How to Measure Digital Employee Experience (DEX)

Digital employee experience has become increasingly important as digital technologies continue to play a larger role in the workplace. Employees today rely on digital tools to perform many of their job functions, and a positive digital employee experience is critical for maintaining employee engagement and productivity.

Companies can measure digital employee experience (DEX) through various methods, including:

• Surveys: Companies can use surveys to gather feedback from employees about their digital experience, such as the usability of software, availability of technical support, and accessibility of training materials.
• User analytics: User analytics can track how employees interact with digital tools and systems, such as login frequency, time spent on different pages, and click-through rates. This data can provide insights into areas where employees may be experiencing issues or frustrations.
• Performance metrics: Performance metrics, such as productivity, error rates, and customer satisfaction, can be used to assess the impact of digital tools on employee performance.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS measures the likelihood that an employee would recommend a company’s digital tools to a colleague. This metric can provide insights into the overall satisfaction of employees with the digital tools they are using.

By using these methods, companies can gain a better understanding of their employees’ digital experience and identify areas for improvement to enhance their overall digital employee experience.

What are the pros and cons of the various ways to measure DEX?

Of course, each of these methods of measuring digital employee experience has advantages and disadvantages. The following table summarizes them.

Given the pros and cons of various methods of DEX measurement, organizations should look for a DEX that provides a combination of these approaches. The Aternity Digital Experience Management platform combines objective measures of actual user experience with subjective measures of employee sentiment to provide IT and HR teams with the best of both worlds. Watch this short video to see how Aternity combines qualitative and quantitative measures of DEX to provide the best overall view of employee experience:

Watch Video

Six business reasons why you should pay attention to DEX

Paying attention to digital employee experience can lead to a more engaged and productive workforce, reduced turnover, and improved business outcomes, making it a critical factor for organizational success in today’s digital age. The business drivers for addressing digital employee experience include the following.

1. Increased Productivity: An employee’s experience with digital tools can have a significant impact on their productivity. When digital tools are easy to use and efficient, employees can work more effectively and efficiently, leading to increased productivity.
2. Improved Employee Engagement: Digital tools that are designed with the employee experience in mind can help foster a sense of engagement and satisfaction among employees. When employees feel that their tools are working for them, they are more likely to feel invested in their work and committed to their organization.
3. Enhanced Collaboration: Digital tools that facilitate collaboration can help employees work together more effectively, regardless of their physical location. This can lead to increased knowledge sharing, better decision-making, and more effective teamwork.
4. Reduced Turnover: A positive digital employee experience can contribute to employee retention. When employees feel that they have the tools and support they need to do their jobs effectively, they are more likely to stay with their organization.
5. Cost Savings: A positive digital employee experience can also result in cost savings for organizations. When digital tools are easy to use and efficient, employees require less support and training, reducing the time and resources required to maintain them.
6. Competitive Advantage: In today’s digital economy, organizations that prioritize digital employee experience are better positioned to attract and retain top talent. By providing employees with the tools and support they need to work effectively, organizations can differentiate themselves from competitors and create a more attractive work environment.

How does digital employee experience work?

Digital employee experience is a subset of employee experience, which includes all aspects of an employee’s experience within an organization. Employee experience includes factors such as work culture, management style, physical workspace, training, opportunities for advancement, and benefits. Digital employee experience focuses specifically on the experience an employee has with digital tools and technologies used in the workplace. This includes ease of use, performance, accessibility, integration with other tools, and training and support for digital tools.

Overall, these factors can have a significant impact on the employee’s digital experience. Organizations that pay attention to these factors and prioritize the employee experience are better positioned to create a more engaged and productive workforce.

What is the difference between DEX and DEM?

Digital employee experience (DEX) and digital experience management (DEM) are related but distinct concepts.

Digital employee experience (DEX) specifically focuses on the experience an employee has with digital tools and technologies used within the workplace. This includes factors such as ease of use, performance, accessibility, integration with other tools, and training and support for digital tools.

Digital experience management (DEM), on the other hand, is a broader concept that encompasses all aspects of the customer or employee’s digital experience with a company. This includes not only digital tools and technologies but also digital marketing, e-commerce, and customer service.

In other words, while DEX focuses specifically on the employee’s experience with digital tools and technologies in the workplace, digital experience management encompasses a wider range of digital experiences that customers or employees may have with a company.

You can access the complimentary Gartner Research document “How to Successfully Deploy a DEX Tool” for further information on implementation and measuring ROI. According to Gartner, many organizations are adopting new DEX tools or evolving existing deployments beyond tactical use case but miss key implementation steps that ensure ongoing ROI. IT leaders can use this research to successfully deploy a new DEX tool or expand the use of existing ones.

Digital Experience Management vs Digital Experience Monitoring

To make things extra confusing, there’s more than one DEM. In addition to digital experience management, there’s digital experience monitoring. The latter category of software involves monitoring the performance and availability of digital systems and applications in order to ensure a high-quality digital experience, for employees and customers. And, in the case of Internet of Things (IoT), even non-human digital agents, like instrumented bridges or gas turbines. Digital experience monitoring focuses specifically on identifying issues and incidents that may affect the digital experience and providing real-time insights and alerts to help resolve them quickly.

What are important digital employee experience tools?

With low unemployment rates, companies are focused on attracting and retaining top talent. So multiple vendors claim capabilities for DEX and DEM. Every company that provides solutions for some type of IT monitoring discusses their products in the context of improving digital experience. When evaluating digital employee experience monitoring products, consider the following capabilities to ensure that the platform meets the needs of your organization.

• Real-time monitoring: Look for a DEX product that provides real-time monitoring of application performance, infrastructure, and user experience. This will allow you to quickly identify and address issues as they occur.
• User-centric analytics: When it comes to digital experience, it’s not about device or application performance metrics. It’s about what humans experience when they use those devices or applications. Look for a DEX product that provides user-centric analytics, such as user journey mapping. This will allow you to understand the end-to-end digital experience of your users and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Multi-channel monitoring: Employees use all types of applications throughout their day. Not just web and mobile, but thick-client applications and those that run on virtual environments too. Look for a product that supports monitoring across multiple channels, including web, mobile, and other digital channels. This will allow you to gain a comprehensive view of the digital experience across all touchpoints.
• Root cause analysis: Monitoring digital experience is only the first step. IT teams must focus on identifying and resolving issues. Look for a DEX product that provides insights into root cause analysis, so you can quickly identify the underlying causes of performance issues and take corrective action.
• Automated remediation: Most leading DEX products provide automated remediation to address the most common user experience issues. This enables IT to resolve issues quickly and automatically, improving service and reducing costs.
• Integration with other tools: IT shops rely the tools from multiple vendors in their operations centers. Look for a DEX product that integrates with other tools in your IT ecosystem, like ServiceNow. This will allow you to gain a comprehensive view of IT performance and ensure that issues are quickly resolved within the workflows you’ve implemented for your teams.
• Proactive identification: Look for a DEM product that provides proactive analytics capabilities, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. This will allow you to proactively identify potential performance issues and rapidly resolve the issue before users complain. Riverbed IQ is designed to do just that.

Get started with digital employee experience today

You can explore digital employee experience management now with by registering for a Request Demo of  Aternity. Download our software to understand how our approach to DEX helps you reduce costs, improve productivity, and deliver better customer satisfaction.