The Realizer
Realize is WalkMe’s highly anticipated digital adoption conference. At this exclusive two day event, hear from and be inspired by industry leaders, gain best practices, and engage with like-minded professionals to help you take digital transformation to the next level.
Welcome!
I want to personally welcome you to the Realizer Magazine, the vehicle for cutting edge news for Realize: the digital adoption event.
Built on the three tracks of the event, in this magazine you will get the opportunity to be inspired by innovative digital adoption leaders, experience how customer and digital experience drive better business outcomes and play with the digital interactions that are reshaping how we work.
The countdown to Realize is on – now is the time to realize the potential of your technology.
-Rephael Sweary
Co-Founder and President of WalkMe
Stop buying technology for the sake of “digital transformation.” Instead, buy based on your business goals and with your user in mind.
In a post-Marie Kondo world, minimalism has become not only a statement and lifestyle, but a means to achieve personal and professional goals. When we deliberately acquire less, we are forced to evaluate our choices under a microscope. The mindset of the minimalist, in time, shifts from “more is better” to “intentional is better.”
A similar approach could benefit digital decision making. Many times intentionality is lacking in current technology buying cycles, and it’s hurting the transformative efforts of businesses.
For the minimalist, each object must pass stringent tests that prove its value. Why?
The answer can be different for different people. Some may look only for practicality and durability, while others place a high value on design and aesthetics.
The user knows what they deem important and will go to great lengths to ensure their purchases align with those values.
When it comes to technology, the same thing should be happening. How a CIO addresses the question of “Why this?” determines how the organization utilizes its digital purchases.
CIOs should be measuring the value of digital systems and purchasing new platforms only when they drive business goals. Instead, enterprise software purchasing tends to look more like the mismatched cart of a hungry grocery shopper.
This reason for this slapdash purchasing is, first, with the rapid onset of the digital era, businesses rushed to acquire the tools needed to stay relevant. As digital expanded, buying power shifted from IT to the various business units that were better in tune with their own needs. To scale quickly and efficiently, each department bought and implemented its own digital tools. Second, with the explosion of the cloud, SaaS and best-of-breed mentality, business units became empowered to define their own needs based on individual goals.
Did you know that at any time, each employee within a department can be required to wield between 11 and 14 different platforms!
Creating individual digital strategies allowed for business units to purchase and implement specific platforms to improve their work.
Most business departments across the organization share digital transformation goals. And yet, there is little to no technological alignment across the numerous business units and departments. Two departments within an organization often implement different productivity and analytics tools for the same job. Then there are the many platforms and systems that are role-specific. At any time, each employee within a department can be required to wield between 11 and 14 different platforms. The weight of platform usability falls on the employee. Organizations expect employees to decipher and extract value from platforms even when leadership is not streamlining digital goals.
How do decision makers cultivate intentionality and alignment within this paradigm?
CIOs need visibility into what is working, how it is working and why it is working (or not working). Instead of onboarding additional software as a Band-Aid fix, digital leaders need to understand what they already have on their plate. The path to acquiring this visibility is by tracking platform analytics against business goals and across technology silos.
Minimalism, digital or otherwise, means learning to use each tool to its fullest extent. Once CIOs grasp what a platform is offering the company and how employees are using it, the next step is to improve that relationship. Standardizing the application of tech in the workplace sets the stage for breaking silos and creating a more dynamic, digitally connected organization.
Organizations must take into account the cultural differences and the digital dexterity of employees that dictates the usability of digital tools. When different departments within the organization work in silos, the employees become an afterthought. When employees become an afterthought, transformative efforts fail.
In this frustrating and overwhelming technology-oriented world, the urge to stop buying all technology is a common and real feeling. Is this actually attainable? No. But you should drastically change the way you look at technology buying and implementation.
Ultimately, buy less, and buy smart.
Realize that the secret to business growth might be hiding in your office
The ever-increasing investment into digital transformation proves that it isn’t new – and yet 84% of organizations still have not seen any long-term improvements.
To combat this worrying statistic, enterprises continue to sink even more money and power into their transformation efforts. But maybe the missing puzzle piece to true digital transformation is right under our noses – or dare I say, hiding in your very own office?
For most organizations, digital transformation was focused externally and the leaders pushed the importance of customer digital journey, emphasizing the customer experience and the customer’s digital usage due to its direct relation to revenue. As a part of this, organizations have continually worked on reimagining digital offerings that are smooth and frictionless for their consumers. However, the concern with customers have left the other humans in the business equation, employees, and their digital usage overlooked. The ideal employee experience, especially in terms of digital assets, continues to evade many companies.
Prioritizing digital employee experience and empowering employee engagement using digital assets directly relates to the business’ bottom line. In fact, employee experience and digital employee experience produce a metric that is the internal-facing equivalent of customer experience. In a sense, the amalgamation of customer experience, employee experience, and digital employee experience are the Yin and Yang of business growth.
1. Improved Adoption – Organizations must provide employees with the ability to use digital tools as they are intended and with the full range of capabilities. The level of digital adoption in organizations not only determines how successful the digital transformation efforts will be, but it also has a direct influence on the overall employee experience.
Check out the Analyst session “People First, Then Tech: Employee Experience is the New Customer Experience” on this topic at Realize!
2. Increased Employee Productivity and Efficiency – Organizations must ensure employees are successful in their digital usage. This increases productivity, guarantee employee engagement, and instill an environment that can overcome change and help scale any business to ensure a successful digital transformation.
3. Minimized Shadow IT – Organizations use software to secure employees with a good experience and instill confidence. When employees can complete a process in a quick and effective manner, they no longer feel the need to search for freewares and other unapproved tools that will make their day-to-day tasks less torturous.
McKinsey & Company, Unlocking success in digital transformation, 2018
The Realize: digital adoption event is your opportunity to play with the latest innovations, and see how to push the boundaries of your knowledge and mold your path toward digital adoption.
Make sure you check out the Realize Agenda so you won’t miss sessions like “Productivity Hacks with the WalkMe ActionBot” or “From Freemium to Premium: Increase Conversion with In-app Proactive Engagement”
Kobi Stok, VP Product, joined WalkMe after the Abbi.io acquisition in 2017. As a well experienced, product focused, and hands-on software executive that specializes in mobile applications and front-end technologies, at Realize, Kobi will be speaking on the main stage about “Changing the Paradigm: The Future of Digital Adoption.”
Kobi Stok, VP Product, joined WalkMe after the Abbi.io acquisition in 2017. As a well experienced, product focused, and hands-on software executive that specializes in mobile applications and front-end technologies, at Realize, Kobi will be speaking on the main stage about “Changing the Paradigm: The Future of Digital Adoption.”
Space is limited and this is your chance to be a part of the largest digital adoption event and redefine the future of technology adoption.
