Success factors for employee choice in the enterprise

If your employees are the #1 asset of your company, are you giving them what they want?

Enterprise IT has spent decades optimizing for a Windows-based PC environment. But around 2007, Apple came along and helped organizations rethink what was possible in the enterprise. It started with the iPhone. The virtual keyboard and touch reimagined the user experience, enabling you to interact with devices and do things differently. In 2008, the iOS App Store came along and revolutionized software buying. Bite-sized apps drove collaboration, creativity and productivity. It was all about simple, secure and easy downloads.

People started taking their iPhone and iPad to work. They wanted the same amazing consumer iOS experience, but in an enterprise environment. And in 2010, the App Store came to the Mac. Suddenly you had bite-sized apps and extended software availability for Mac. For the first time, there was a viable alternative developed for the Mac in the enterprise.

Now, innovations in continuity across an ecosystem of devices — iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac — is driving change again. People are bringing their Macs to work in droves, and they expect the same experience they enjoy at home.

Why? Mac is easy to use. People are familiar with the native experience and most importantly, they know how to support themselves.

According to Nuance, 67 percent of workers prefer self-service over speaking to a company representative. The desire for choice is part of a larger trend where employees yearn for an increased level of autonomy in the workplace.

Users are starting to demand choice because it’s simple and it works. But the challenge is that the enterprise stakeholders want a low-cost, secure solution that can work within their existing infrastructure.

Success factors for employee choice programs

Apple helped Wipro rethink what’s possible. It’s not just about the ease of deployment, it’s how you get people in your company to say “yes” to offering choice. The challenge for organizations is to create a culture that embraces change in order to remain relevant in today’s ever-changing marketplace.

There’s always resistance to change. The level of success of an employee choice program for any organization will be predicated on three factors:

1. Stakeholders. From your CEO to CISO, align your choice programs with the needs of your key stakeholders. Help them understand that employee choice drives digital transformation, implements new security and compliance standards, and lowers your total cost of ownership (TCO).
2. User-Centric Approach. Don’t design your employee choice program without talking to end users. Talk to them at the beginning, during the roll out, and ongoing through a feedback channel. Everything should be done around solving the users’ pain points
3. User Experience. The employee is the #1 asset of a company. They know what they want more than ever before, and they know what device they work best on. Giving them the device they want keeps them happy, creative and productive — and prevents them from looking elsewhere for work.

Employee choice is just good business. The longer you wait, the longer you put off the benefits.