Software Support: Keep Employees Better Engaged

According to one recent study, companies with “high and sustainable levels” of employee engagement tend to have operating margins up to three times higher than that of their competitors. Not only that, but additional research indicates that high levels of employee engagement lead to companies beingnot only about 22% more profitable on average than those without, but those same businesses also tend to exceed the performance of their peers to the tune of about 73%.

When you also consider the fact that disengaged employees in the United States cost businesses alone between $450 and $550 billion in lost productivity every single year, it’s easy to see why this is one idea that is more than worth paying attention to.

But what does employee engagement have to do with software support companies like Epilogue Systems? Because one of the major reasons why employees become disengaged with their job in the first place comes down to a lack of tools or other resources they feel they need to complete what is required of them on a daily basis.

How a Lack of Support Leads to Disengaged Employees

With few exceptions, every employee wants to be able to walk out of the office at the end of the day and say they id their job to the best of their ability. People want to be as productive as possible – but more and more, they need modern technology and various software applications in order to do it.

If their employer fails to provide them with these resources, it can leave them feeling powerless – thus reducing the quality of the work they’re able to do AND their job satisfaction across the board.

Even if an employer does provide access to digital tools like specialized, industry-specific software, far too often they’re left to fend for themselves without the training necessary in order to properly make us of them.

In the right environment, software is supposed to support and empower the way employees like to work – they shouldn’t have to change their workflows to make up for limitations inherent in the software. Every minute they’re spending coming up with a frustrating workaround to account for a lack of functionality, or trying to figure out how to use a program at all, is a minute they’re not focused on the core matters that really need them.

Even going beyond the productivity side of the conversation, this is especially problematic for businesses because each tool provided to employees is an investment that is supposed to generate a healthy return. If people aren’t actively using the tools that employers give them, those companies don’t get their expected ROI – thus turning IT into a cost center instead of the revenue generation engine it was meant to be.

The Impact of Software Support Platforms: Breaking Things Down

Issues like these are exactly what the right software support platforms can help your business address – all in a way that solves your short-term problems while also better preparing you to accomplish the long-term goals that wait ahead.

The Opus Digital Adoption Solution from Epilogue Systems, for example, is a tool built to make learning and using your applications easier than ever – regardless of which application you happen to be talking about. It’s a platform built with scalability and flexibility in mind, offering something of value to literally any industry you can think of.

It does all of this by focusing on a topic that relates to all of the challenges outlined above: digital adoption. At their best, software support platforms help users of applications execute the important jobs those programs are supposed to help with. Even at a basic level, this approach can help your business eliminate costly (and ultimately ineffective) application training and learning methods that really aren’t getting you the results you were after.

These types of software support platforms do this by providing a simple and easy-to-use interface that is focused on the end user experience above all else.

The Opus Digital Adoption Solution in particular works by helping you handle the dynamics of managing not only teams, but also projects, tasks and even content across the entirety of your digital adoption landscape. Once deployed in your enterprise, Opus helps you generate an almost unprecedented level of visibility into user adoption. Not only can you see which of your techniques are working so that you can drive more attention towards those areas, you also get to see what isn’t as effective as you’d hoped – thus taking steps to eliminate them as much as possible.

Opus does this via a four-pronged approach, which accounts for things like:

• Creation. This makes sure that your employees have access to the critical application process and task documentation they need to accurately and effectively use the software in the first place. Keep in mind that as fast as a task can be executed, it can be documented with the right software support platform. Opus automatically generates multiple outputs for in-app guidance, training, assessment and even for compliance matters – all in a way that is also built for high velocity and that scales to any volume of documentation needed.
• Management. By giving you a better understanding of your project, team, task and content workflows, you can automate project communication and collaboration wherever possible. Your software support platform can help you create and enable standards for the way content looks and feels, all while also allowing for edits and updates to flow through to existing content as needed. Organizational leaders get a “bird’s eye view” view of workflow and all related activities, thus allowing them to make sure everyone is always on the same page and moving in the same direction, no matter what.
• Engagement. In terms of end user adoption, this may very well be the most important benefit of all. Here, your software support platform supports users in-application in a way that virtually eliminates the costs (and disruptions) of those ineffective application training solutions you may have used in the past. In addition to supporting your users in a way that reduces support calls and peer disruption, it also creates a natural and fluid experience that increases both user satisfaction and productivity, absolutely no exceptions.
• Reporting. Finally, the best software support platforms like Opus aren’t just valuable for figuring out what is going on right now. They allow you to track workflows as they evolve, projects and task statuses over time, and even utilization moving forward – all so that you can make sure you’re always on par to meet your unique business objectives. This level of reporting and data tracking gives you access to trends and insights that would have otherwise gone undiscovered. It’s also a great way to identify a small issue immediately so that you can put an end to it, all before it has a chance to become a much bigger (and likely more expensive) one down the road.

Any one of these features would be important for supporting your workforce on its own. But when taken together, you’re looking at a perfect storm in the best possible way. Not only are software support platforms like Opus the fastest and easiest ways to create end user help, guidance and training resources for all of your critical applications, but they also do so in a way that is delivered in-application, at a moment’s notice, as quickly and as easily as possible.

If one of your employees has a question, the software support platform provides the answer. If they need help executing a core task, they have it – no matter what. All of this means that they can finally start putting these critical business apps to good use in the way they were intended, allowing them to work “smarter, not harder” at every outcome.

Keep in mind that according to another recent study, engaged employees themselves are 44% more productive than those who simply feel satisfied in their current position. Not only that, but an employee who feels “engaged and expired” will be approximately 125% more productive than their “satisfied” counterparts.

Statistics like those underline the important benefits that the right software support platforms will bring to the table. Remember that even the best tools in the world ultimately won’t be of value if people don’t know how to use them to their fullest potential. With the right software support platforms, your employees WILL be able to extract every ounce of potential out of those business apps that you’ve invested in.

This in turn brings with it the most important benefit of all for business leaders everywhere: the peace-of-mind that only comes with knowing that their employees have everything they want and need to do the best job that they can all day, every day, no matter what.