Seamless Digital Work — With the Right Technologies

With average businesses deploying anywhere from 73 to 175 apps to help their employees, you would think that technology has made life easier for the average marketer. In reality, though, the opposite often seems to be true: employees are drowning in the number of disconnected technologies they’re expected to utilize.

The move to more remote work only compounds that problem as employers add more software solutions to track, inform, and support their digital workforce.

To help understand the state of today’s technology stacks — and solutions to the pain points so many are facing — our partner, Templafy, undertook a recent survey. They looked specifically at the tools and solutions employees use everyday, expanding beyond marketing-focused softwares to everything that the organization relies on for its daily work. Templafy calls this a business enablement stack.

The very name suggests that these technologies should be helping organizations and employees thrive. But Templafy’s study showed that is not necessarily the case.

CHALLENGE: a disconnected, disjointed digital experience

In their personal lives, employees use technologies to streamline and simplify what they do. They expect the same at work, but an excess of technology is causing bottlenecks and headaches. Templafy’s survey revealed some interesting statistics:

• Nearly half of employees (44%) wish their tech stack was better integrated — and that existing integration was better functioning.

• More than a third of respondents said that their companies need to simplify their technology tools and processes.

• 28% of employees say they are flat-out exhausted from having to toggle between technologies all day.

• Nearly three-quarters of employees spend at least six hours a week consolidating information or tracking it down between various apps.

SOLUTION: A business enablement stack

Jesper Eriksen, Templafy CEO, said, “The first to discover the right way to have less software that does more to enable a unified, efficient, and, perhaps most importantly, pleasant working experience will be the ones who get to define the future of work.”

There is no denying that the modern workplace is changing. Businesses can play catchup in the coming years — or they can pivot now to deliver a better employee experience and, consequently, to drive better employee output.

That means building a single, integrated, intuitive, company-wide business enablement stack. This stack should be designed for the employee and should allow apps to function seamlessly in unison. To make building this stack easier, companies should look for individual apps that can do more.

With a focus on business enablement, organizations can realize benefits including:

• Workforce alignment behind high-value work, whether your team is entirely remote or you operate with a hybrid model.

• Streamlined IT implementation and, consequently, spending.

• A scalable, agile solution as modern work continues to change.

• Greater employee engagement and satisfaction, delivering improved output, increased retention, and more ease in attracting new talent.

How, exactly, do you build a business enablement stack?

For starters, watch out for the biggest obstacles. Templafy survey respondents said the reasons that technology adoption failed at their company was that the technology:

• Didn’t fit into workflows

• Didn’t come with proper training

• Wasn’t consistently used company-wide

• Solves a problem that’s specific only at a single point

Ultimately, seeking out solutions that deliver broad-ranging benefits, integrate seamlessly into your stack, and are user-friendly will help you build the strongest business enablement stack. Parting with ultra-specific, hard-to-use, or non-integration-friendly solutions can help, too.

Additionally, whenever you add any new technology to your workplace, make sure employees receive ample training with it. This can be more challenging with a remote workforce, so make sure you set aside time and resources to support your employees as they adopt your new technology.

Key takeaways from the Templafy survey include:

The way tech stacks are constructed hinders efficiency because many employees spend excessive time navigating between apps.

Employees want a more user-friendly stack, and that largely hinges on individual software’s ability to integrate within the stack and to meet multiple needs.

A business enablement stack could be the solution to empowering employees, delivering a better user experience, and shaping the future of work.

Explore how the business enablement stack can power business performance in Templafy's 2021 Report

Support for your business enablement stack

A business enablement stack can help drive the future of work for your business, creating a productive workplace where employees thrive. But building that stack can feel daunting.

Our team at gateB is here to help. We can help you find versatile, user-friendly solutions and ensure that they integrate flawlessly into your existing stack. We can provide employee training, too.

For example, our team at gateB has helped countless businesses implement Templafy’s leading-edge solution for easier template management and business document automation and content enablement.

If you want help creating the business enablement stack your organization needs to support your team and succeed — even as the workplace rapidly changes — contact us.