Dumbing-Down Digitization
Why experts are calling CIOs to make sure the journey to digitize the workplace, doesn’t alienate the most important aspect of any organization, — its people.
There is a growing call for Chief Information Officers to simplify the corporate digital transformation and the user experience for all of us.
It will be easier to convince employees to quickly learn and adapt to the new digital workplace, if systems and protocols in place are easier to use than what they have grown accustomed to.
Employees are usually reluctant to adapt to digital implementation, especially those who have been with the organization for a long time. To lessen the impact of change, it is always best to make them realize how digital transformation will work better and more efficient in the long run, after the teething process of learning how to use the new system.
I spoke to Sandra Ng VP of practice group at market intelligence firm, IDC, to find out why dumbing-it-down, is a solution to digitize the office:
Sandra Ng at IDC Directions. Credit: YouTube IDC Channel
Sandra Ng: “When we say digital we mean online, mobile, social platforms, as well as physical. We are talking about a kind of interconnection in bringing the two together.
The head of the IT department, the chief digital officer or chief information officer or CIOs must be more relevant.
Traditionally speaking C.I.Os are very techie executives and they drive all information technology implementations in the company and they will continue to do that, but with digital business they need to make it more user-friendly, and for the experience to be more consumer-like as opposed to, in the past very corporate and very business”
Tim: So now it comes outside of the C.I.O’s office and make people understand what they’re doing so that they can use it better?
Sandra: Yes it’s more both sides. The CIO’s office has to kind of dumb it down, to make it more consumer and user friendly.
And then from a user perspective, employees also have to embrace technologies more because more technologies are going to be obviously integrated in everything they do at work as they serve customers as they interact with their partners
Tim: So they have to understand that this would eventually make things easier for anything they are doing?
Sandra : That’s idea so from a user perspective it is supposed to be simpler and make it easier obviously at the back-end is a lot more complex than that. So the easier the front end, in the technology world, we will say the more complex back-end would have to be in order to make it easier to manage them.
So if you still have a hard time, using your company’s complicated system, perhaps it is time to have a chat with your CIO and let them know that there are plenty of digital solutions out there that can make life simple and easy for everyone in the office.
And the easier, and quicker it is to get things done, the more productive everyone will be.
