3 benefits of digitizing the customer experience
Digitizing the customer experience remains a key initiative for many organizations—even during a tough economic climate when cutbacks are running rampant.Investing in technologies to connect people, processes, and systems can yield a unified approach to customer service that drives efficiencies, empowers employees, increases customer loyalty, and decreases the cost to serve.Digitization can add significant value whether your goal is to ensure front, middle, and back-office teams work from a single system of record or to reduce downtime and prevent bottlenecks in the customer experience.Here are three enduring benefits of future-proofing your customer experience strategy.1. Increased interdepartmental efficienciesInterdepartmental inefficiency may sound like an internal problem for your organization, but it has far-reaching consequences for your customers. Disparate systems, siloed teams, and a lack of interconnectivity in the organization results in slow time to resolution and can force customers to bounce from agent to agent.When a customer needs to contact their internet provider because of slow download speeds, for example, they might start with social media. When that doesn’t elicit a response, they follow up with a call to the service center. The agent who answers has no knowledge of the previous contact attempt, so the customer explains their service need again.The agent transfers the customer to the appropriate department to handle their query, where they have to repeat their case history yet again. A field technician is sent to the customer's residence, only to realize the job order was mislabeled and they don’t have the necessary tools to complete the task. At this point, the customer is ready to switch to a new service provider.Unifying teams with a single system of record can reduce problems like that. Giving all customer-facing teams access to the same case history can prevent customers from having to repeat their issues. It can also increase the chance of a first-visit resolution from a field technician.Implementing a centralized knowledge repository can also help simplify issue resolution. Agents receive a proven course of action filled with lessons learned from previous engagements. And customers can access a library of articles to help address minor issues.According to a 2022 Forrester Total Economic Impact study commissioned by LIKE.TG, the introduction of a knowledge base can create a collaborative atmosphere among staff, helping them feel empowered to share knowledge with each other. This can result in new approaches to customer satisfaction.As a next step, companies can use the knowledge base to provide self-service articles that customers can access to address minor service issues. 2. Consistent service and rapid engagementJoint research by LIKE.TG and Qualtrics found 51% of people will hang up if left on hold for more than 10 minutes. To avoid that scenario, the organization needs to run smoothly and collectively—and engage customers on the platform of their choice.A proactive approach to customer service can resolve issues before customers are aware of them. This involves using analytics to identify potential bottlenecks and network downtime and using automation to keep customers informed.Taking these steps helps organizations deliver fast service, which is a requirement for customer retention. Integrating your front, middle, and back offices is key. It’s unlikely customers will ever know your organization has achieved seamless integration. They’ll just appreciate good customer experience.3. Elevated employee and customer satisfactionOne of the main drawbacks of different teams relying on disparate systems and processes is the manual burden of maintaining them. Using a connected platform built on a single data model can make it easier to automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks.This frees staff to focus on more critical tasks. It can also give staff more empowerment and meaning in their roles, leading to greater employee retention and, in turn, customer satisfaction.An IT company in the Forrester study reported a 33% increase in employee satisfaction among agents using LIKE.TG Customer Service Management.Providing better engagement touchpoints through the company website and connecting customers seamlessly to the contact center are also best practices. According to the Forrester study, automation and integration can reduce phone contacts by 40% and email contacts by 80%, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction while reducing costs.A digital customer service solution makes sense as a long-term investment and a cost-saving measure. Aggregated data in the Forrester study revealed that an organization can reap up to a 170% return on investment in Customer Service Management over a three-year period.Find out more in the complete Forrester study: The Total Economic Impact™ of LIKE.TG Customer Service Management.
3 Gen Z expectations for the future of work
This is part three of a three-blog series exploring the LIKE.TG co-op program for college students.You’ve been introduced to the early-in-career LIKE.TG co-op program and heard from three students about their virtual co-op experiences. In this post, those same three Gen Zers share their thoughts on the future of work.Unlike previous cycles of co-ops who traveled to the Bay Area and experienced the office, commute, water cooler conversations, conference room meetings, snacks, friendships made on lunch breaks, and all other aspects of the traditional 9-to-5 workday, the past few cohorts of students working at LIKE.TG have had to do things a little differently.[Check out early careers at ServiceNow.]“With the co-op program, going to Santa Clara and being in the office allowed us to get to know a whole co-op cohort and travel to California and visit the surrounding areas,” recalls Helene B., analyst relations co-op at ServiceNow.Virtual or in person?When the pandemic hit, LIKE.TG quickly pivoted, redesigned its program to operate virtually, and remotely onboarded the next wave of co-ops within a matter of weeks.LIKE.TG’s virtual co-op program—complete with coffee chats, speaker series, movie nights, happy hours, mentorship and growth opportunities, and company swag (I’ll use my LIKE.TG-branded coffee mug forever)—received unanimous positive feedback. Despite that, it’s clear that a 100% virtual experience has its limitations.Although Gen Z has been referred to as the “digital native” generation and stereotyped as “having their heads in their phones,” it’s not safe to assume they’re happy and fulfilled with their entire work experience taking place online. Gen Zers have made it clear they crave social interaction, face-to-face collaboration, and in-person mentorship.Based on conversations with LIKE.TG co-ops, here are three key Gen Z expectations influencing the future of work:1. FlexibilityAlthough able to adapt to a digital work experience nearly overnight, Gen Zers want the opportunity to go to an office and interact with colleagues. Without this, they have a strong fear that being entirely remote could cause them to be overlooked or taken less seriously. And that could result in missed opportunities for career growth and advancement.“Gen Z is super fascinating because these are individuals who are digital natives, but they still greatly value face-to-face engagement with their manager and teammates,” notes Therasa C., director of global early in career talent acquisition at ServiceNow. “Gen Z is incredibly focused on results, but not necessarily on a 9-to-5 type of office experience. Their work needs to be flexible.”Helene adds, “I think our generation sees the pros and cons of [work from home]. We see a world of opportunities for flexible working. For me, I see the flexibility of travel—to continue traveling and working remotely from wherever I am.”Along with this, Gen Zers are looking for modern, forward-thinking employers who enable them with the tools and technologies needed to have a consistent work experience and be successful and productive from anywhere. 2. Self-careAmong other societal shifts confronting employers, Gen Zers are highly aware of mental health and want employers to discuss it head-on. Heightened by the pandemic and the increasingly blurred line between home and work life, stress and anxiety are growing problems.Gen Z is ushering in new attitudes and approaches to addressing well-being. The generation is putting the expectation on employers to not only make mental health a priority, but also to have leadership lead by example when it comes to work-life balance.At LIKE.TG, employees (co-ops included!) are offered online mental health resources and team-wide days off. They’re also encouraged to take personal time off and even a few hours per day to exercise or to be with family. And the entire company is offered half-day Fridays through Labor Day.Jacqueline L., user experience research co-op at LIKE.TG, has seen the added benefits of this emphasis on self-care and hopes it continues. “Now taking time off for yourself feels a lot more welcome and more voiced than it was before. So, I think carrying that over when we start going back in person would be super helpful for a lot of employees.”3. Values and purposeGen Z is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in US history, according to Pew Research. Like millennials before them, Gen Zers keep issues such as sustainability and social justice top of mind.A focus on global impact and diversity, inclusion, and belonging are table stakes when it comes to what they’re looking for from employers. Beyond demanding companies have these types of programs in place, Gen Zers expect full transparency about the practices and progress being made.Helene says she only applied to LIKE.TG after doing a deep dive into the company’s leadership to ensure there were women at the top. The company became the top choice for Alex C., product marketing co-op at LIKE.TG, after he concluded it had a diverse and inclusive work environment with programs in place to prioritize and keep these efforts moving forward.Defining the future of workUltimately, it remains to be seen exactly what the impact of Gen Z’s growing presence and influence in the workplace will look like. All we know is it will be big and will continue to evolve.“As we think of Gen Z talent, we have to really take that step back to understand what roles can be done in which places strategically,” Therasa says. “That means some roles we're going to aim to have in a digital space. Other roles may have flexible work arrangements. But I think the key thing is, we have to understand people's motivations and make sure that their work, works for them so that they can feel enabled, inspired, and encouraged to do exceptional work for our customers.”Join us. Explore early career opportunities at ServiceNow.
3 Gen Zers share about their virtual co-op experiences
This is part two of a three-blog series exploring the LIKE.TG co-op program for college students.Our first blog post in this series introduced the LIKE.TG co-op program, a six-month, early-in-career internship opportunity. In this post, we continue the conversation by meeting three students in LIKE.TG’s current cohort and learning about their virtual co-op experiences at the company.[Check out early careers at ServiceNow.]Helene B., analyst relations As a Bay Area native interested in tech, Helene always had LIKE.TG on her radar. After hearing good things about the company from friends and doing her own research, she felt LIKE.TG offered what she was looking for in a co-op experience.Helene is a third-year student at Northeastern University majoring in marketing analytics and entrepreneurship with a minor in data science. She hopes to one day be the CEO of her own tech company and is currently the analyst relations co-op at ServiceNow. The analyst relations team manages the relationships with influential big firm industry analysts such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC.Helene’s main project has been the creation and development of a six-month strategy to help track customer and peer reviews, understand traction in the marketplace, and validate the impact of LIKE.TG software. Once complete, Helene’s work will have a direct impact on her team’s future decision-making. In return, her work exposes her to knowledge critical for her long-term goals of tech leadership.“Right now, I have a surface-level understanding of LIKE.TG products,” she says. “[The analysts] have a ton of knowledge. Since I want to get into the tech industry and understand LIKE.TG software, having the conversations and being able to sit in on the analyst meetings and hear what they have to say is super valuable for me.”Alex C., governance, risk, and compliance A third-year marketing major at Northeastern, Alex was attracted to LIKE.TG’s “friendly” and “diverse” culture. He applied for a co-op position to get his “foot in the door of the tech industry.”Alex is the product marketing co-op on the risk team, which encompasses various Governance, Risk and Compliance applications offered by ServiceNow. During his co-op, Alex has worked on a variety of projects and has become a jack-of-all-trades for his team.“I definitely like what I'm doing in product marketing,” he says. “I want to be diverse in that area, and this position definitely fulfills that. There are a lot of different projects I work on. For one, on the LIKE.TG website, there are a lot of links a user can click on. Right now, I'm doing a project on the engagement they're getting through Adobe Analytics.”At the time of publication, he was also working on creating customer case studies for the sales team to use.Jacqueline L., UX and digital design Jacqueline, a third-year computer science and design major, is the user experience (UX) research co-op on the digital design team. She applied for the position with the goal of finding the perfect intersection of her combined major to help pinpoint exactly what she wants to do in the future. She feels she’s already taken great strides in her time at LIKE.TG (go Jacqueline!).During her interview process, Jacqueline expressed an interest in UX design and arranged with her future manager to spend the first half of her co-op on research before transitioning into a more design-based role. The flexibility has allowed Jacqueline to work on a greater variety of projects and explore even more exciting career opportunities.“I think UX or possibly UI design is something I'm very interested in. I'm thinking about applying to a similar position for my third co-op, so I'm super grateful about that,” she says. “I really like the work that I'm doing on this team, and my co-workers have given me a lot more insight on all of the facets of UX design. I've read a lot about these positions before, but by working on UX design projects firsthand, I am learning so much more.”Although in different positions, performing different tasks, and learning different skills, these three co-ops, along with the rest of the cohort, are actively exploring and working toward their futures during their six months at ServiceNow. I can’t wait to see where we all end up.The next post in this blog series will explore the virtual co-op work experience and the future of work.LIKE.TG, the LIKE.TG logo, Now, and other LIKE.TG marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of LIKE.TG, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
3 key ingredients for operational excellence
The definition of operational excellence is undergoing profound change. Instead of an enterprise consisting of multiple islands of expertise and efficiency, operational excellence now means breaking down the operational barriers to improve collaboration across departmental lines.This more holistic approach unites the complementary expertise of different teams to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. It delivers fresh thinking and creative solutions to many of the long-standing challenges that have kept businesses from operating at their best.In the current business climate, enterprises face challenges that span multiple teams and departments. To manage risk effectively, organizations must identify vulnerabilities, be proactive, and coordinate efforts and resources. Previously disparate teams must work together to keep the business running. Every business function must identify its contribution to customer success and its interdependencies with other teams.In other words, operational excellence now means a lot more than simply cutting costs. It requires three key ingredients:1. Achieving strategic outcomesIn an ideal world, projects and programs seamlessly align with organizational goals. But decision-makers don’t always have visibility into budgets and resources to properly gauge their impact and verify their strategic value.By increasing visibility and transparency and improving access to project data, companies can better prioritize, plan, and execute the work that best supports overall goals. Organizations can see where people are working—and how that work contributes to strategic direction. They can also gain flexibility to pivot quickly when strategy evolves. 2. Driving efficienciesGlobal business services (GBS) organizations don’t have unlimited budgets—but the demand for services keeps growing. Business leaders want the digital foundation that will help them standardize and automate service processes while keeping costs in check.By streamlining processes that cross organization boundaries, companies can deliver simpler and more consistent employee experiences, improve visibility into service budgets, and scale service delivery.3. Managing risk and resilience in real timeEvery day, the scope and severity of risk seems to grow. New technologies and business models open the door to business transformation—but they also introduce the unknown. Virtually every business on the planet witnessed the disruption that a black swan event such as a pandemic can cause.In this more volatile and unpredictable climate, business continuity and disaster recovery plans are table stakes. Today’s risk teams need wider and more accurate visibility into risk to stay on top of a quickly evolving competitive landscape.Businesses must embed risk management and compliance into their digital workflows and provide familiar user experiences that deliver efficient performance, promote resilience, and reduce third-party vendor and supply chain risk.Discover the advantages of a single, holistic platform to drive operational excellence in our Book Of Knowledge: Operating Excellence.
3 leaders weigh in on manufacturing innovation
Rapid changes in the manufacturing sector are putting legacy technologies to the test. Executives have recognized modern manufacturing must be streamlined, agile, and intelligent for businesses to get ahead.Organizations are operating in a minefield of geopolitical uncertainty and mass disruption, which has caused issues such as microchip delays, production breakdowns, and supply shortages. To mitigate these issues, executives are taking steps to digitize the factory floor and create safer, smarter, and risk-proof operations. But manufacturing innovation isn’t easy.I spoke with three industry experts on the Innovation Today podcast to get their takes on how top-performing companies are building the factories of the future.The need for a unified platformManufacturers have made significant investments in their legacy tools and products, and they can’t simply shut them down and start from scratch. Graeme Wright, chief digital officer for manufacturing and utilities at Fujitsu, points out legacy technologies and approaches have created silos in most manufacturing organizations.“IT and OT [operational technology] don’t tend to talk to each other,” he says. This disconnect makes it difficult to streamline technologies and processes across departments.Most manufacturers lack a unified platform to provide visibility into the technology on the floor and how it’s being used, increasing the risk of cyberattacks and workplace safety incidents. At the same time, manufacturing is struggling to attract and retain talent.This has complicated knowledge transfer because so much information is in people’s heads and has never been digitized, says Vamshi Rachakonda, vice president of sales at Capgemini Americas. When they leave, they take it with them.Like workers in other sectors, manufacturing employees are looking for a consumerized work experience, which wasn’t possible in the sector until recently, Wright says. Today’s manufacturing firms must take major steps toward digitization to survive in this challenging landscape. A layered approach to digitizationA number of digital solutions have emerged to create a future-proof factory floor. But where should you start? Rachakonda says executives should “peel the onion,” approaching digitization as a step-by-step opportunity rather than a problem they can solve overnight. He suggests organizations begin by taking stock of their existing technologies and processes to develop realistic goals.Once that’s done, prioritize creating a single source of truth that everyone in the organization can reference. Organizations should invest in a platform that streamlines operations, Wright says. LIKE.TG Manufacturing Connected Workforce accomplishes this by digitizing standard operating processes, simplifying knowledge transfer.While consolidating knowledge, identify places where departments might share data. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” Wright says. Data sharing should be a top priority for IT and OT.To that end, LIKE.TG Operational Technology Management can provide a unified view of all IT and OT assets. Aligning IT and OT enables the two functions to communicate seamlessly about what they need. It also allows security teams to identify and prioritize cyberthreats across the entire technology ecosystem.Wright suggests manufacturers create an automation Center of Excellence to discover bottlenecks and identify opportunities to automate. Use your existing employee base where possible, deploying tools such as robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning to handle routine tasks so that humans can focus on more challenging and creative work.Prebuilt orchestration on the Now Platform automates repetitive tasks. “Take the human element out of these tasks so the humans can do more innovative work,” Wright adds.Once you address the knowledge repository, prioritize workplace safety. Virtual reality and augmented reality allow workers to get hands-on training without exposing them to unnecessary risk, Rachakonda says. These technologies can simulate the types of dangers someone might face on the factory floor so that workers know what to look for before they encounter those situations.The importance of cultureOverall, Rachakonda emphasizes the importance of focusing on tangible, impactful steps with a broader goal of digitizing the entire organization. “That's where you are going to get more funding, more trust, more acceptance from all the stakeholders involved,” he says.Samit Pathak, a senior manager at Deloitte, stresses that software can’t fix everything. Culture matters too. “The last few years have put a microscope on that,” he says. Organizations should develop muscle memory to respond to crises with agility and speed, he adds. That means building a culture of preparedness throughout the organization.Pathak cites the automotive industry as a positive example. The industry prizes communication, clarity, and visibility as part of its risk prevention strategy, he says. This culture helped absorb some of the shock of the supply chain issues the automotive industry faced coming out of the pandemic.“Being proactive, looking beyond your org, and thinking about the multitiered nature of the value chain,” he says, are the values that matter most.Find out more in our ebook: Accelerate time to value in manufacturing.
3 Performance Review Best Practices for Top Talent in a Growing Tech Startup
The pandemic brought about a paradigm shift in workplace values and priorities and led to a mass exodus of workers across various industries. This triggered a talent shortage, and companies soon struggled to fill key positions and train new hires as they needed to invest more time and resources in them. Many companies have chosen to hire freelancers to tackle initial pending projects, while others have made a complete transition to remote work. Collaboration between employees and managers is made seamless through LIKE.TG's tools, which also foster recognition and reward initiatives. Additionally, the 360-degree feedback feature allows for a comprehensive and holistic review of employee performance, ensuring a thorough assessment.As surprising as it sounds, when done right, performance reviews cause employees to feel validated and stay longer at an organization. This article explores some best practices managers must follow while conducting performance reviews and why startups can no longer treat these reviews as a nice-to-have if they want to foster long-term growth and success. 3 Best Practices To Conduct Effective Performance Reviews The term "performance review" often carries negative connotations; even top performers associate it with "harsh criticism" and "flaws" and view it as a chore they should endure. This is because many startups conduct one-sided reviews where managers assign scores and give surface-level feedback on where employees can improve without initiating a two-way conversation. However, with a few simple changes, it is possible to transform these reviews into conversations that inspire productivity and growth in your top talent. To learn more about Perform by LIKE.TG, download one pager now Download now Educate Your Managers According to a McKinsey survey, performance reviews don't help CEOs identify top performers, and more than half of employees think their managers don't get their reviews right. Findings from a Gallus study are no better either— only one in five employees agreed that their company’s review practices motivated them to do better. In other words, performance reviews don’t serve any purpose. And this happens because managers avoid difficult conversations due to the stress they bring. As a result, the review meetings become mere announcements of compensation revisions, and even top performers consider them pointless or unfair due to the lack of comprehensive feedback. To transform these mediocre reviews into impactful ones that benefit your top talent and the top brass, you need to help your managers master conversations around critical feedback and compensation. Equipping your managers with relevant resources, such as curated content and training, can help make the process easier. For instance, you can provide a simple template that helps your managers initiate a meaningful conversation with top performers, indicating that the company is invested in their success. Alt-image: A template to help managers create effective performance reviews (Image source) Give Consistent Feedback A successful performance review should be an ongoing conversation between the employee and their manager, with the employee having a clear understanding of what will be discussed before the meeting. And the best way to do that is through consistent feedback — managers should be upfront about what the employee did well and highlight what they could've done better after every task, and schedule regular 1:1 meetings to discuss progress. This approach provides valuable data for managers to understand why an employee may fall behind in certain areas. For example, a top performer may work hard but lack certain skills. Consistent evaluation and feedback enable the manager to determine the root cause and provide the right guidance and training. Another benefit of offering consistent feedback is that it gives employees time to course correct and leads to improved performance over time without overwhelming them. Frame feedback with positive intent Every employee, even your best ones, has room for improvement. While pointing out areas of improvement during review meetings is crucial for their growth, it's also important to ensure that they feel valued and appreciated. So, managers need to offer constructive feedback and discuss the next steps in a way that boosts employee morale and motivates talent to make improvements to their work. Milo Cruz, a marketing leader who has handled diverse teams in tech startups, recounts a situation in which constructive feedback helped one of the best performers in his organization move up the ladder. “Six months ago, I handled a talented team member whose creativity was off the charts. In fact, most of his teammates looked up to him because he was self-sufficient and could still excel in his job, even without my supervision. " “However, collaboration is vital in our team, and he lacked the social skills to communicate effectively with his colleagues." “During our performance review, I highlighted his achievements and how the management appreciated his innovative marketing ideas. " “But at the same time, I emphasized that while he can work independently, he needs to open up a bit to others and share his best practices within the team. I also let him understand how team effort could elevate his ideas and ultimately bring more success to the business." “He is now one of the supervisors in the company and handles more than ten people. Though he was naturally introverted, he tried his best to socialize with other employees and got promoted four months after I had a one-on-one session with him,” he says. Milo’s feedback helped the employee move forward in their career path for the following reasons: Specificity: Milo highlighted his improvement's positive impact on the team and how it could translate to long-term success for the organization. This helped the employee understand why it's important for them to make the changes. Balance: Milo didn't just point out the employee's shortcomings. He also appreciated their skills and pointed out how they are valuable to their company. Respect: It's common for managers to see traits like introversion in a negative light. But instead of asking the employee to be more extroverted or making a comparison, Milo guided him towards opening up to his colleagues and managing them effectively. While it's clear that startups should invest time in creating impactful performance reviews, most of them still don't prioritize them, given their limited time and resources. Plus, they don't realize the positive effect it will have on their organization in the long run. Why Startups Should Invest More Time In Performance Reviews According to Farhan Virji, “Performance reviews shouldn't be an annual or bi-annual event. At Keyhole, we think about Performance as a culture, where people understand what's expected of them and how they can progress to the next stage of their career/role. Within a performance-based culture, managers should be having ongoing performance discussions with their people by providing regular feedback. One of the mistakes many startups make is not outlining the expectations of each role. Developing a scorecard that outlines these expectations for each role level is a good way for people to understand what's expected of them now and which areas they can focus on to develop their careers. Don't get hung up on the design of the scorecard. What's important is that there is a mutual understanding between the manager and the employee on what's expected of them, and what success looks like. Furthermore, too often, people link performance reviews with compensation reviews and I think these should be decoupled. Performance is about regular and ongoing feedback to help people improve in areas they are not meeting expectations. If someone is not meeting expectations, why wait until a formal review? Tell them right away so they have time to adjust and improve. Compensation reviews should happen at specific intervals, and the performance of the individual should be input." Most companies tend to treat performance reviews as an item they have to check off their to-do list. But talent trends and employee priorities are constantly changing, and great performance reviews indirectly contribute to long-term growth for two reasons: Enables managers to learn what employees want In the LinkedIn Global Talent Trends report published in 2022, employees cited upskilling themselves and learning new, highly desired skills as one of their top priorities apart from compensation and flexibility. Plus, companies that offer employees opportunities to make internal moves through promotions or lateral changes have higher employee retention rates. Conversely, companies that do not provide such opportunities have experienced a significant decrease in their retention rates over time. Linda Jingfang Cai, LinkedIn’s VP of Talent Development, explains the reason in the same report: “Just as businesses need new skills, employees need to discover their career possibilities and change, too,” she says. “We know people want to learn and grow at work, regardless of economic and market conditions. “This almost always translates to employees asking themselves and their managers, How can I do a better job so that I can get paid more, promoted, or land my next dream role? “Our new data insights show us that, even with some industry and regional nuances, if companies leave those questions unanswered, in most cases, people will leave the moment they find a better opportunity elsewhere,” she adds. This means you need to give your employees, especially top talent, more control over their career paths at your organization. And the best way to achieve this is to conduct regular performance reviews. According to Sanjay Goel, “By asking questions about career goals, work preferences, and job satisfaction, managers can better understand their employees' needs and tailor their management approach accordingly. At NachoNacho, we believe that an open and honest dialogue during performance reviews is key to fostering a positive and productive work environment." Performance reviews offer a valuable opportunity to engage 1:1 with your top talent and gain insight into their goals. They also serve as a means to assess their skills and pinpoint areas for development and growth. This information can help you provide additional resources, such as training and development programs, to support their professional development. Improve job satisfaction The best employees are without doubt the most hardworking and goal-oriented employees in an organization. But just because they’re performing well and meeting targets on time, managers shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that they’re satisfied in their workplace. Top talent can also feel stressed and burnt out and their performance might dip later if companies fail to meet their emotional needs. Consequently, productivity will plummet and the employee turnover rate will increase — the U.S. loses an estimated $550 billion every year due to unhappy employees. For an average company, this roughly translates to 18% lower productivity and 15% lower profitability, according to a recent Zippia report. The most significant reason for declining job satisfaction rates among employees is not lower salaries. It’s the lack of respect, meaning, and long working hours that they need to commit to. To determine the specific cause of employee discontentment, conducting company-wide surveys can be helpful. However, performance reviews provide a platform for two-way communication and enable managers to obtain valuable feedback and make necessary changes to enhance job satisfaction and employee engagement. Best Performance Review Example "The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. These may for the most part be summed up in these two: common-sense and perseverance." - Owen Feltham The self-evaluation process, or employee performance reviews, at InVideo, is designed with an emphasis on the fact that. consistent effort, along with practical and rational thinking, can lead to significant results in performance and personal growth. It goes beyond a one-way evaluation from managers to employees and encourages employees to reflect on their own performance and take ownership of their growth and development. The review structure is designed for quarterly cycles, allowing for regular check-ins and feedback sessions. This frequent review cycle ensures that performance is regularly monitored, and any areas of improvement or achievements are acknowledged in a timely manner. It also creates a sense of urgency and accountability for employees to consistently perform at their best. The self-evaluation process fosters a culture of open communication and trust within the organization. Employees are encouraged to provide feedback on their own performance and identify areas where they excel, and areas where they need improvement. This promotes self-awareness and self-reflection, allowing employees to recognize their strengths and weaknesses objectively. Wrapping up In today’s competitive landscape, startups and larger organizations must focus on retaining their best talent. While employee recognition programs are an effective retention tool for MNCs, startups can make the most of performance reviews to improve employee engagement and reduce turnover rates. To conduct effective performance reviews, managers must educate themselves, give consistent feedback, and frame feedback with positive intent. By following these best practices, startups can transform performance reviews from one-sided conversations to meaningful dialogues that inspire productivity and growth in their top talent.
3 reasons LIKE.TG is a Fortune Best Company to Work For
I’m thrilled to announce that, for the second year in a row, LIKE.TG has been named to the FORTUNE® 100 Best Companies to Work For list.This is especially exciting because it confirms our focus on people. At LIKE.TG, our people are and have always been at the center of everything we do. They’ve earned this recognition because they make LIKE.TG a great place to work, driving our growth, innovation, and inclusive culture. They constantly strive to create great customer and employee experiences.Our work makes the world work. Our people make that possible.[We’re hiring. Explore LIKE.TG careers.]Everything we do should enable our rapidly growing team of more than 17,000 extraordinary people around the world. That’s why we created our People Pact—our commitment to help employees live their best lives, do their best work, and fulfill our purpose together. Here’s what that means to me:1. We live our best livesEach person is unique. At LIKE.TG, we celebrate our differences, knowing our diverse backgrounds make stronger teams. We encourage every employee to bring their authentic self to work every day. Our eight employee Belonging Groups help unify us, foster a deep sense of belonging, educate allies, and push us to be better.Part of living our best lives is a healthy work-life balance, confirmed by 61% of respondents to a February 2022 Gallup poll. Well-being is an important aspect of work-life balance. That’s why leading with flexibility and trust is a critical piece of our new world of work. Offering global and local resources to help take care of our employees and their loved ones physically, emotionally, and financially is just as important. 2. We do our best workWhen we enable our people to do work that aligns with their talents and training, they feel valued and fulfilled. The same Gallup poll found that the majority of workers (58%) seek a job where they can do their best work. At LIKE.TG, we create that environment together. That’s part of why I joined the company.Through learning and development programs, we help employees grow themselves, their teams, and the business. We also provide opportunities for career advancement. In fact, we had 1,100 internal transfers in 2021, and more than 55% of our new director and higher leaders were promoted from within.This company-wide growth mindset enables our leaders and managers to have two-way conversations with their team members to discuss goals, progress, and feedback. In this way, growth conversations are direct and ongoing rather than once a year.3. We fulfill our purpose togetherOur purpose is to make the world work better for everyone. We’re striving to become the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century. To do that requires not settling for the status quo but being forward-thinking—about our brand, our products, and the experiences we provide.That's been the case since Fred Luddy founded the company and convinced three people to volunteer their services after their day jobs to help make work better and easier for people. Our purpose is our brand, as it was then, and our brand is our purpose.In our quest to make the world work better for everyone, we dream big to wow our customers, win as a team, create belonging, and stay hungry and humble.We’ve embedded environmental, social, and governance (ESG) into our business and are targeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as noted in our first Global Impact Report. We help businesses and nonprofit organizations through incubators, accelerators, and initiatives such as our $100 million Racial Equity Fund.As a purpose-driven company, we allot up to 20 hours of volunteer work per year to encourage every employee to embrace their passion and support causes that are near and dear to their hearts.LIKE.TG truly is a great place to work. Join us to live your best life, do your best work, and fulfill our purpose together. Explore job opportunities at ServiceNow.FORTUNE. ©2022 FORTUNE Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license. 100 Best Places to Work is a trademark of FORTUNE Media IP Limited and is used under license. FORTUNE and FORTUNE Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, ServiceNow.
3 reasons to attend CreatorCon—even if you’re not a coder
CreatorCon, the developer conference within Knowledge 2021, is the place where new and experienced programmers gather to chat about code, If statements, and the intricacies of Java versus Linux.But you don’t have to be a coder to attend. Anyone who uses enterprise software can learn something valuable and create workflow apps that transform business. Plus, CreatorCon is just plain fun. Here are three reasons you should attend CreatorCon, even if you don’t live and breathe code:1. There’s something for everyoneAlthough full-stack developers and architects attend CreatorCon, the conference also offers learnings and activities for citizen developers, or builders—those with little or no experience writing code. For example, builders can find the necessary tools to build apps without having to know how to code.Builders understand the business and can help build custom applications from scratch or use out-of-the-box software, without relying on developers for the basics. With a reduced app backlog, developers are free to work on complex app features and capabilities that require code.Architects—those tasked with writing software standards—can link up with developers to make sure their apps comply with corporate governance policies. Because architects normally report to CIOs and CTOs, their input is crucial to ensure developers don’t waste time creating software that companies ultimately can’t use.Whether you’re in retail, healthcare, manufacturing, or entertainment, every industry (and the world) runs on bits of code. Every employee in the digital economy should have at least some working knowledge of these algorithms.2. You’ll be inspiredAs the name suggests, CreatorCon is about creativity, innovation, and inspiration. Instead of paintbrushes and violins, developers use code to bring awesome ideas to life.You can watch this creativity unfold in real time at the CreaterCon Hackathon event, where teams of all types go head-to-head in a weekend-long quest for fun, prizes, and glory. This is an excellent opportunity to get a firsthand look at how people build apps to solve real business problems. See the CreatorCon Hacakthon Finale to find out who prevails as the ultimate winner.3. You can let looseTalking code and designing apps is serious business. But that doesn’t mean developers can’t have some fun.At CreatorCon, you can watch Chuck Tomasi, LIKE.TG’s bespectacled senior developer advocate, headline a virtual karaoke party. You pick from hundreds of songs, and Tomasi will do his best to sing them using the LIKE.TG karaoke app. The longer he goes, the more LIKE.TG donates to code.org.At our live coding happy hour, you can enjoy a drink as our experts develop and enhance real applications with unscripted and unprepared examples. You’ll learn problem-solving techniques live on the Now Platform.Get ready for CreatorConFinally, here’s a handy cheat sheet to help decode lingo you’re likely to hear: App Engine – the tool you need to build custom apps on the Now Platform. App Engine is one of the products within Creator Workflows. The App Engine SKU unlocks tools such as AES and more table capacity to build custom apps on the Now Platform. Builder – a low-code, no-code, citizen developer Creator – anyone who builds and works on the Now Platform Creator Workflows – the top-level pillar for all things custom app development Now Creator – LIKE.TG online user profile; creators get badges for mastering various Now Platform skills Now Platform – the platform on which all LIKE.TG apps run We hope to see you at CreatorCon. Still need to register? It’s easy and free.LIKE.TG, the LIKE.TG logo, Now, and other LIKE.TG marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of LIKE.TG, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
3 reasons to embrace low-code
Organizations face myriad challenges in IT, from managing ever-growing backlogs to maintaining competitiveness. In the face of such challenges, LIKE.TG App Engine emerges as a beacon of innovation for organizations of all kinds.By harnessing the power of low-code development, App Engine can streamline processes and accelerate solutions with less complexity, cost, and risk—all on one platform. Let’s explore three ways App Engine rewrites the rules for software development, opening doors for citizen developers and professional developers alike.1. Simplified development for allIn the past, application development often meant starting from scratch, coding everything from integrations to user interface elements. With App Engine, what was once a skill confined to a small group of technical individuals is accessible to anyone across the organization, regardless of skill level.While App Engine opens the doors to more creators, it has guardrails to ensure anyone building apps sticks to the standards set by your core IT team.Professional developers win too. Low-code doesn’t eliminate the need for them—it expedites tedious and redundant processes, freeing highly skilled developers to focus on strategic initiatives. Watch our Utah platform features developers and admins care about webinar to learn more.2. Accelerated time to valueBecause time is a precious commodity, App Engine includes a user-friendly interface and prebuilt components that enable both seasoned and citizen developers to rapidly build, deploy, and optimize applications.Without the need for custom coding, low-code development can lead to cost savings in training, infrastructure, and resources. In Unleash the power of your developers, LIKE.TG Senior Developer Advocate Chuck Tomasi shares how App Engine can help organizations overcome resource challenges.3. Scalability and governanceApp Engine allows you to easily scale low-code development through modular components and reusable templates. At the same time, built-in governance tools give admins the power to easily govern the development lifecycle end to end. Users can submit ideas, invite others to build together, hand off apps, and monitor and proactively improve apps—all in one workspace.With applications being scaled across the organization, how can you turn application development into a team sport while avoiding the dangers of shadow IT and sprawl? Discover more about ensuring proper governance in Low-code best practices.
3 reasons to get social at Knowledge
Knowledge is back—this year in person and digital experience! In addition to the keynote sessions, customer success stories, and demos, you’ll have opportunities to win big prizes by participating in our three social media contests. Follow @HelloKnowledge on Twitter to be eligible to win.1. Caption This contestStarting May 12, we’ll post one photo on Twitter (@HelloKnowledge) each week for three weeks in search of witty captions. Enter your best one-liner for each photo by replying to @HelloKnowledge—and be sure to include the official contest hashtag, #Know22CaptionContest.Two winners will be chosen each week for a total of six winners. Each will receive a LIKE.TG swag bag.2. Retweet to winBetween May 11 and May 26, we’ll post a photo of our #Know22 swag bag on Twitter (@HelloKnowledge). Retweet it for a chance to be one of 10 winners who will receive a LIKE.TG swag bag.3. #Know22Games Scavenger HuntAttending #Know22 in person? Our Knowledge Scavenger Hunt is back! Post your photos and thoughts to Twitter or Instagram with as many items on this list as you can. Be sure to use the #Know22Games hashtag for your chance to win.1. A photo of you at Knowledge2. A quote or learning from your favorite keynote or session3. One way you or your organization is making the world workAll tweets and posts must be completed by 12 pm noon PST on Friday, May 27. Each of three participants will win one of our grand prizes: Bose SoundLink Revolve II Portable Bluetooth speaker ($219 value) Therabody Theragun Mini handheld massager ($199 value) Nespresso VertuoPlus Coffee and Espresso Machine by De'Longhi ($209 value) See the official rules for our social media contests.To stay in the know, check our official event hashtag, #Know22, and follow us on @HelloKnowledge and @servicenow. Let us know your learnings, questions, and excitement throughout Knowledge at #Know22.
3 Reasons Your Employees' Productivity is Lacking and How to Help
Have you ever shown up to work, but all day you just feel like you're in a fog? You can't concentrate, you feel like you might be getting sick, but your to-do list keeps growing instead of you being able to check things off of it. You don't feel like you're at 100% but you know you can't go home because you have so much work to get done. So, you continue to sit there and stare at your screen and try to get through it all. That is an example of presenteeism from an employee's perspective. By definition, presenteeism is when an employee shows up for work but is unable to fully perform or function because they are sick, tired, stressed, injured, or any other number of conditions or distractions. The issue of absenteeism is more commonly known, which refers to people being physically out of the office, oftentimes an ongoing issue, with no good excuse. Absenteeism is much easier to recognize and track than presenteeism. If you have low rates of absenteeism, that may actually be a warning sign that your employees are showing up to work when they are unwell. Are you unsure if your employees are suffering from presenteeism? Here are three reasons they might not be productive and ways you can help them and your bottom line: 1. Insufficient Health Insurance and Time-Off Policies America is behind the rest of the working world when it comes to paid time off. The US averages 10 paid holidays per year, while the highest 6 countries come in at 30-37 days. Many European countries provide several months or even years of paid maternity or paternity leave while the U.S.’s Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only mandates that an employee can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, only covers an estimated 60 percent of the workforce, and disproportionately excludes working parents. In 2017, 27.4 million nonelderly Americans didn't have any health insurance coverage due primarily to the lack of affordable options. The American unemployment rate is at an all-time low, but millions of workers are actually working more than one part-time job to make ends meet. Typically, most part-time jobs do not provide any health insurance. Insufficient health insurance leads to people visiting the doctor less and doing less preventative care which leads to more illnesses, chronic or otherwise, and the lack of time off leads to workers coming into work when they are sick so they don't miss out on paid wages. 2. "Sandwich Generation, " Single Parents, Dual-Earner Households, & Unpaid Caregivers Another reason your employees might not be as productive is if they fall into the “Sandwich Generation.” The "Sandwich Generation" is a group of people typically in their 30s or 40s who are raising their own children while also being responsible for the care of aging parent/s. According to Harvard Business School, three out of four (73%) employees reported having some type of current caregiving responsibility for the care of an elderly or disabled family member, relative, or friend. Caregivers working at least 15 hours per week indicated that this assistance significantly affected their work life. As baby boomers continue to age, the number of elderly people needing assistance is expected to continue to grow rapidly. The need for caregiving and working individuals to contribute so much at home, either as single parents or dual-earner households, leads to workers saving their time off to care for others and coming into work sick, injured, or otherwise indisposed. 3. Nonexistent Focus on Mental Health Things in the U.S. are improving regarding mental health awareness, but mental health issues are still largely stigmatized. If a workplace expects people to come in when physically ill, there is no way they are going to understand or respect that someone might need time off for "invisible" illnesses like anxiety or depression. In fact, a culture of presenteeism can lead to higher rates of anxiety and depression in the workforce. American Medical Association studies found that on-the-job productivity loss (presenteeism) resulting from depression and pain was roughly three times greater than absence-related productivity loss (absenteeism) attributed to these conditions. Mental health issues can cause a lack of sleep which leads to chronic fatigue as well as memory and concentration issues. Shirley GarciaAuditing and Operations Administrator of Medlinks Cost Containment, Inc. and Medlinks Staffing, LLC. “I can’t say this enough: Without LIKE.TG, we could not have communicated important project information or demonstrated that we could take on an increased workload. We now provide real-time workforce statistics and productivity reports that have helped us win more projects.” What Can You Do to Help? 1. Offer Adequate Time off This may seem obvious, but it is important that you provide your employees with paid time off. If you absolutely can’t offer paid time off, at the very least, don’t allow a culture of shame and blame around taking an unpaid day off when someone is unwell, whether or not the reason behind the request is visible or invisible. 2. Invest in Comprehensive Health and Wellness As a company that cares about the wellbeing of your employees, you should provide comprehensive health and wellness offerings that cover both physical and mental health as well as fitness and overall wellness in the workplace. Low-cost, value-based health coverage is a large factor. If you're having trouble finding what you need within traditional health offerings, you could consider a more contemporary solution like offering an onsite or near-site clinic. 3. Build a Culture of Trust and Understanding One of the reasons employees may not feel comfortable taking time off when they are unwell is they have seen others come in in a similar state. They feel like everyone does the same, so who are they to stay home? This may be a result of a lack of communication and trust between employees and management. One way to build understanding and trust between coworkers is to encourage teamwork and cooperation. If the whole team helps cover when someone is out, it doesn't add a ton to each individual's workload. But it does take a huge amount of stress off of the person that needs it. Management can also jump in to help cover when someone needs to be out. 4. Educate and Empower Direct Management It's important that all of management, especially your employee's direct managers, fully understand the issue of presenteeism and how they may be directly contributing to it. Consider holding a seminar with all of management to educate them on the warning signs and actions that exacerbate employee presenteeism. Once all of management understands the issue, they need to lead by example. If employees see them coming in early, leaving late, and working even when they are sick, they absolutely won't feel comfortable staying home themselves. 5. Offer Tools for Employees and Their Managers Paid time off can help take care of your sick employees, but what about those who have stressful issues they constantly handle while at home and can’t forget about while at work? Learning how to support working caregivers, single-parents, and employees trying to make ends meet is critical. Presenteeism is a major issue within the workplace currently, costing trillions of dollars per year. But, with a little understanding and some direct action, it can be minimized or even eliminated. Author Bio: Michelle Chaffee is the founder of Connected Caregiving, a comprehensive solution to help employers recognize and support working caregivers.
3 Simple Knowledge Base Article Templates
Who likes being placed on hold by customer service? We would much rather figure out solutions on our own. Clients prefer resolving their issues independently through a company’s website knowledge base rather than contacting customer support.In fact, a study by Higher Logic Vanilla indicated that 84% of customers try to solve support issues on their own before they contact customer support.Another study by Nuance Enterprise affirms that 67% of clients would rather use self-service options like online knowledge base articles and frequently asked questions over speaking with a representative on the phone.Knowledge base article templates enable you to create and post content faster and smarter. Let’s find out more in this blog. What is a knowledge base article?A knowledge base article is a self-serve online document that contains information about a product or service. It is designed to provide users with answers to questions, helping them to understand, solve, and prevent issues.Knowledge base articles may include answers to frequently asked questions, how-to guides, troubleshooting guides, and tutorial videos.Your team can create knowledge base articles to offer FAQs and documentation to customers. You can also create an internal repo where your team shares tips, tricks, and other information they don’t necessarily want clients to read. With these resources, no one ever needs to start from zero.In your knowledge base articles, there should be answers to all your customers’ basic inquiries concerning your goods and services. They get answers that are standardized and have been approved by everyone.Types of knowledge base articlesThere are two types of knowledge base articles:Internal articles- Consists of information only accessible to company employees. Internal knowledge bases may contain instructional guidelines, employee roles and benefits, or even documented answers to customer queries.External articles- Provide clients with more information about a company’s offerings, empowering them to handle issues they encounter when utilizing goods and services.External knowledge base articles may contain information on billing and pricing, contact information, product descriptions and frequently asked questions.Components of knowledge base articlesA knowledge base tool has features that work together to make information available and serve its purpose. The following are the main features:Unlimited articles: Contains many comprehensive articles for various brands.Workflow: Has an efficient workflow for creating and managing content.Instant search feature: Includes a strong search engine that helps users get instant answers.Auto-suggest: Suggests relevant articles by analyzing keywords as users input them into the search box.Tags: Uses predefined tags to organize the knowledge base in categories and sections.SEO and social-friendly tools: Improves the search engine and social media optimization of your resource center material.Article performance tracking: Provides knowledge base article insights using metrics like the number of views, likes, dislikes, and comments.Knowledge base templatesKnowledge base templates are prewritten outlines of content that have a predetermined form, structure, and sequence. The development of knowledge base articles with a standard format is made easier by these ready-to-insert content snippets.Here are a few advantages of using knowledge base templates:Efficiency: Knowledge base templates provide a clear framework to follow when creating articles. This allows you to create articles more efficiently, reducing the time and effort required.Consistency: Knowledge base templates provide a consistent format and structure for the whole knowledge base solution. This makes it easier for users to find the information they need.Improved user experience: By providing a standardized structure, users become familiar with the layout of the articles, making it quicker and easier for them to navigate.Easy to update: When information changes, templates make it easier to update the articles and ensure that all relevant sections are addressed.Quality control: Knowledge base templates ensure that all necessary information is included in each article, improving the overall quality of the knowledge base domain.Improved scalability: Templates allow for easy expansion of the knowledge base solution as they provide a ready-made structure for adding new articles.Types of knowledge base article templatesSome general types of knowledge base article templates are:Troubleshooting articlesTroubleshooting articles address a particular problem a consumer is having and provide step-by-step solutions. Each article should be centered on a specific issue and labelled accordingly, with appropriate tags, keywords, and synonyms so that it will come up for variously worded searches.The article’s introduction should dive right into the problem it fixes, describing what it might look like to the client experiencing it so that they can confirm this is the proper solution. Then, the article goes through the various causes of the problem and possible solutions.Customers can use troubleshooting articles to try to solve their problems before seeking live assistance or when support staff is not available. They can serve as resources for agents to refer to while assisting a client with challenging troubleshooting procedures. Here is an example below.## Title:[The issue’s title] ## Problem:[A brief description of the problem faced] ## Reasons:* [Explain the problem’s root cause]* [Explain the problem’s root cause]* [Explain the problem’s root cause] ## Resolution:[Explain how to fix the problem] ## Additional reference:* [Insert link to related content]* [Insert link to related content]* [Insert link to related content]FAQ articlesFAQ articles are knowledge base articles that compile a list of questions and answers about a particular aspect of your product or service.Questions concerning the same subject are listed on a single page in FAQ articles. Both general and specific inquiries are covered.A knowledge base should include frequently asked questions since they are helpful to consumers at all phases of the customer experience.Following is an example of an FAQ article template.## Frequently Asked QuestionFind answers to the most frequently asked questions.### Question 1:[Answer]### Question 2:[Answer]### Question 3:[Answer]### Question 4:[Answer] Product overview templateKnowledge bases aren’t just made to provide answers to questions. To educate potential consumers on how a product functions and the advantages it may provide, some knowledge base content can be informational materials and even sales tools.Typically, descriptions of your products and services are made specifically for potential customers interested in learning more about your company.These product overview articles respond to “what” questions, concentrating on the operation of your service or typical queries regarding your product offerings.Here is an example of a product overview template.## Title:[Module name] ### Feature 1:[Feature description] ### Feature 2:[Feature description] ### Feature 3:[Feature description] ### Additional reference:* [Insert links to related content]* [Insert links to related content]* [Insert links to related content] Characteristics of an effective knowledge base articleFor a knowledge base article to fully serve its intended purpose, it should possess the following features:User-focusedWrite about the topics that your specific target audiences may contact you for help with.Well structuredYour article should have a distinct start, middle, and end.IllustrativeWhen you can, provide illustrations, images, or videos.InteractiveSet up a survey tool to collect article feedback. For example, you could include a question such as ‘Was this information helpful?’ and a section for feedback at the end of each article.ComprehensiveInclude all relevant information, both important and nice-to-know, to help your consumers.How to write a knowledge base articleAn excellent knowledge base article needs to be instructive and applicable to users. It ought to answer questions, offer solutions, and comprehensively address the concerns of both customers and the support staff.The following are some effective best practices to consider when writing a knowledge base article.Choose the right titleIt’s crucial to develop a title that accurately describes the subject the article addresses. Use names that reflect user expectations wherever possible. Keep them concise and keyword-rich, and refrain from utilizing unnecessary technical terminology.Add visuals to your contentMake step-by-step instructions more comprehensible by using screenshots, GIFs, animated videos, etc. Graphics enhance your supporting material and keep consumers interested in the more marketing-oriented pages.Include additional reading suggestionsAt the conclusion of an article, include relevant links for additional reading to assist readers in finding more information. This way, readers can learn more about the subject, narrow down what they’re looking for, or discover related features and updates of which they were unaware.Include keywords to optimize searchesIt’s a good idea to incorporate keywords that your customers are likely to use when searching for information. This helps optimize your knowledge base article for search engines. You can utilize an AI help desk’s capabilities to auto-generate a sitemap, optimized keywords and an appropriate meta description for the knowledge base article.Achieve effective writing with knowledge base article templatesCustomers want solutions that are clear and simple. Standard knowledge management templates will help your support team add articles quickly when needed and help your customers navigate your KB more easily.LIKE.TG provides the best knowledge base software in its help desk. To see how LIKE.TG can enhance your support team, sign up for a free trial. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the LIKE.TG support team.If you would like to see how LIKE.TG works and can be customized to fit your business’s requirements, please contact us to arrange a live demo.
3 simple steps to rejuvenate your IT learning program
Hari Vats, senior knowledge manager of global technical support at LIKE.TG, co-authored this blog.Who wouldn’t want a faster, more relevant search on their knowledge base? Improving search results is tricky. Organizations can spend a lot of time and money making small improvements to very complex, dynamic environments of information.When LIKE.TG acquired an AI search technology company in 2020, we were thrilled to see an immediate return. Since we adopted AI Search, we’ve seen our search results delivered 3.5 times faster than with our previous search engine—from an average of 10.3 seconds down to 2.3 seconds. Perhaps even more important, relevancy improved, with results now 2.9 times more relevant.How did we achieve these results? AI plays a big role. But AI is just a technology in service of a business goal. Our goal was simple: Deliver the right content from our knowledge bases to our customers at the time they request it. We knew we had a lot of useful content on our Now Support portal. But if our customers couldn’t find the right content at the right time, all the AI in the world wouldn’t help. Improving search relevancy and resultsAI Search connects employees and customers to the answers they need in a simple search experience with personalized, relevant results. It uses machine learning to identify user intent and deliver results users can act on from within the search results window.In the past, our legacy search engine used keyword searches to match words or phrases within a query. AI Search delivers a very different user experience. It can interpret contextual cues to identify user intent and produce highly relevant information.To see how AI search worked, we conducted extensive user acceptance testing in global technical support for more than six weeks. We engaged subject matter experts from 13 different teams who tested more than 50 functionalities in only two weeks. Using these suggestions, our development team improved relevancy and performance prior to the go-live date.Our favorite AI Search featuresHere are a few of the AI Search features we found especially useful: Auto suggest: We refine the list of popular keywords by analyzing what users click and search. AI Search doesn’t yet support an index-based auto-suggest, but we look forward to that in a future release. Spellcheck: The spellcheck function can find multiple spelling mistakes in each query and use AI to correct them and deliver more relevant results. Search as a service: We can now index once and create relevancy models across applications. Once implemented, this solution can help make operations more agile and maintenance more streamlined. Powering multiple channels with a single search solution means users can access quick, relevant information regardless of whether they use a desktop or mobile device. Attachment search: Our engine can search attachments as well as articles, a feature that was unavailable in the past. Promoted result: One major challenge of any search engine is to surface relevant content around generic queries, which make up about a third of all queries. Subject matter experts decide which answers are the best match for these queries. This has significantly improved our relevancy, as well as how people engage with the results. Personalized query rules: We can now personalize search results for different user roles and user groups. Gone is the black box relevancy algorithm that didn’t recognize different needs for different user types. Content security: Following a content security enhancement in the Rome release, users can now search external content securely using a single search application across all data sources, providing a more cohesive experience. Other new features included integrated support for five languages, fast setup and integration, and easily configurable synonyms and stop words. Impact of AI SearchThe power of AI lies in its ability to constantly learn and to improve relevancy through machine learning. For example, if users consistently click on the third entry in the list, the system recognizes it to be the most relevant and changes rankings. AI learns from users’ behavior to predict the best answers. This is called automatic tuning.The impact of AI Search is proven by our metrics: A 3.6 average click rank indicates the user clicked one of the top five results. 80% of users click on one of the top five results, compared to 52% previously. 92% of the time a search automation request does not lead to a case submission. Although we’ve seen dramatic improvements in our search functionality, we’re working on further improvements to both time and relevancy. It’s all about delivering the right content to the right person at the right time. AI is just one way we can give customers the tools they need to self-serve answers quickly and move on to their next task.Learn more in our Now at Work 2021 session, Migrating to AI Search—a customer zero story. Registration is free. Take a deeper dive into how AI is transforming work.
3 Tips to Make Your Next Employee Meeting Meaningful and Memorable
Managing people—especially in an organization — requires a level of social, emotional, and cognitive fortitude and intelligence that not everyone can boast. This is why people-focused roles, like being a business owner or working in a company's HR department can be overwhelming. Every step you take has to be intentional and has to work towards the good of the company. But in the same breath, you have to also keep the peace among staff members while fostering harmony and cooperation. When engaging with a member of staff one-on-one, it's relatively easy to achieve this. But what happens during employee meetings when every member of staff is there at the same time? With all the different ideas and personality types in the room, keeping the peace or even achieving any serious objective can prove futile. Does this mean that organizing productive staff meetings is a pipe dream? Thankfully, the answer is no. You can hold employee meetings that your staff will look forward to. We've outlined a few simple tips to help make your next employee meeting both meaningful and memorable — in a right way. Whether you're holding the meeting in a physical room or via teleconferencing, you can take these staff meeting best practices to the bank, regardless of the business or industry you work in. 1. Keep The Discussions Within the Meeting's Scope One of the most apparent traits of productive staff meetings is that all discussions stay focused. No one wants a meeting where the convener just rambles on about anything and everything concerning the company. Every meeting should have a plan that should be strictly adhered to. This is not the time to address a dispute between two employees, openly rebuke an employee's shortcomings, or talk about the misuse of office equipment. Do this, and all you'll be achieving is a lower staff loyalty score. A neat hack would be to prepare the agenda a few days before the meeting and hand it out to your employees. This way, your staff knows what the meeting is going to be about and have a few days to prepare themselves for it. This makes for a more agreeable audience when the day comes around. All your employees have got work to do to help grow your company, so keep the meetings short and focused so everyone can return to work. 2. Encourage Employee Input People tend to learn better when they talk less and listen more, an approach that should be taken by every business owner and manager when dealing with employees. The people that work in your establishment are much more than the roles they fulfill. Some of them have vast personal or professional experiences from their life before and outside your company. You may be the one at the helm of affairs, and you may know the objectives of the company more than anyone else. However, having more experienced heads to brainstorm with never hurt anyone. When you let your employees give their two cents, it opens you up to a world of possibilities as to how to deal with the current problem. It may be a novel idea or a reminder of something you've heard before. Either way, it helps the problem-solving process. Not to mention that it is suitable for the workplace atmosphere when employees know that their boss is willing to listen to their problems and their ideas and act on them. It gives them a sense of belonging and worth and increases the company's loyalty score. This approach to problem-solving during meetings significantly reduces the possibility of the leaders coming to a one-sided and subjective decision that does not work for everybody. 3. Keep Your Focus Only On The Stuff That Matters The best way to deal with the wrongness of a situation is not to expound on how wrong it is, but to focus on how to make it right. This is, unfortunately, a mistake many business leaders still make when something goes wrong in the company. Say a deal goes bad, they call for a staff meeting and dive into an investigation to find out how things went so wrong. They spend all the time berating the employees and attacking all the decisions they made leading up to the bad deal. Most of the time, this achieves nothing but dampens the spirits of everyone in the meeting. A better approach to have an effective staff meeting would be to focus on how to salvage the deal, perhaps even to make a better offer for the other party to consider—no attacks on each other, no tearing down of other people's opinions, and no finger-pointing. Focus on moving forward and delivering optimal performance. And while on the quest to solve a problem, remember to involve all staff members that have an idea, including those who may have made poor decisions that led to the problem. Sure, not everyone's idea will be brilliant, but typically, ideas given in this context are not all wrong either. Put every idea on the table, pick the elements that make sense, and merge them. By the time you implement this, the issue will disappear. Conclusion As stated earlier, handling employees in any company can be a terrifying scenario, or it could be an enjoyable experience. It all depends on the strategies you apply to get them all moving happily towards the company's ultimate goal. These three tips work not only in a meeting set up but also for individual and collective relationships between employees and the company leadership. Now go out and have a productive meeting. About Author Frank Hamilton has been working as an editor at review service Online Writers Rating. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.
3 top takeaways from AfroTech 2023
Every year, AfroTech—the largest Black tech conference—attracts tens of thousands of people who want to increase Black representation in the tech industry. The 2023 conference, held in Austin, Texas, proved to be a blend of innovation, inspiration, and connection.The event showcased cutting-edge technology and revealed key trends that are shaping the industry. I approached my second year at AfroTech with a seasoned readiness. The idea of sharing space with influential celebrities like Issa Rae and Marsai Martin—two Black women who are at the top of their careers and trailblazing the way—excited me most.Having transitioned from marketing to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at LIKE.TG this year, I was ready to forge connections within this evolving community and experience the conference with fresh eyes.Here are my three top takeaways from AfroTech 2023.
3 trends driving mobile app adoption in the workplace
The widespread adoption of mobile apps is driving workforce productivity from almost anywhere across nearly every industry.Workers are relying on mobile technologies more than ever to get their work done every day—from short-staffed nurses who need to update information on the go to field service technicians who need to complete tasks and access critical information in real time to desk workers who need visibility into communications and company resources from anywhere.At LIKE.TG, we’ve seen incredible growth in Now Mobile and Mobile Agent usage over the last two years: a whopping 111% year-over-year increase in users in 2021 and a 412% year-over-year increase in usage.Overall, deployed mobile customers doubled in 2021. In the next 12 months, 47% of US-based enterprises plan to invest more of their mobility IT budget in mobile application development platforms and tools, as well as mobile application performance monitoring, management, and optimization, according to IDC.1 Three key trends are driving growth in mobile adoption right now:1. New ways of workingThe last two years have forever changed the way we work, including where and how we get work done. More than ever, workforces need to be flexible and agile to keep pace with constant change. Mobile apps are a key component helping organizations meet that expectation.For example, Distell, a global drinks manufacturer and distributor, saw an immediate opportunity to improve communications with its employees via a mobile app when the COVID-19 pandemic began.“We rely heavily on our service portal to update employees with the latest information about safety, work, and well-being initiatives. Mobile access ensures consistent and timely engagement for our employees,” explains Wanda van der Bijl, an HR business analyst at Distell.“Many of our staff continue to work remotely, and a blended model approach with working from home, as well as in the office, requires employees to reserve a workspace for their days at the office. We are able to safely schedule more than 1,200 employees every week using LIKE.TG apps.”Distell isn’t alone in its use of mobile apps to enable safe, efficient, and productive work experiences. In fact, seven out of the 10 most used Now Mobile apps in 2021 were related to return-to-workplace activities. As offices reopen and organizations navigate the new realities of hybrid work, employees are using mobile apps to find and book desks, submit health attestations, navigate office floor plans, and more.Frontline workers also rely on mobile apps to get their jobs done. For example, a nurse doing rounds can make a request, enter data, or check the status of a patient—all on a mobile device within the flow of their day-to-day work. German-based Scheidt & Bachmann provides solutions and maintenance for digital car parking services, such as ticketless entry and exit through license plate scanning, cameras to monitor available parking spaces, QR codes, UHF tags, RFID, and payment cards.To better support customers, fix issues faster, and drive operational efficiency, Scheidt & Bachmann partnered with LIKE.TG to create a single service management tool with a 24/7 customer portal and a mobile app to help engineers order materials and improve communications on the go.“As we continue to prioritize innovation and great customer experiences for our almost 11,000 worldwide car parks, digital solutions, including mobile access, remain a critical component to our strategy,” says Kai Harperscheidt, head of tools and processes for Scheidt & Bachmann. “Our work with LIKE.TG is helping us deliver real, long-term business improvements while also driving customer satisfaction.”Simply put, purpose-built mobile experiences enable work to flow seamlessly across teams.2. Consumerization of the workplaceHistorically, long times to deployment and a lack of well-designed apps that prioritized the user experience prevented widespread mobile adoption in the enterprise. But as organizations continue to prioritize seamless employee experiences, they understand the need to evolve their technology to mirror the technology employees use in their daily lives.This means organizations demand simple and intuitive technology experiences. With LIKE.TG, companies can quickly configure new mobile experiences that are user-friendly and available to employees faster than ever.With this goal in mind, we recently announced Next Experience, which delivers a modern, streamlined navigation tool and brings every application together under one consistent experience on our platform. It elevates Favorites and History so people can jump back into their most important work without having to think twice. BT, the British communications service provider, also recognized the increasing consumerization of the workplace and knew it needed to adopt a digital-first approach to serving its multinational business customers.“With LIKE.TG, we have been able to provide market-leading new services to customers in response to their changing needs and expectations,” notes Faisal Parvez, product and digital technology director at BT. “We took a truly greenfield approach, with a focus on delivering superior customer experience, commercial flexibility, and security.”3. Emerging mobile capabilitiesThe adoption of emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and low-code tools—has created new use cases for mobile apps in the workplace.The integration of AI and machine learning capabilities helps companies predict and deliver what employees may need—such as suggesting they book a desk near a co-worker or prompting IT agents to group tasks based on the type of request.Augmented and virtual reality are also supporting the workforce in new ways. For field service workers, for example, AR can serve as a powerful tool to improve safety and efficiency. With AR, technicians can assess situations virtually, which may help them solve an issue remotely or get a better understanding of what’s needed to fix an issue before they go on site. This can increase the first-time fix rate, contributing to happier customers and minimized truck roll.Finally, with the growth of low-code tools in the enterprise, organizations can speed up and scale the development and deployment of new apps by empowering employees of all technical skill levels to create mobile apps for the workplace with Mobile App Builder. Simple low-code tools that help employees build their own solutions ensure they can create the exact app they need, giving them the ability to streamline processes.Find out more about the benefits of the Now Mobile App in the workplace.1 IDC, The State of Enterprise Mobile Devices in 2021: An IDC Survey of Devices, Decisions, and Deployments, Doc # US48201321, September 2021
3 ways 5G can help telecommunications companies improve business
5G technology promises user benefits that include faster network speeds, better remote access to networks, more seamless videoconferencing, and more robust network security. These are all necessities for the new world of work, and many are eager to embrace them.The technology also offers advantages to telecommunications companies: Higher system capacity Reduced latency Increased data throughput rates Energy savings Cost reduction Despite those benefits, many telecom providers continue to struggle with legacy processes. LIKE.TG, has you covered with webinars on the benefits of 5G for telecom companies. The webinars address three main themes: Service assurance, order management and business outcomes.1. Service assuranceEnsuring services offered meet predefined service quality levels is always top of mind for telecom companies. The rise of 5G is transforming the nature of service assurance. Watch our Service assurance in the 5G era webinar to learn strategies to break down silos and legacy processes. Two analysts from TM Forum join LIKE.TG’s Rohit Batra, head of product, telecom, media, and technology, for this discussion.2. Order managementThe key ingredient for keeping customers happy is efficient order management. Communications service providers are revamping the way they address this all-important initiative to not only improve customer satisfaction, but also to optimize internal operations. In our Order management for the 5G era webinar, a panel of experts share the latest trends and tips to help you streamline order management in your organization.Optimizing order management is only half the battle. You also need to scale it to truly reap the rewards of 5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC). To do that successfully requires a new approach. In our Reimagining order management in the 5G era webinar, Jim Hodges, research director at Omdia, joins LIKE.TG’s Batra for a conversation about ways to enhance order management.3. Business outcomes approachTraditionally, telecom operators have sold network capacity. The rise of 5G and MEC have led to a need for transformation. Capacity is no longer enough. To embrace ecosystem partners, operators need to shift their focus to business outcomes. Join our Can operators sell outcomes to ecosystem partners? webinar for an interactive discussion between LIKE.TG experts, the head of GSMA intelligence, and a mobile industry journalist.
3 ways automation can improve ITSM and customer service
IT service management (ITSM)—the management and support of IT services—is vital for good customer service. It encompasses problem management, incident management, change and release management, and service-level management. Because it’s an integral part of customer service, it’s important to keep it optimized and streamlined. Here are three ways automation can help with those efforts:1. Enhance service experiencesEnabling collaboration between your IT services and IT operations teams can add value to your organization and decrease costs. That’s what a single cloud platform offers—plus up to 30% increased productivity.Watch our Automate and Optimize Technology Service Operations webinar to get more details. LIKE.TG Senior VP of Product and Service Management Matt Schvimmer will provide insights from customer use cases, as well as how to get started.2. Accomplish more—fastAutomating routine tasks can save employees time and free them to focus on the work that matters most. Taking that automation a step further through machine learning offers even greater benefits.LIKE.TG Predictive Intelligence simplifies work by using machine learning to automatically: Classify tasks, incidents, and cases Suggest tasks and content to help resolve issues fast Identify and triage critical incidents In our Ask the Expert: Predictive Intelligence webinar, two LIKE.TG Predictive Intelligence experts address common questions about automation and machine learning.3. Boost self-serviceAn AI-powered chatbot can be employed to answer common customer questions, serve content, collect user data, and provide support. LIKE.TG Virtual Agent uses natural language understanding (NLU) to carry our conversations with customers and to aid in self-service, such as password resets and system status updates.Join our Jump-start Your Digital Transformation Using an AI-powered Virtual Agent webinar to find out how Virtual Agent can deliver instant return on your investment. LIKE.TG VP of Emerging Technologies Rajeev Sethi will detail how an AI-powered chatbot can accelerate digital transformation.Get more insight about AI-powered chatbots in our Ask the Expert: Virtual Agent webinar. The principal product manager and senior product marketing manager will address questions about Virtual Agent and explain how it can help support your business.
3 ways cloud services engineers drive innovation at LIKE.TG
The Seattle-based cloud services engineering team at LIKE.TG has cultivated a culture of creativity, risk-taking, and problem-solving—despite the weight of their work being deployed at a global scale across some of the most complex regulated markets.The members of the team have varying backgrounds, roles, and years of experience, yet they have one thing in common: They greet new challenges with a “beginner’s mind” in order to have a fresh eye and foster opportunities to grow and learn together. Here are three ways LIKE.TG cloud services engineers are making the world work better:1. Taking risks and trying new thingsFor this team, a great deal of calculated risk-taking and out-of-the-box thinking goes into achieving successful outcomes for the company.Director of Systems Engineering Danna R. pushes her team to continually expand their knowledge and skills while they work. “There is no shortage of interesting and cutting-edge work in systems engineering. I encourage my team to follow their passion and volunteer to work on projects that stretch them technically and professionally,” she says.“When tackling a problem, we always look for a way to ‘yes’—a way to solve. We also know that becoming complacent and not adapting to new ideas and new technologies is not going to keep us in the front of the pack. We never take the easy approach, just to check off a box. We are not afraid of uncertainty, and we have an environment where challenging decisions and status quo are healthy and encouraged,” she adds.Jamil A., senior manager of cloud capacity planning and forecasting, says his team is always looking toward the future. “We think in terms of innovation and scale. We think about what's next—whether that's scaling the design of our capacity infrastructure, teams, tools, or processes,” he shares. “My favorite part of our team's evolution is the journey we're on to deliver value that exceeds our customers' expectations at new levels.”Software Engineer Prachi V. enjoys jumping in with open-minded curiosity to learn new things and solve new puzzles. “This year, we are onboarding at least seven different server types, and each has its own configuration requirement. The servers that we provision are then used by the platform team to run LIKE.TG instances,” she says. “It’s really fun diving into the details and understanding the configurations for every server.” 2. Mentorship and career growthDanna believes mentorship is an important part of “lifting all ships” at LIKE.TG, especially on the cloud services engineering team, where things are constantly evolving. “We onboarded six interns last summer, and we challenged them with some really fun work. They got to partner with some amazing engineers and solve real problems for us,” she says. “Hopefully, they will become part of the LIKE.TG team when they graduate.”Prachi is living proof of that. She began her career at LIKE.TG as an intern more than a year ago. “Even while interning, I felt valued by my team, and they gave me great opportunities and still continue to do so,” she shares.“When I joined, I knew nothing about server provisioning. It’s just been a year, yet it seems like I’ve covered a lot of ground already. I was able to take on new responsibilities and branched out to different domains. This gave me a good overview of how we work and what we do,” she explains. “Of course, I had to ask for help from time to time, but everyone on the team was supportive and we didn’t miss a single deadline.”Danna echoes Prachi's sentiment, saying it's common for the team to encourage members to shadow and rotate within other teams.As the company grows, teams expand, and opportunity flourishes. “When I joined the team, we were a small group of talented engineers managing all aspects of capacity, planning, engineering, and operations in one time zone,” Jamil notes. “Today, our team has evolved to a global presence on three continents in multiple time zones in less than two years, with plans to expand to a fourth this year.” 3. Teamwork and partnershipsMany engineers take pride in knowing they create the foundation for other teams to succeed in the company. Jamil gives insight into how the team handles challenges and fast-moving shifts in company demand: “We most often use what I like to call the Batman approach to capacity planning. We try to anticipate and prepare for every outcome,” he says.“Our team recently received the highly unusual ask to pivot our demand signal in response to a significant customer acquisition in the quarter's closing hours. This challenged the team to deliver a substantial amount of unforeseen capacity to one region. Working with our partner teams in cloud supply chain, capacity management, and finance, we quickly performed an impact assessment, iterated through the scenarios, and presented our solutions,” he explains. “As a result, we delivered the largest order of server hardware for our cloud in a single quarter, with optimizations that met our long-term capacity planning objectives.”Danna shares a similar story of partnership, creativity, and innovation: “Recently, we were asked if we could use a third party’s data center and infrastructure to host our services—basically, provide our SaaS from someone else’s data center. This seemed crazy. A long shot. Monumental. We put our engineers to work, and we partnered with Microsoft,” she notes.“It has been a long road, but in March 2021, we launched our first LIKE.TG implementation fully running in Azure. Unblocking this barrier gives us leverage to know that we can be flexible and try out new markets without building data centers ourselves. It will also allow us to use cloud-native services that others have developed already,” she adds.We’re hiring. Explore engineering careers at ServiceNow.
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