruption, reducing attrition and onboarding costs, and strengthening overall agility and competitiveness.

The focus has definitely moved from “Why is DEX important?” to “How do we improve DEX?”.

The summit showcased a seemingly endless number of solutions to help drive this improvement—like better networking, improved intranets, seamless collaboration tools, innovative community platforms and more. In addition, Gartner introduced the idea of EXTech (Employee Experience Tech) – a wide range of technology solutions that can help the enterprise in delivering a better digital workplace for their employees.

So, the summit seemed to have everything.

But there was a gap. And we think a significant gap.

Every single session, and every single pitch addressed the ways and means of improving DEX. But no one was talking about how to measure and manage DEX.

Why?

The business case for DEX is now a given. There is 100% consensus that the enterprise needs to put experience front and center in their IT and HR planning. But how do you put a plan in place to improve experience if you have no starting point, no point of reference, and no measure of success?

Given that there were so many technology options on show at the summit and alternative technology approaches, you can sympathize with the guy in the coffee line who simply didn’t know where to start.

Maybe one reason that no one was talking about metrics was because measuring DEX is difficult to do effectively. In fact, there are three significant challenges to overcome:

• Traditional hard IT metrics can be retrieved relatively easily from the network and from different endpoints. But measuring “experience” requires more employee and service-centric metrics that show not just the performance of IT production, but also of IT’s consumption. For example, how do you effectively measure the business services that are delivered to employees, and how those services are adopted and consumed by employees? Employee-centric metrics hold the answer but they are difficult to source with traditional IT monitoring tools.

• Even if you do manage to gather all of the required hard metrics from your environment, you are still measuring only half the story. You need to capture the employee perspective as well – what is the sentiment of your employees around the different aspects of their workplace? You need to avoid the often-referenced situation where the lights on your IT dashboard are all showing green, and yet your employees are still experiencing a non-optimal experience. Measuring employee sentiment is no easy task and requires building a rich communication channel with the workforce.

• DEX measurement is not a one-off process. You need to understand experience on an ongoing basis. Improving DEX over time may not follow a simple upward curve, so it is important to understand how context and timeliness can impact your employees. This means that any measurement process must be robust enough to give you accurate historical data, so that you can understand trends and DEX-impacting events that have occurred over time.

These three challenges look pretty daunting, but you are going to have to overcome them in order to make your DEX improvement processes effective, scalable and repeatable. You can’t manage what you can’t measure.

That’s where Nexthink can help.

We believe we have something that no one else at last week’s summit (or anywhere) can offer—a Digital Experience Score that aggregates metrics for the multiple key drivers of employee experience—browsing, security, collaboration & productivity, business service usage, and the employee device itself.

We combine traditional IT metrics with sentiment data captured from employees for each area. And we let you track all of these metrics over time to ensure that you are always going in the right direction. Our customers are using the Nexthink Score to benchmark their performance internally and against their industry peers (this data is already generating some really interesting DEX talking points—come back to find out more in the coming weeks).

We believe Nexthink’s Digital Experience Score can give you everything you need to get DEX right, and to help your company save millions in enterprise cost and cut thousands of hours in lost productivity.

So, to the guy in the coffee line I would say this:

You have a solid business case for Digital Employee Experience. Last week’s summit gave you multiple approaches to improve different aspects of your employees’ experience. And now for the first time, you have a robust, relevant and contextual way to help you identify where you are, to map out your roadmap for improvement, and to measure your ongoing success.

So now you do know what to do next.

The post The Gartner Digital Workplace Summit had everything. Except for one crucial thing. appeared first on Nexthink.

Tori Kaufmann-Paulman is a Senior Manager of End User Technology and Sales Enablement at Putnam Investments.

I had a blast presenting on the joint Nexthink / IDG webinar talking with peer leaders about the future of digital employee experience. To really dig in I encourage you to consider each of these words on its own.

Check it out here: 2020: The Future of Digital Employee Experience

Digital – What does digital mean at your company? Are you digitizing human workflows to make them easier, more scalable, free of error, or more cost effective. Are you transforming the way humans interact with each other, your products, or data?

Consider the music industry, in a millennial’s lifetime we have gone from radios, to records, to 8-tracks, to cassettes, to CDs, to iPODs. Then iPODs got smaller and smaller and became phones. Regardless of the device you used you were still listening to YOUR music. And then suddenly we accepted that we would stop OWNING music and instead we interact with music. We subscribe to services that give us access to virtually unlimited music, but we don’t own it, and we allow algorithms to curate playlists for us.

In order to foster or even boost innovative performance, you must be focused on the human (employee) experience.

Employee – I’ll ask you to imagine for a moment one of those guys that you see flapping around at a used car lot. What happens when the air pump turns off? Or when it’s windy or rainy? Is the performance greatly impacted? Or even stopped altogether?

Now think about your knowledge workers. My bet is that they are almost entirely animated by their digital experience, and environmental factors, such as user sentiment, can create a big drag.

According to Gallup, the percentage of workers in the U.S. who are not engaged is 53%! In order to foster or even boost innovative performance, you must be focused on the human (employee) experience. Taking into account the ever changing diversification of the workforce and complexity of the workplace with global office, co-working, work remote, and work-out-loud practices.

Experience – We must rethink our Digital Employee Experience programs to be more focused on the employee experience. IT is faced with competition from more and more bespoke 3rd party tools and integrations that are end-user / consumer friendly. And it is impossible to create a training program that can compete with a tool that an end user has introduced, especially if it’s gone viral.

Instead of seeing this as a threat or competition, IT organizations that establish relationships with their users and embrace their culture of working will be positioned best to stay trusted advisors and leaders.

Enterprise technologists who are tuned into the human experience will be best positioned to lead their employees into digital transformation.

Sources: Gallup Report on Employee Engagement

The post Talking with Nexthink About the Future of Digital Employee Experience appeared first on Nexthink.

Excited?

Curious? 

Motivated? 

I’m a little bit of all three right now because we are just days away from starting the Experience ’19 tour—a multi-continent slate of conferences that will host some of the biggest and brightest minds in digital workplace computing and IT.  

Of course, if you registered for Experience New York you already know this. There’s a lot packed into this one-day event and it can be easy to get distracted with so much going on. But we’ve got your back.  

Here are some tips to maximize your time:

1. Plan ahead – it almost goes without saying but New York City is big, loud, and at times, overwhelming. Luckily, Experience New York is located at the serene Tribeca 360, a sprawling indoor venue with (as you might guess) 360° views of Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. If you’re not staying nearby, we recommend sticking to the subway and avoiding taxis, which can get you bogged down in traffic. Take subway lines 1, A, C, or E, to Canal Street Station to avoid any headaches. Once inside Tribeca 360, study the venue map to understand the different zones we have setup for demo stations, one-on-one meetings, customer success booths, and our keynote speaker stage.

2. Listen to all of the keynotes regardless of how relevant they are to your company/career – you can often pick up ideas and lessons from speakers that come from completely different backgrounds and industries. Luckily, everybody coming to Experience New York brings something to the table. Regardless of the job title or sector, this event is for IT professionals that want to make a genuine impact in the digital workplace environment. 

3. Take advantage of our demo stations – there’s plenty to be absorbed from a full day of practical talks but ultimately you’ll want to see the Nexthink platform in action. Come to our demo stations and see what we really mean by “people-centric IT”.  

4. Help is in the form of a light blue lanyard – Nexthinkers will be wearing light blue lanyards during the event, so if you have any questions, just ask! We’re here to help you achieve results for your company and your personal career, so feel free to approach us at any time during the event.

5. Network like a champ – there will be plenty of opportunities for you to network throughout the day with your fellow peers. A word of advice—if you’re interested in meeting with any of the keynote speakers take into consideration when they are speaking during the day. The lunch break will probably be your best time but we will also have short breaks in the morning and afternoon. And of course, don’t forget that the networking reception will follow immediately after at 5:00 p.m. in the same venue, so you’ll also have plenty of time to unload all those questions and comments at that time. 

That’s it.  

On behalf of the Nexthink team, we’re delighted you’re coming to Experience ’19 and we’ll see you next week! 

If you have questions about Experience New York, contact us!

The post 5 Tips to Maximize Your Time at Experience ’19 New York appeared first on Nexthink.

One of the most exciting things about last year’s Experience events was the unveiling of the Digital Experience Score (DX Score).

Over the years we’ve worked tirelessly to improve digital employee experience (DEX) but until then we never had this one metric, the DX Score, that could tie it all together.

Fast forward to today, and our customers now have this one source of truth to better track and compare progress with their peers.

Across the six key areas of digital experience, we now can offer all our customers a single, universally applicable rating that defines what a superior IT experience looks like—a score that can be contrasted with peer performance, and used to continuously guide IT planning, migration, post-migration, and enterprise growth.

The uptake and enthusiasm around the launch of the DX Score has been incredible. The metric has already been deployed across more than 400 customers, and our total anonymized data set today reflects insights from 1.6M endpoints.

Now, in time for the first of this year’s Experience events, Score’s success has given us a new opportunity: to establish and share continuous industry-wide digital workplace insights that have never been seen before.

And that’s exactly what we’ve done in this new microsite, The State of Digital Employee Experience – available now.

Ever wondered how long, on average, employees across different industries wait to logon to their devices?

Or how often they have to resort to a hard reset?

Or what areas trouble employees the most overall in their day-to-day digital work life?

How about which organizations struggle to deliver a great user experience and why?

Now Nexthink has those answers. And as we finetune the DX Score and begin to benchmark en masse, we’re going to have even richer workplace insights to come in the future.

Stay tuned!

The post Nexthink Unveils The State of Digital Employee Experience appeared first on Nexthink.

Skip ahead to see how we solve a typical Windows 10 update problem (Windows Defender)

It hasn’t been the easiest of weeks for Windows 10 users and support staff. And if we’re being honest, the previous months haven’t been all sunshine and rainbows either.

For many, Patch Tuesday is starting to look less like a welcomed milestone for Windows 10 updates and fixes, and more like a doomsday for new malware and computing defects.

This year alone Microsoft’s updates have turned PC screens orange, spiked CPU usage, downed blue tooth devices, and triggered a whole host of other problems for tech support to solve. Side note—if you place your ear to your keyboard each month on Patch Tuesday you will hear a collective gasp emanate from IT support teams across the globe as they brace to play this way less fun version of real-life “Whac-A-Mole”.

Recently, Microsoft announced two particularly nefarious bugs that snuck in with the latest round of Windows updates—a zero-day Internet Explorer vulnerability and a failed antivirus scan for Windows Defender. The former was probably the more serious of the two, with Microsoft admitting that the vulnerability could “corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user” and with administrative rights “could take control of an affected system” and “install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights”.

Gulp.

Not exactly the type of stuff you want to hear for an OS that is running on more than 700 million devices, and will have millions more end-users migrating to it by year’s end from Windows 7.

Luckily, the Internet Explorer vulnerability can be fixed via a manual update, and Windows Defender will be patched with a silent update.

Obviously not all Windows updates bring with them the same hidden bugs and malware. Microsoft churns out daily upgrades and feature updates that allow businesses to compete in their markets and adapt with the constant changes in digital workplaces.

But the recent stretch of Windows problems begs the following questions:

How can you truly tell if each Windows 10 update has set your employees up for success and not failure?

Is there a fast and accurate way to verify Microsoft is coming through on their word?

How can you switch from waiting for your employees to report Windows-related problems to proactively detecting and fixing those issues in real-time without end-users even knowing they exist?

We have the answers to all of those questions and more.

Nexthink’s platform allows you to quickly zoom-in and out on every one of your endpoints and automate fixes with just a few clicks. Gain complete visibility into your employees’ exact digital experience, and start managing IT projects based on what you can truly measure—not what you think might be the case.

Don’t believe us?

See what the Nexthink platform can do with your typical Windows Defender update scan:

Interested in learning more?

Visit our library page for the latest Windows 10 integration packs or speak with a Nexthinker today.

The post How To Guarantee Your Windows 10 Updates Are Actually Working appeared first on Nexthink.

Gartner once wrote that by 2020, “the average person will have more conversations with bots (chatbots) than with their spouse”.  

That prediction might seem a bit farfetched and probably more of a sign for relationship disaster, but there is some truth there: for many people chatbots are already an integral part of modern-day life.  

From turning on the lights, to picking our favorite songs and ordering food—we use chatbots for almost everything and expect them to work all the time.  

Why then do most IT support chatbots still struggle to help employees solve their computing problems? 

You say potato, I say Virtual Support Agent 

Before we get ahead of ourselves, there’s an important distinction to be made: chatbots in IT are technically called ‘Virtual Support Agents’—these as the more advanced, smarter cousins to chatbots, capable of contextualizing human inquiries and determining meaning and intent. Conversely, traditional chatbots are built to be one-dimensional and have predetermined scripts that help answer basic questions. 

For example: 

Interested in tickets to the concert tonight? 

 Y/N? 

How many seats do you need?  

1 | 2 | 2+? 

Great – your tickets are ready for purchase here: 

www.ticketmaster.com 

The term ‘chatbot’ has become so popular now that it’s used in a variety of digital contexts, including IT support desks. But if IT chatbots are really virtual support agents, which are supposedly more superior in nature, all the more reason to ask again: why can’t these tools help employees solve common computing problems like a slow PC, wonky email, or spotty VPN connectivity? 

You can only get out what you put in 

The problem is most L1 support chatbots run on a reduced end-user data diet, which results in more re-routing than actual problem solving. Conventional IT chatbots perform tasks like: 

1. Answering basic service requests (triggered by end-users), opening, editing, and viewing support tickets;
2. Conducting limited search and retrieval of knowledge documents (faq’s, case studies, etc.); and
3. Performing simple automation tasks like resetting passwords. 

Though each of these functions serve a purpose they do nothing more than enable a new channel of communication between end-users and IT support. Yes, they grant end-users some temporary relief by passing on their problems but they cannot meet those challenges in real-time. Ultimately, IT chatbots just redirect requests to a live analyst to solve. 

Unlocking your chatbots true potential 

Just like a body builder, your chatbots need a healthy diet (and maybe extra supplements) to reach their full potential. In the IT world, this translates to chatbots that operate on complete endpoint and end-user monitoring and remediation capabilities. Nexthink does just this and will integrate with any chatbot tool and help ITSM teams proactively diagnose and solve end-user computing issues in real time without the constant intervention of human agents. 

With Nexthink’s unique end-user solutions, your chatbots will know when and how to positively influence your employees’ digital work experience. By providing quick self-help and automatic remediation tasks, your chatbots will finally free up that clunky L1 support ticketing process, and give your real analysts the chance to focus on bigger, more important IT projects.  

Want to see exactly what we mean? 

Check out the Nexthink chatbot adapter in action: 

Interested in revamping your current chatbot with better end-user functionality? 

Contact us today! 

The post What Your IT Chatbot Can Look Like Running on Full Power appeared first on Nexthink.

As an IT professional there never seems to be enough time in the day. You’re so preoccupied with making sure projects are executed on time and goals are being met that it can be a real challenge to keep up with the latest news and innovations. 

So we decided to help! 

Here are eight incredible websites brimming with strategies, wisdom, and experience from professionals that are in your shoes. Hopefully they will help you reach your goals, and gain some valuable insight. 

CSM Wire  

CSM Wire keeps you up to date with the evolving digital workplace. They curate articles, blogs, events and research covering the ever-evolving technology landscape. 

What to read: 

• What It Takes to Be a Digital Workplace Director 
• Want Better Customer Experience? Start with Your Employees 
• David Maffei: ‘Give a Voice’ to Every One of Your Employees 

PluralSight 

PluralSight helps IT professionals educate themselves on the topics that matter through expert led courses and skills assessments. 

What to read / watch:  

• Fundamentals of IT Operations 
• Help Desk Essentials: Customer Interaction 

Tech HQ 

Written by innovators, entrepreneurs, business managers and change makers passionate about technology, Tech HQ is a one-stop shop for learning about the latest technology and digital transformation trends. 

What to Read:  

• How much are IT issues costing businesses? 
• The razor’s edge between legacy modernization & digital transformation 
• Want loyal workers? Invest in simple, efficient technology 

Computer Weekly  

UK-based Computer Weekly, the world’s first weekly IT newsletter, remains so insightful that they have been featured by TechTarget for two decades of content excellence. Since 1966, they have been covering the technology landscape and the in-depth challenges faced and solved by IT professionals. 

What to read:  

• Digital transformation leadership a problem for users 
• ITIL & ITSM: How IT is becoming more service-oriented 

Forrester  

Forrester curates insights from top business and technology leaders to empower IT teams with the methodologies, research, and analytics necessary to improve their firms’ IT program and keep abreast of the ever-evolving technology landscape. 

What to read: 

• Introducing Forrester’s Guide To Employee Experience Technology  
• Fulfillment, Not Happiness, Makes A Great Employee Experience 
• The Employee Experience Index 

CIO.com 

CIO.com reports on the latest news around top tech trends, analytics, tips and tricks, career insights, video and more for IT professionals.   

What to read:  

• What customer-centric IT really looks like 
• How IT Leaders Are Shaping End-user Computing Workplaces 
• User vs. service incidents: what’s the distinction? 

Gartner 

Gartner, home of the Magic Quadrant, is the Yelp! For technology and enterprise experts. They provide research and consulting services, and drive industry conferences designed to equip IT professionals with all the insights necessary to help make the right decisions and stay ahead of the curve. 

What to read: 

•  Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019 
•  Market Guide for Digital Experience Monitoring 

Forbes  

From highlighting the most innovative CIOs, documenting the latest AI strategies, and curating a quote of the day to keep you inspired, Forbes provides a wide array of innovation news, strategies, and the latest IT trends. 

What to read:  

• Where Businesses Go Wrong With Digital Transformation 
• Technology’s Impact On Employee Experience: Balancing Overload Versus Enablement 
• How To Give Your Employees A Voice During Digital Transformation 

BONUS: Reddit  

Reddit is the place for all those questions that can’t be answered… including a place for IT professionals to share and collaborate on challenges they encounter. 

What to read: Go online, and start asking questions that have stumped you!  

• https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/ 
• https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/ 

We hope this list helps you stay on top of the latest trends and innovations in IT.  

And if you’re ready to take the next step and bring end-user solutions to your company, then contact our team today!  

The post 8 Websites Every End-User Computing Professional Needs to be Visiting Daily appeared first on Nexthink.

Forrester Analyst impresses at Nexthink Experience

Experience NYC hosted several quality speakers but one in particular stood out to me for his unique message: Andrew Hewitt, a leading IT Analyst from Forrester.

Probably the last thing you would expect to hear at an IT solutions conference is a captivating talk grounded in human psychology.

Feelings?

Perceptions?

Beliefs?

These topics don’t seem to fit nicely into bits and bytes. They’re perceived as foreign, un-engineer speak.

But Andrew quickly and eloquently made the case that there are certain psychology facts at play in every modern digital workplace which can make or break the success of a company. He backed up his claims with definitive research and data from the IT sector.

Technology—as you would expect—plays a massive role in affecting the employee experience and in determining how much businesses can foster both financial growth and innovation.

Andrew listed out several examples of what actually detracts or enhances the employee experience, and he outlined the type of end-user experience management strategy that any enterprise technology team could apply to their situation.

To summarize the talk here wouldn’t do it justice but we recommend you register for one of the remaining European Experience ’19 events and listen to Andrew’s talk in person.

Luckily, we were able to have Andrew answer a few industry questions about the future of the digital workplace, how companies can better serve the needs of their employees, and what to expect from him at the European Experience events this fall:

Q&A

1 – You’ve been studying psychology and the science behind the Digital Employee Experience for awhile now, why do you think it’s so difficult for technology leaders to positively affect their employees’ digital experiences?

From my perspective, it’s difficult for both technological and non-technological reasons. Technology-wise, there’s so much complexity and change happening in enterprise IT environments (whether that’s cloud, mobile, SaaS, AI, etc.) that it’s difficult for many to keep up. As consumerization of IT continues, this becomes even harder. It’s also difficult because understanding the science of motivation and productivity isn’t something that IT leaders had to know in the past because experience itself was less important. There’s a skills gap there.

 2 – Forrester developed the Employee Experience Index Score. What impact do you see metrics like this and Nexthink’s Digital Employee Experience Score making on businesses today?

Any time you have a score that you can track over time it presents opportunities for the organization to better understand the issues they have, where they need to go, and how they perform against your peers in your industry. It’s the first time we’ve had the tools to actually isolate what will drive an improvement in DEX, so that’s exciting.

 3 – What is a comment or statistic you’ve encountered recently about IT and the employee experience that you just love to quote?

One of my favorite quotes from our EXi research is that “30% of the factors that most drive engagement in the workplace are technology-related”.

4 – Do you have any new research projects lined up, or are you expanding on any previous reports? If so, what are they exactly?

I’m really interested in expanding the concept of employee experience beyond the traditional office cubicle worker. There are so many employees worldwide (some stats say billions of “deskless” workforces) that haven’t traditionally reaped the benefits of EX investments. They shouldn’t be left out and I’m interested in learning how organizations can help enable those workers as well.  

5 – You’re slated to speak at the European Nexthink Experience events this fall. Is there anything in particular the European audiences can expect to hear from you and Forrester that will be relevant to their region and country-specific markets?

Certainly expect to hear me talk more about the importance of psychology in driving employee experience investments as well as how EX changes based on the geography from a technology perspective.

Interested in learning more about Andrew Hewitt? Follow him on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.

Register for Experience ’19 before it’s too late!

The post Q&A with Andrew Hewitt (Forrester)—Experience NYC ‘19 appeared first on Nexthink.

Headed to Experience ’19 Frankfurt this week?

If you’re like me, you like to be prepared.

Here are 3 important tips that can help you maximize your time at this world-class event:

1. Take advantage of the entire layout

The keynotes at Experience are entertaining and insightful but there will be other parts that you don’t want to miss. Check out our Demo Zone to see the Nexthink platform in action and speak with our experts, or visit our solution consultants to discuss these key topics:

• The Digital Experience Score – the ‘nitty gritty’
• ITSM challenges and opportunities – and how we tailor solutions to your unique environment
• Data protection and security – how we stay on top of your requirements
• General questions – ask us anything!

2. Stay for the last speaker

all of our keynote speakers bring something different to the table but the last one, Christian Ochsler, is going to share key insights on Digital Experience Management and working with the German Works Council. If you’re based in Germany, you don’t want to miss this presentation!

3. Network like a champ

There will be plenty of opportunities for you to network throughout the day with your fellow peers. A word of advice—if you’re interested in meeting with any of the keynote speakers take into consideration when they are speaking during the day. The lunch break will probably be your best time but we will also have short breaks in the morning and afternoon. And of course, don’t forget that the networking reception will follow immediately after at 4:30 in the same venue, so you’ll also have plenty of time to unload all those questions and comments. 

That’s it. If you have an interesting story using Nexthink and would like to speak at next year’s event please contact a Nexthinker.

On behalf of the Nexthink team, we’re delighted you’re coming to Experience ‘19 and we’ll see you on Thursday!

If you have questions about Experience Frankfurt, contact us!

The post 3 Tips To Consider For Experience ’19 Frankfurt appeared first on Nexthink.

The digital workplace was made for Millennial workers

Like a slow-moving tsunami, millennials have seeped into every nook and cranny of the modern workplace.

I must admit, I’m one of “them”.

Just your everyday beany-wearing, meme-sending, coffee-roasting, emoji-speaking, all-entitled millennial. Ok, not all of those stereotypes are true but some do fit.

There’s been a lot of shade thrown towards my generation these past few years. Some of it is justified ($10 avocado toast, really?!) but most is unwarranted. This sort of tussle between young and old happens with every new generation but something is strikingly different this time around. Millennials are finally starting to find their sweet spot in the workforce. We’re no longer studying, travelling or “finding ourselves” like we were a few years ago

Now we’re here, working right beside you.

We’re “adulting” or trying to at least just like everybody else. That’s right, love it or hate it, millennials are the harbingers of the next-gen workforce—from banking and coding to cooking and recruiting—we make up nearly half the global workforce and by 2025 we’ll represent 75% of all workers. Which means competitive businesses need to strap-in and think about what this means in terms of their future hiring, productivity and retention strategies.

In the market today there is both a serious talent shortage and a rise in turnover rates. Everybody seems to have a different strategy on how to hire and retain millennial talent, but by and large Digital Employee Experience (DEX) is the one approach that has been proven to work for young workers.

The good news?

Millennial workers know technology really well. So employers don’t have to worry too much about the digital dexterity of their future employees because for us, it’s practically instinctual.

The bad news?

We know technology really well. Which means we expect it to work really well. All the time.

Let me explain.

For us, technology is more than just an ally.

Growing up, my millennial colleagues and I were in the center of the hyper-evolution of technology—pencil to keyboard, home phone to smartphone, dial-up to Wi-Fi, VHS to Netflix. We witnessed history’s greatest expansion in technological innovation while our young brains absorbed every detail like a dry sponge to water.

Digital technologies became routine and central to our upbringing and education, not necessarily because we wanted to but because they were (and still are) so readily available.

The point is, for us, using well-functioning technology has become embedded in our DNA. We understand how technology works, and we expect it to improve every year because that’s the only world we’ve ever known.

Maybe 15, 20, 30 years ago all this didn’t really matter for employers and employees.

But it does now.

There’s an easier way to keep Millennial workers engaged and it doesn’t require cold brew or foosball.

Don’t get me wrong, stuff like free pizza and pool-tables at work are cool and all, but I’d prefer a functioning laptop first, and I’m not alone in that belief.

A Microsoft/SurveyMonkey survey showed that 93% of millennials believe “modern and up-to-date technology [is] one of the most important aspects of a workplace”.

I could not agree more. It’s more important to us than bean bags, free snacks, or the social corner’s foosball table. And coming from a millennial, that says a lot.

But companies barely cater to basic employee digital satisfaction needs. Last year, only 54% of companies said that they started to put digital workplace strategies in place. Even worse, most businesses implement strategies based on a “gut feeling” as opposed to real measurements.

Millennials expect our digital experiences to be flawless in any situation. And when they aren’t, we get frustrated, and move onto something better. It’s no different at work—if employers can’t provide a modern digital experience, we get annoyed because we can’t do our job, and if it doesn’t improve we’re not afraid to do our infamous millennial job-hop onto the next opportunity.

So where should companies start?

It’s not rocket science. Millennials just want their everyday digital work experiences to not suck.

And it all starts with IT support—they need ultimate visibility into their end users, and the technical agility to match the digital demands of their millennial workers.

IT has the power to provide an amazing DEX across the entire organization when they have complete visibility into their employees’ actual digital experiences. Which, as it turns out, they can with the help of some critical metrics that can unlock powerful insight into both employee sentiment and hard technical data.

No more gut feelings.

Once companies have a solid understanding of their baseline DEX Score, IT can investigate areas of improvement and make sure they meet the digital expectations for any millennial worker.

If businesses want us to stick around and be more engaged, they have to ensure their tech support is prepared to act. And there are plenty of solutions out there that can help them do that.

BTW, you think we’re bad?

Just you wait until ‘Generation Z’ joins the party.

The post The Millennials Are Here – Sound The Alarm! appeared first on Nexthink.

A few weeks ago I attended the Digital Workplace & Employee Experience Summit in Berlin hosted by Platinum Edge. I’ve been to hundreds of conferences in my professional career but none like this one.

Surprisingly, the attendees and speakers weren’t just IT engineers like myself, but instead a mix and mash of human resources, change management, content marketing, and digital analytics professionals—all with skin in the proverbial workplace experience game.

I sat on a panel discussion with some of these professionals and it was motivating to see so many different perspectives united over the same desire to improve everyday work life for people like you and me. We have more in common with HR, Data Science, and Change Management than we think.

Admittedly, I probably wouldn’t have crossed paths with most of these professionals back in our respective companies—there’s a sort of natural tribalism that takes place in any job, the sales crowd lunches together, the marketing people sit off in one corner, etc. Obviously, our participation at the summit was planned but I quickly felt a natural affinity with these peers—we shared many of the same stories of struggle and triumph working on large digital transformation and organizational change projects.

The main takeaway that kept rising its ugly head throughout the day:

The status quo isn’t doing enough for the modern digital employee, and it’s going to take different backgrounds coming together to make any real changes.

Studies show that as high as 94% of US and UK workers report feeling stress at work, with almost a third saying their stress is “unsustainably high”.

Playing Our Part

Nexthink may be one small cog in the wheel but we are vitally important to the bigger picture of employee happiness and engagement. It’s been reported by technology leaders like Forrester that 30% of the factors that most drive engagement in the workplace are technology-related—something that falls directly into our realm here at Nexthink.

If anything, the Employee Experience Summit helped solidify what we are trying to accomplish. Yes, on the surface we are an IT solutions company that exponentially improves the computing environment for thousands of people every day.

But I think our role is much more nuanced than just that—we help facilitate a more advanced, productive and better inner work life for people than what they’re currently getting.

Whether you come from a technology background or not, Nexthink can help you accomplish a stronger, more fulfilling workplace experience.

Interested in learning more?

Contact us today!

The post Poor Work Experiences Are a “We” Problem appeared first on Nexthink.

Straight from the Father of Information Theory and Modern Computing

You probably don’t know who Claude Shannon is but you have much to thank him for. He was by all accounts a bona fide genius that dreamed up the underlying concept of digital computing back in 1948—decades before Wozniak, Jobs, and Gates sprung onto the scene.

In Shannon’s publication “The Mathematical Theory of Communication” he introduced for the first time the concept of the “bit”, the very cellular structure we use today to quantify and share digital information in modern computing.

In other words, one of the very reasons you can load this web page or send a text message or email is because of Shannon. And though his mind was uniquely complex, his approach to problem solving was incredibly simple and applicable to just about any situation.

Mapping Shannon’s 6-Step Process to the Digital Employee Experience (DEX)

Our passion to improve the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) inextricably links us to solving tricky problems at the largest and smallest of scale in enterprise technology. Whether our customers in IT Support are tackling a single device issue or a massive digital transformation project, we solve each problem with the same 6-step approach that Shannon used all those years ago developing his information theory:

1) Simplify. Simplify.

Shannon was skilled at ignoring noisy data and irrelevant information—he could focus with laser-like precision on what mattered most.

Similarly, we enable IT Support teams to quickly zoom-in and zoom-out on their entire digital environment. Our DEX dashboards provide clear, accurate, and real-time insights into everything from the data center out to your individual endpoints. In just a few clicks our customers can isolate specific end-users that are experiencing an issue and resolve their problems with simple remediations. Our customers report cutting IT costs (price per ticket) and their MTTR (mean time to resolution) in half.

2) Fill your ‘mental matrix’ with solutions to similar problems.

Shannon had an uncanny ability to isolate and transfer similar problems and solutions into various disciplines. For example, his PhD dissertation applied his work in algebra to the field of genetics even though he had no background in biology or genetics.

Our workplace analytics dashboard works the same way. IT doesn’t need multiple browsers and tabs open to solve their problems. Is the issue really a hardware problem, or a network problem? How can you tell? These types of questions run through the minds of any IT support technician. But with Nexthink they don’t need to scramble to find answers every time a problem arises. Instead, they can easily review key technical data metrics and user sentiment statistics and quickly act upon that information. Each problem identified represents an opportunity to enact automated remediations that can stop similar issues from ever happening again.

3) Approach the problem from many different angles.

Shannon’s Information Theory answered an old question: how do you communicate accurately over long distances? Conventional wisdom always assumed that talking louder was the right approach, but Shannon addressed the problem from a completely different place. He determined the right solution was to talk smarter­—and he did this by writing digital codes to protect messages from error.

Similarly, we can make such a visceral and quantifiable impact for our customers because we approach “old” problems in an entirely new way. For decades now IT Support has been drilled to analyze problems based on how IT is provisioned. Instead we approach problems—whether they emanate from the network, database, or employees themselves—based on how IT is consumed. This subtle difference (paired with our powerful product features) is really what separates us from the rest of the pack.

4) Break a big problem down into small pieces

 Shannon also believed in simplifying his work into bite-sized (or byte-sized 😊) pieces. He would cut out extraneous components and chip away at a big problem by tackling it in less-intimidating pieces.

We like to help companies around the world tackle massive computing problems by outlining powerful solutions step by step, piece by piece. Our Digital Employee Experience Score breaks down the modern employee experience and finally puts an accountable number that IT support teams can reliably map their progress against. Each technical problem that we help you solve also builds up the confidence and productivity of your staff. That positive momentum motivates teams to aim for bigger projects, loftier goals, and more innovation.

5) Solve the problem ‘backwards’.

Sometimes starting with the conclusion can help you crack the answer to a problem. Shannon used to start with the belief that his conclusions were true and then he’d work backwards to prove his premises made sense.

Similarly, we take an explicitly employee-centric perspective approach to solving most IT problems. Sure, hard IT metrics like CPU, Network Speed, and Data Throughput are crucial for IT Support teams but that’s why we pair them often-forgotten, real-time employee sentiment metrics that show you how end-users interact with their devices and applications. Taking this outside-in approach, we take the blindfold off IT support, allowing them to finally see what is truly taking place in their digital environment.

6) If you’ve solved the problem, extend that solution out as far as it will go.

Shannon understood that logic that holds true on the smallest of levels often will hold true on the largest as well. Rather than solve problems for single, particular theorems, Shannon aimed for solutions that he could expand into multiple domains.

Thankfully, Nexthink Engage is a key feature in our platform that allows us to scale with operational tools like ServiceNow and Splunk. If it wasn’t for Nexthink Engage we would be nothing but a single problem-solving platform—not very helpful for our customers. Luckily, our contextualized surveys collect real-time, reliable data that IT can act upon to ensure no employee suffers in digital silence or resorts to ‘shadow IT’ to perform their daily tasks.

Innovators like Claude Shannon not only laid the groundwork for modern computing but also served as inspiration for us here at Nexthink. We are carrying the torch for the modern Digital Employee Experience, and are just getting started.

Interested in learning more?

Contact Us Today

The post The 6-Step Process To Solve Any Digital Employee Experience Problem appeared first on Nexthink.

Good IT Support is harder to pin down than you’d think but deciding which technology is better than the next is pretty straightforward for most of us.

Who wouldn’t pick the latest iPhone or Android device over a flip-phone?

Actually, most senior citizens—but to their credit flip-phones never really die, they just regenerate into larger flip-phones. Bad example.

Point is we can rate, compare, trial, and study just about every digital technology on the market. We have endless information and visibility into the key variables that help determine strong versus weak technology.

But when our work devices and digital applications fail us, and IT Support is asked to intervene, we don’t really know the key components that make their services “good”.

L1 Tech Support can think good means less tickets.

A CIO can define it as a cost-savings KPI.

And employees can think good IT is synonymous with invisible IT—they want as little interaction with tech support as humanely possible. For them, IT should act the same as a covert security detail, hidden in plain sight but with the capability to identify and resolve issues before anybody else even notices.

What is good IT support?

If you search “what is good IT support?” on Google, you’ll find everything from technical metrics like MTTR and first time fix rates, to theories about the appropriate psycho-emotional traits of support technicians. While these points are all valid there are particular variables out there that we think are 100% irrefutable.

Any serious IT department needs these key factors:

ROI that is reliable, accurate and attributable to any IT project or initiative, no matter how big or small.

• • We know exactly how to solve those dreaded 3 letters.

Contextualized surveys that collect timely and robust sentiment data.

• • Most people ignore IT surveys because they are annoying and out of context. We know when and how to quickly collect digital employee feedback. See how we do it.

Clear, actionable dashboards that quickly give IT both a summary of their entire digital architecture and the ability to pin-point specific issues, down to the very user and device.

• • IT Managers can save hundreds of hours troubleshooting problems by quickly zooming-in and zooming-out with the Nexthink platform.

AI-backed automations and remediations that are reliable and easy to perform.

• • Most of what you see in the Nexthink platform is out-of-the-box. New automations and one-click remediations can be triggered in a matter of seconds, so no time is wasted writing out code or troubleshooting integrations with your ITSM tools.

A comprehensive Digital Employee Experience Score (DEX Score)

• • that continuously tracks key areas of your IT infrastructure and digital employee engagement—a single metric that can accurately measure internal progress and benchmark against competitors in your own industry. Free up your data scientists, we got this one covered. The DEX Score is a simple yet powerful metric that can help you lead any digital transformation and monitoring project.

You now know what the variables are that truly matter, now you need help getting them.

If you’re serious about improving your IT services then:

Contact us today and speak with a Nexthinker!

The post Good IT Support? Or a Pain In The Bits? appeared first on Nexthink.

You can’t really blame most people for thinking employee surveys are a lost cause.

Survey fatigue is a real thing, and every organization has its unique red tape when it comes to data collection and HR policy.

If you can even manage to convince your employees to respond to that well-crafted questionnaire, how do you separate the signal from the noise and operationalize this information for ITOps? How do you make meaningful judgments based on both hard technical metrics and genuine employee sentiment data?

After helping hundreds of IT departments answer these very questions, we’ve realized our most successful customers follow these 2 simple rules:

1) They use survey tools that are powered by transactional end-user triggers and criteria

Imagine you have lunch with a friend at an Italian restaurant. You bump into that same friend six months later and you ask him, “Hey, how was the bolognese you had six months ago?” Your friend would probably look at you like you’ve lost your mind, and for good reason.

That’s because context matters.

Yet most IT departments still take context for granted. They send survey questions to employees asking them to recall incidents that happened weeks ago. They base their questions around their own department’s needs, and not the needs of their employees.

But with transactional-based end-user survey tools like Nexthink Engage, you can ask your employees the right questions at the appropriate time. For example, if a colleague is waiting longer than usual to boot up their device, IT support can instantly trigger a campaign question to ask that person to rate their current experience.

Pertinent questions warrant complete answers.

When you have the right IT communications and survey tool you can tailor questions by specific geographies, devices, applications, and users. Our customers save hundreds of hours a month by re-using workflows for future surveys and analyzing survey responses in conjunction with unique digital performance metrics for memory, CPU, data throughput, bluescreens, logon times, crashes, versioning, and other key statistics.

Combining this unique employee sentiment data with real-time technical data puts IT departments on even terms with their employees. They both become part of the same conversation and business strategy.

But believe it or not, powerful technology can only get you so far. Our customers are also successful because they follow this second important rule:

2) They get buy-in from corporate communication

Let’s face it: it’s never a good idea to appear like you’re taking somebody’s job or that you’re going behind official channels to get something done.

Even if you have the right survey tool you’ll want to partner with your corporate communications department or internal communications lead to ensure you’re not stepping on any toes.

Since IT employee surveys fall into a sort of grey area between both technical data and employee sentiment, we always recommend our clients use corporate communications channels to elevate their actions.

It’s important to remember that survey and communication tools like Nexthink Engage are incredibly effective at targeting the right sample size of employees at the right moment—but that technology is pointless without the right policy approval—employees will simply ignore your survey if they’re told to do so.

The Right Tech + The Right Policy = Success

We’ve found that our customers are able to achieve 80% response rates because they had the right technology and they received buy-in from their corporate communications teams.

For some of our customers, Nexthink Engage has even been adopted by corporate communications as an internal messaging tool because it offers such remarkable precision and functionality.

Contact a Nexthinker today if you’re interested in carrying out an employee survey and want to learn more!

The post How Our Customers Get 80% Response Rates From Employee Surveys appeared first on Nexthink.

If you have successfully deployed an ITSM solution like Nexthink, you’ll next want to collect timely employee survey data to provide context for your support team.

From our experience we recommend you take the following steps:

Get buy-in from corporate communications

In most large-scale companies, internal communication is usually already owned by the corporate communications department. If you deploy an IT survey tool without their approval, the appearance of your new messages may lead to internal friction or worse – and we don’t want that happening for you.

Corporate communications departments usually vet all messages broadcast to employees. But IT departments can fall into a weird grey area—though most of their messages are technical in nature, they are often destined directly for employees.

Our customers, for example, often use Nexthink Engage to notify users about issues with their devices—something that their corporate communications teams perceive as purely technical messages and typically approve. However, IT satisfaction surveys can be categorized as part of their overall improvement programs so they can view separate IT messages as misleading or even as a threat to their work.

Present your IT employee survey tool first to corporate communications

Let’s face it: it’s never nice to have the impression that someone is taking your job. But that’s what corporate communications can feel like when they first receive your IT survey message out of the blue. This small misunderstanding can snowball into a bureaucratic nightmare—your IT project could easily be derailed without sign off first from corporate.

To prevent that from happening, you should make sure that your communications department is aware of what is going on. Meet with the right people, present them with your IT solution and explain how it doesn’t take away from their messaging but enhances it.

Send campaigns to corporate communications before releasing them to the whole company

To reinforce the fact that your IT survey tool is not competing with regular corporate communication, share with them an example of what your campaign will look before sending it to the whole company. This can make your corporate communications office feel included and like a partner rather than an opponent. Let them see the campaigns and suggest changes in their wording or branding to ensure they are consistent with the rest of their communication policy.

This is a small step that can pay huge dividends for your digital transformation project.

Suggest corporate communications use your IT employee survey tool to enhance their own communications initiatives

IT tools can be used just like any other medium. But unlike email or IM, the best IT tools offer a privileged channel that ensures your messages get through. Sell the benefits of your survey tool and pitch the accessibility and precision you can get using it instead of traditional email. If your tool will make life easier for the communications department, they won’t be able to ignore you!

In our most successful deployments, corporate communications actively participated in the creation of these survey campaigns and requested their own messages be sent using Engage–thus improving their communication with end users, and weaving new bonds between IT and communication departments.

Let your end users know why and how you will reach out to them

The second crucial step recommended is talking directly with your end users before deploying any IT survey campaigns. IT communications tools survey technology present companies with a unique and privileged channel. However, this has a flip side: if an end user first receives a message from IT without any prior notice, they might question its validity. Employees today are savvy digital users, and may suspect the worst that strange messages are deliberate phishing attacks!

To prevent this type of confusion from happening, a good step is to communicate with your end users about the new IT tool you are ready to deploy. Tell them what the messages will look like, and how they can verify they are legitimate and not actual spam.

A smooth start

We hope this advice will help you deploy your next IT survey tool without the unnecessary stress of internal blockages and bureaucracy.

If you’re interested in learning how to leverage a powerful IT communications and survey solution, read about the Nexthink Engage module today!

The post Practical Advice For Operationalizing IT Surveys appeared first on Nexthink.

The times they are a changin’

Many Industry and Operations (I&O) Leaders working in end-user computing today can attest to that famous Dylan lyric.

In Gartner’s latest Market Guide on Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) they report that “by 2023, 60% of digital business intiatives will require I&O to report on user’s digital experience, up 15% from today”.

Compare that to just a decade ago when I&O Leaders rarely had to think about their employees’ digital experiences when making decisions. Back then, I&O Leaders more or less owned their technology stacks and could access detailed insights into their digital environment’s availability and performance.

Yet cloud computing, both a blessing and a curse, has largely changed the game for many businesses.

IT departments are now faced with new challenges in their attempts to effectively manage digital applications and deliver powerful digital employee experiences. As Gartner points out, “As businesses adopt commercial cloud stacks to run applications, I&O leaders are becoming blindsided because of the lack of control and visibility this creates. This is especially the case with SaaS applications, where monitoring teams have no visibility into the infrastructure layer and cannot instrument the application”.

“Gartner forecasts show that, in 2019, 44% of cloud spend will be on SaaS (see the Evidence section in the guide), creating visibility challenges for I&O teams that can impact customer experience, revenue and brand reputation.”

Thankfully, there are IT solutions in market that are rightly repurposing the focus of smart I&O Leaders towards DEM—a more comprehensive approach that can tackle many of the IT issues companies face today in the cloud.

What does Gartner mean by DEM?

At its root level, Digital Experience Monitoring is an approach that takes the traditional hard metrics of IT monitoring and combines it with quantifiable qualitative information from the end user. DEM expands the application-approach in IT to include the complete end-user experience. In addition to monitoring strictly network and application performance, IT support teams can now monitor how employees feel (via survey responses) about their digital technologies and why they perceive their work environments in a certain way.

You read that correctly.

During the pre-cloud era, IT couldn’t definitively answer “how” and “why” employees interacted with their workplace technologies. But with the DEM solutions, IT departments can take a “performance analysis discipline that supports the optimization of the operational experience and behavior of a digital agent, human or machine, with the application and service portfolio of enterprises” – Gartner.

In other words, certain tech solutions can now tell IT departments things like which devices are low on memory and also how certain users perceive those exact devices in real-time.

DEM vs APM vs NPMD

In addition to their deep analysis into DEM technologies, Gartner’s Market Guide also highlights key industry categories around Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics (NPMD)—tools that are often deployed alongside DEM solutions.

If you are a serious I&O Leader we recommend you study the Market Guide further in order to understand each of these key categories.

Below is a summary:

DEM – is the core approach to improving employee productivity, one that sits in both the APM and NPMD domains. DEM measures endpoint devices, physical or virutal, and is used to improve the end-user’s experience with their applications.

NPMD – is mostly a data-center approach that consists of synthetic transaction monitoring, synthetic network path monitoring (internet), and detailed network analysis

APM – is the application-centric approach that consists of real user monitoring, endpoint monitoring, and screen capture and session replay

Use the guide to stay ahead of the innovation curve

Aside from the detailed breakdown of Digital Experience Monitoring categories and use cases, Gartner also lists several vendors that offer experience monitoring as part of their services. Nexthink is named under the ‘Endpoint Agent Monitoring’ category.

We pride ourselves in endpoint monitoring and DEM, but that’s really just the beginning of what we do for our customers. Nexthink offers the only 360° digital user experience management platform—which enables IT teams to accurately measure (via the Digital Experience Score) and manage for continuous improvement via automations, one-click remediations and powerful playbooks. We do more than just track incidents for our customers, we show them the real variables that are at play how to manage them with confidence.

We highly recommend you study the Market Guide to stay on top of the latest industry trends in end-user computing.

Don’t get left behind, read the guide now!

Gartner, Market Guide for Digital Experience Monitoring, 5 September 2019, Federico De Silva, Sanjit Ganguli, Charley Rich.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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Let there be light!

Back in the 17^th century, Paris was the first city to establish public lighting by scaling the installation of lanterns, candles and oil lamps. The project was a massive endeavour at the time that required the help of hundreds of hands to make it possible. Today, we’re on a similar journey to tackle big ideas in the Digital Workplace.

And we couldn’t think of a better venue than Paris, the “City of Lights”, to host the third stop on our Experience ‘19 tour.

Before you attend there a few things we want you to know. Consider these tips in order to maximize your time and get the most out of Experience ’19:

1) Read up on our Speakers and learn from each one

Coming from Forrester to AXA IM, our 8 amazing guest speakers bring real-life experiences and success stories managing their respective digital workplaces. Any IT professional—regardless of industry and title—can gain something from each speaker. Listen, take notes, and ask as many questions as you want during the day. We recommend you approach the day armed with curiosity and a willingness to learn from these stellar technology leaders.

2) Take advantage of our demo zone

Throughout the event, “Nexthinkers” will be there in full force (wearing light blue lanyards) to answer technical questions about the Nexthink platform and show you how it works. We know actions speak louder than words. Take our speakers’ stories and immediately apply them to your business needs. Our experts will help you explore every nook and cranny of the Nexthink platform (DEX Score, IT initiatives, Integrations, Chatbots… you name it!). Don’t hesitate to stop by the demo zone even if it’s just for a friendly chat. We’re here to help!

3) Network with your peers

Our keynote speakers are not the only ones that have something to share. What makes Experience a truly special event is the opportunity to meet, discuss and share stories and experiences with hundreds of IT professionals. There will be plenty of breaks throughout the event so you can network with our keynote speakers, Nexthinkers or fellow attendees. In addition, we will have a cocktail reception immediately following the last speaker. Take the time then to unwind and relax with your peers!

Á Bientôt

On behalf of Nexthink, we can’t wait to see you on November 22^nd at 3 Mazarine, Paris.

For any information about the dates, location or agenda visit the Paris Experience ’19 page.

For any other questions, contact us at experience-paris@nexthink.com.

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London is calling…

After touching down in three amazing cities across two continents, the Experience ’19 tour culminates in the UK on November 26th at the historic Riverside building on the lip of the Thames.

Whether or not you’ve already registered for Experience London, here are some tips for ensuring you get the most of the UK edition of the world’s greatest Digital Employee Experience event.

We’ll see you down by the river.

1) Experience benchmarking

At last year’s event, we unveiled the DEX Score – which allows companies to benchmark their IT services across time, between regions and against peers. Twelve months on, and the metrics have been rolled out to over 400 companies and 2M endpoints; Experience ’19 offers a great opportunity to gauge the DEX Score’s industry impact, particularly if it’s something you’re considering for your organization. Samuele Gantner (our Chief Product Officer) will be joining Nexthink CEO Pedro Bados for an exclusive look at the industry benchmarking data, while Johnson & Johnson will demonstrate how they now use Score to help guide their user service delivery model.

2) Experience other workplace cultures

Experience ’19 London presents an amazing opportunity to learn about different work cultures. For example, Toyota’s Arnaud Pire will be introducing something called the Toyota Way – the workplace philosophy followed globally by the famous car company. (Arnaud will also show how this philosophy perfectly complements Digital Employee Experience.) Another highly distinct workplace covered is the NHS, with a keynote focused on the challenges and opportunities Digital Employee Experience offers the world’s most famous healthcare provider.

3) Experience it all

There’s more to an Experience event than presentations alone – there are also amazing demos to check out, full catering, and fantastic networking opportunities. The trick to getting the most out of any Experience is this: make yourself known. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an existing customer, a visitor weighing up the relevance of Nexthink to your organization, or you simply want to delve deep into the whole ‘experience’ phenomenon – talk to as many people as you can, share your thoughts and queries, and stick around for the networking drinks at the end. A lot of Nexthinkers are there to ensure you get all your questions answered.

4) Experience thought leadership

While we certainly look forward to blowing you away with some choice innovations of our own (not to mention our amazing customer advocates), we fully realize that the ‘experience’ theme is a big one, and there are more sides to this story. In London we’ll be joined by Andrew Hewitt (Forrester), Alan Nance (CitrusCollab) and James McMahon (ATOS), among other thought leaders and influencers renowned in the Digital Employee space.

5) Experience the future

Does Nexthink have anything in particular to unveil at this event?

You bet we do: the new era of Digital Experience Management.

Ensure you catch our founder and CEO Pedro Bados’ opening keynote to find out what this is and what it could mean for your business. Another unmissable Nexthink presentation comes right at the end of the day, from our VP for solution consulting, Jon Cairns, who’ll be looking at how we can finally start to close the expectation gap between IT and its users.

So, if you’re coming to Experience, please make sure you take full advantage of our awesome slate speaker, demo sessions, and networking opportunities. There’s something for every one at Experience, and we cannot wait to see you!

For more information about travel, the agenda, and more, click here.

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