Modernizing ITSM with ITIL 4: Change enablement
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a customer-centric framework that promotes governance, collaboration, and continuous improvement. At a time when IT service management (ITSM) is changing with new technology, shifting regulatory requirements, and decentralized teams, this is vital.We explored how the ITIL 4 service value system helps ITSM service providers generate business value through the creation, delivery, and continuous improvement of services. Now let’s look at ITIL 4 guidance on change enablement.Swift change demands an agile responseITSM leaders encounter intense pressure during times of change. They must swiftly adapt to business demands while maintaining exceptional service standards to minimize disruptions, cut operational costs, and improve employee experiences.Change waits for no one. Whether correcting, preventing, maintaining, or enhancing services, ITSM service providers must regularly evaluate how they’ll respond to both the expected and the unexpected.Organizations ill-equipped for change expose themselves to critical errors that can disrupt their service operations. From service outages and outdated governance to sluggish adoption and dissatisfied employees, the risks are many—and can be overwhelming.Evaluating a change management strategy is more than deconstructing processes or identifying risks. ITIL 4 challenges organizations to reconceptualize change management, beginning with acknowledging its past shortcomings.Transformation of change managementChange management has been a focal point within ITIL since the beginning. However, previous versions placed emphasis on established processes, making the change management approach overly bureaucratic and inflexible.One suggestion was for organizations to establish a change advisory board—a designated group of people responsible for providing guidance on changes to IT service operations. In the past, change advisory boards often became approval bodies for organizations, resulting in misaligned priorities, delays, and backlogged requests.This rigid and unwieldy framework contrasts with today’s agile and efficiency-driven business landscape, which favors cross-functional collaboration, business value transparency, and streamlined strategies.To align with modern business standards, ITIL 4 did more than offer a superficial makeover of change management. It fundamentally reconstructed the underpinnings of the system—starting with a name change. Change enablement: From process to guidanceChange enablement adheres to ITIL 4's overarching shift from strict processes to adaptable best practices to deliver exceptional organizational outcomes.The Change Enablement ITIL 4 Practice Guide defines change enablement as the means “to maximize the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed, authorizing changes to proceed, and managing the schedule change.”When deployed correctly, change enablement: Uses technology and automation to analyze risks and accelerate deployment speed Implements an all-encompassing communication strategy that underscores benefits and cultivates high adoption rates Empowers all personnel to champion change initiatives ITIL and DevOps together for changeITIL's change enablement system acknowledges its valuable relationship with DevOps by prioritizing customer value, fostering collaboration, promoting continual improvement, and incorporating Agile and lean methodologies. They’re the perfect pair.ITIL 4 places special emphasis on key DevOps principles that expedite the change lifecycle: Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) methods as an effective and efficient change-delivery model Safe-to-fail testing to create an environment in which innovation and failure are accepted Feedback loops to catch quality issues early and often Agile-inspired change authority roles and delegated authority, enabling a team to act as both the change manager and implementer Automation serves as the binding force for ITIL and DevOps, optimizing change enablement across the organization.Changing at the speed of automation and AIAutomation streamlines laborious tasks throughout the change lifecycle. This allows teams to concentrate on value-adding activities during the change assessment and approval processes.Four pivotal automation principles from DevOps are integrated into the ITIL 4 best-practice guidance: CI/CD: Automation-driven software changes encompass building, testing, and deployment, yielding frequent, rapid, and reliable releases. Observability: Code changes that could disrupt deployments are identified, enhancing service reliability. Post-deployment issues trigger alerts to a consolidated solution, facilitating root-cause analysis for faster problem resolution. Infrastructure as code: IT infrastructure mirrors the configuration management database (CMDB), driving change. Automation rectifies differences, boosting speed, consistency, and error reduction. Issue monitoring and remediation: Log data and metrics fuel automatic issue detection and resolution across applications and infrastructure. When used effectively, automation can simultaneously simplify and revolutionize processes. Hitachi Energy, for example, created a consolidated IT environment for its 42,000 employees using the Now Platform to automate workflows and transition to a single employee service center model.The rise of generative AI accentuates the power of automation within change management. The Now Platform Vancouver release introduced Now Assist, which optimizes workflows and improves team productivity.The innovation uses generative AI and large language models (LLMs) trained on an organization’s data to analyze incidents for similarities, summarize Virtual Agent discussions, and automate resolution notes that adhere to best practices.Change the way you think about ITSMAs ITSM service providers navigate the rolling terrain of global businesses, embracing modern change enablement practices can put them on a path to success. ITIL 4's evolution from process-centricity to adaptable guidance and alignment with DevOps principles empowers organizations to respond nimbly to change, using automation as the linchpin for seamless adaptation.Whether you’re fielding increasing customer demands, implementing new technology, or reducing costs, discover how ITIL 4 can help your organization thrive when it matters most.
Modernizing ITSM with ITIL 4: CMDB & service configuration management
The shift of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 4 from process to value helps IT service management (ITSM) service providers demonstrate business value and adapt to change so they can meet business needs and customer expectations and thrive in an ever-changing technology landscape.However, in the face of an increasingly complex digital business environment, managing the diverse components of IT service operations can be challenging. With hardware, software, networks, and personnel evolving regularly, ITSM service providers need reliable infrastructure solutions to keep pace with these changes.To address this complexity, they often turn to a configuration management database (CMDB) as the cornerstone of their service configuration management (CM) strategy.The connection between CMDB and CMOriginally, CM focused on handling IT technology: hardware, software, and networks. Managing these was often a manual and tedious process, making ITSM providers susceptible to data errors and service deployment issues.CM has transformed into service CM, emphasizing precision, efficiency, and automation. This shift has introduced CMDB.A CMDB serves as a data repository containing information about an enterprise's ITSM service components and their relationships. These components—known as configuration items (CIs)—encompass hardware, software, networks, and personnel.When used effectively, a CMDB can become a potent tool for identifying and monitoring how the addition, removal, or modification of a CI can affect service performance across the entire enterprise. Top 10 benefits of a CMDBA CMDB is more than a CI repository. It has the power to strengthen various aspects of an organization’s service operations. Let's explore 10 of them: Event and incident impact assessment by identifying affected CIs and services, which is crucial for event and incident management Availability analysis and planning to help ensure services are available when needed Change impact analysis to assess the impact of proposed changes before implementing them Architecture definition by providing insights into the IT infrastructure's design and components Forecasting future resource requirements Understanding asset relationships by helping organizations track and manage their assets effectively Cause-and-effect analysis for root causes, enabling proactive solutions Risk analysis by identifying potential risks associated with configuration changes Cost allocation and budgeting Contract management by providing insights into contractual relationships with vendors Steps to accuracy and valueA CMDB and service CM can significantly improve service capabilities across an enterprise, but only if the right questions are asked—and answered.When considering the benefits of a CMDB and service CM, it’s important to: Assess the need. Evaluate whether your organization would gain from accurate CI data and service CM. Identify the business stakeholders who need this data and why. This stakeholder-focused approach can help ensure your CMDB is outcome-driven and delivers business value. Define the scope. Consider which areas you need to collect data from and how much data is required. Involve asset and service owners in data control, and evaluate the cost benefit of data collection. Design your CMDB. Incorporate identified business needs and best practices from tool vendors. Ensure the design facilitates automated data capture and data availability for stakeholders. A dynamic, out-of-the-box solutionUltimately, a CMDB offers visibility into infrastructure and services. However, tracking changes and maintaining accurate visibility can be difficult. Enterprises frequently introduce new CIs to their workflows.Older methods used to gather data may be incompatible with new data sources. Consequently, data originating from multiple sources of truth leads to needless complexity, uncertainty, and misalignment within the enterprise.LIKE.TG Configuration Management Database uses seamless integration and automation to make it a trusted single system of record; it consolidates multiple data sources into one for accurate, real-time visibility into infrastructure, CIs, and services.This enables ITSM service providers to accelerate time to value and make relevant, data-driven decisions that help them keep pace as the enterprise grows. Just ask our friends at Red Hat, who use LIKE.TG CMDB to provide enterprisewide visibility into IT resources.LIKE.TG CMDB is about unlocking business value: See a comprehensive picture of complex IT infrastructure and service relationships through a unified interface that uses clear graphical visualizations, simple natural language queries, and customizable dashboards to show key CI details and context. Establish performance consistency with the product’s single data model, which every LIKE.TG application uses, helping to ensure seamless compatibility with all LIKE.TG products. Pair with LIKE.TG Service Mapping to map digital services to IT infrastructure, diagnosing issues faster and understanding the business impact of changes before they’re made. Maximize your investmentA CMDB and service CM streamline service operations and deliver value-driven results. Achieving this requires stakeholder alignment, careful setup, and a platform designed to navigate the complexities of digital business.When these elements converge, your investment can yield substantial returns, including greater visibility, quicker decision-making, accurate data, simplified cost management, and first-rate service performance. ITIL 4 offers numerous avenues for ITSM service providers to maximize their return on investment.Find out more about how your organization can elevate service operations and generate business value in our ebook.
Modernizing ITSM with ITIL 4: Intelligent automation
Generative AI has the world thinking about automation now more than ever before. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has prioritized it from the start.ITIL has advocated for automation as a transformative tool for organizations to deliver business value, accelerate change, and reinvent service configuration management. By handling mundane tasks, automation can empower people to do more innovative and effective work.Despite that, we’re in an era where machine learning (ML) and natural language understanding (NLU) are challenging IT service management (ITSM). ITSM service providers are thinking about how to extend separate process automations end to end, powered by smart, AI-based technologies. Intelligent automation is key.Fortunately, ITIL 4 can help ITSM service providers amplify processes through automation, AI, ML, and NLU. Using ITIL 4 guidance, organizations can create a complete service operation built on speed, efficiency, productivity, reliability, and adaptability.Different processes for different workflowsMany organizations rely on ITIL best practices and ITSM tools to automate their workflows and solutions. However, not all tools and processes share the same purpose. ITIL process automation encompasses various approaches, including: Traditional in-process automation following predefined workflows and rules Service orchestration and robotic process automation potentially involving third-party automation capabilities Intelligent automation using ML and NLU to improve operations and accelerate effective service delivery Historically, ITSM tools have offered in-process or workflow automation. This often falls short of comprehensive, end-to-end automation for IT service delivery and support. For example, automation can notify an IT service desk agent and provide relevant knowledge about an issue, but manual intervention is often required to apply solutions.This limited in-process automation, although helpful in saving time and reducing errors, represents just one of the potential benefits achievable through end-to-end automation and AI integration. Unlocking potential with ITIL 4ITIL 4’s approach to process automation offers several key advantages, including: Enhanced and intuitive user experiences Fast, efficient services Reduced operating costs 24/7 availability Increased staff productivity Improved reliability and accuracy Flexible change management AI magnifies these benefits by organizing unstructured data through ML and predictive analytics. However, for these benefits to fully transform ITSM (and the entire enterprise for that matter), they need an intelligent platform that can unite workflow automation and AI.That’s why ITSM service providers turn to the Now Platform. It can amplify intelligence across workflows using the power of automation and AI to deliver personalized experiences, immediate resolutions, and smart decisions through a unified system.What does the pairing of the Now Platform and ITIL 4’s best practices look like for automating ITSM service operations? Intelligent automation greatly aids service-request fulfillment throughout the incident lifecycle. AI and ML can flag similar issues across the enterprise to quickly identify critical incidents, suggest relevant tasks and content, and classify tasks and cases based on historical data. Accenture used LIKE.TG Predictive Intelligence and ML to auto-assign 2,000 incidents with 80% accuracy. Virtual Agent uses NLU and ML algorithms alongside prebuilt, code-free conversational AI to automate interactions, generate content, initiate workflows, and resolve issues in context. This means users are having conversations with chatbots that talk like real people, taking the chat from conversation to resolution without human intervention. It’s not science fiction—Dutch tech company ASML achieved a user satisfaction score of greater than 80% within weeks of launching its virtual agent. Intelligent optimization and Performance Analytics give ITSM providers the confidence to make fast decisions about their service operations with trusted, secure, and real-time data. AI and ML can automate the entire change management lifecycle by anticipating trends, identifying bottlenecks, prioritizing tasks, and tracking the business value of process improvements. Becton Dickinson uses Performance Analytics dashboards to compare similar processes and workflows across regions, evaluating mean time to resolution and modeling hypothetical changes based on the data collected. Replace complexity with simplicityITIL 4 describes automation’s role in ITSM as “a means to avoid wasting people resources on tasks that technology can tackle instead.” Automation should introduce simplicity, not complexity, to service operations.AI, ML, and NLU are automation’s accelerants, creating an end-to-end approach that can improve service efficiency and minimize disruptions for users and IT service operations.Discover how your organization can use ITIL 4 to transform service operations and help create a simpler, faster, and smarter way for teams to work.
Modernizing ITSM with ITIL 4: Service value system
Svetlana Zenkin, senior product marketing manager for IT Service Management at LIKE.TG, contributed to this blog.Demonstrating value is crucial to the success of any business. That's why it’s an important topic for IT service management (ITSM) service providers to consider when evaluating their service operations.How do IT service operations align with business outcomes and customer needs? How do operational metrics correlate to business value that stakeholders want to see?Answering these questions can be difficult. The latest release of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library—ITIL 4—puts ITSM service providers one step closer to answers by introducing the service value system. It can bring game-changing value to their services.A history of processWhen the ITIL was established in the 1980s by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, it introduced a standardized approach to ITSM that emphasized efficient and predictable IT services using a set of best practices.Versions 1 (1989) through 3 (2013) focused on ITSM processes such as incident management, problem management, and change management.Today, technology fuels every function of an enterprise, not just IT services. Digital trends emerge daily, customer and user expectations evolve on a global scale, and agility is paramount.The processes that worked yesterday may not work today, demanding swift and efficient adaptations from enterprises of all sizes.From process-centric to value-drivenThe ITIL’s original framework of process over value left ITSM service providers vulnerable to misalignment with real-world business outcomes and customer experiences. This rigid and siloed structure clashed with today's agile, collaborative, and value-driven business environment.With its ability to adapt to the business world of today, ITIL 4 (2019) emerged as a transformative update to the framework.Designed to address modern challenges, ITIL 4 champions collaboration, flexibility, and integration with contemporary business practices. Most notably, ITIL 4 looks at ITSM services from a business value perspective—encompassing people, processes, partners, and technology.What is the service value system?ITIL 4 includes several changes that empower ITSM service providers to deliver significant business value. Among the most effective is the service value system (SVS). It’s a comprehensive framework for creating, delivering, and continually improving services that yield value for customers and organizations. The SVS provides a new way for ITSM—and any organization for that matter—to enhance service quality and align with business outcomes. Let’s take a high-level look at the SVS and its seven components:1. Opportunity/demand – This serves as a catalyst for the SVS. Demand stems from customers' specific needs, such as assistance with an issue or information to complete a task. Opportunity is broader, such as an idea for a service improvement or a new product.2. Guiding principles – ITIL 4 has seven guiding principles that help service managers rethink how they provide consistent, effective, and measurable services:a. Focus on valueb. Start where you arec. Progress iteratively with feedbackd. Collaborate and promote visibilitye. Think and work holisticallyf. Keep it simple and practicalg. Optimize and automate3. Governance – Establishing clear policies, roles, and processes and aligning actions with strategy and objectives help ensure oversight and accountability.4. Service value chain – This is a set of actions, or a value stream, for a product or service delivery that converts a customer’s opportunities/demands into value. Stages include plan, improve, engage, design and transition, obtain/build, and deliver and support.5. Practices – Organizational resources and capabilities are used to achieve objectives, categorized into dimensions such as organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes.6. Continual improvement – This emphasizes ongoing enhancement of services, processes, and practices, fostering a culture of learning and adaptation to evolving needs.7. Value – This SVS output highlights value-based metrics. It depends on business stakeholders' perceptions of value, whether those are increased profits or decreased risks. Although the SVS doesn’t pinpoint specific metrics, it guides ITSM service providers and stakeholders to co-create value.Activating the service value systemUnderstanding the SVS is only one step in an organization’s pursuit of an idyllic IT service operation. Selecting the right platform is a significant decision, as it needs to enable your team to implement with ITIL 4 SVS and evolve alongside it.Look again at the seven components of the SVS, and you’ll notice words like value, collaboration, and adaptation repeated. We built the LIKE.TG IT Service Management solution with those words in mind—plus a few more.Terms like predictive intelligence and generative AI accelerate the service value chain by equipping teams with AI-supported tools for faster and smarter incident resolution.Digital Portfolio Management consolidates service data from all of an organization’s applications to help reduce costs and boost performance. And Continual Improvement Management breaks down silos by aligning individuals, data, and business objectives across the enterprise, using a well-structured framework that can be scaled to fit any organization's needs.Reinvent your IT service managementAs the digital landscape continues to evolve, ITIL 4 and the SVS emerge as powerful tools to help organizations overcome the challenges of increased service demand, incidents, and system complexity.Whether your ITSM organization is new or established, applying the SVS to your services can give you versatility to navigate these challenges, adapt to demands, and identify what business stakeholders value the most.Reinvention doesn’t stop with the SVS. Find out more about the transformative power of ITIL 4 in our ebook: Creating customer value with ITIL 4.
Modernizing ITSM with ITIL 4: Unifying ITSM and ITOM functions
The best practices and principles of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 4 show IT service management (ITSM) service providers the importance of building a strong infrastructure that creates business value, adapts to change, tracks capabilities, and embraces automation.Without collaboration between ITSM service providers and different functions of the enterprise, however, the benefits of ITIL 4 best practices are minimized. Silos negatively affect people, processes, and performance, restricting progress and innovation.ITSM and IT operations management (ITOM) are two areas where collaboration is essential. Their relationship can be confusing, and adding ITIL standards can further complicate matters—especially when they use different versions of ITIL for their guiding principles.However, ITIL 4 offers a resolution by combining the best of ITSM and ITOM functions, highlighting opportunities for the two to work together under one service operations model.What’s the difference between ITSM and ITOM?It’s easy to confuse ITSM and ITOM, so let’s summarize them like this: ITSM is how organizations deliver end-to-end IT service using various tools and processes. ITOM is the management of those tools and processes while overseeing the performance and capabilities of the organization’s IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and networks. Employees and customers interact with ITSM, which is the public-facing function of the enterprise’s IT infrastructure. For example, when an employee submits a help ticket for a technical issue with their laptop, they navigate the resolution process with ITSM.ITOM, on the other hand, is the behind-the-scenes function that measures the performance of the enterprise’s IT infrastructure to ensure it meets the needs of the business. Using the example above, when the employee receives a quick response to their incident request from the IT service team, it’s because of the processes established by ITOM.The service operations modelAn enterprise must evaluate its business needs to define how ITSM and ITOM can help it achieve positive outcomes through an integrated approach.A service operations model guided by ITIL 4 principles encourages holistic thinking and collaboration to best serve the needs of the enterprise. Debating whether ITSM is a part of ITOM, or vice versa, is irrelevant. Instead, channeling the energy and resources of both ITSM and ITOM can generate positive outcomes that touch every corner of the enterprise.The service operations model converges ITSM and ITOM technological capabilities into a single system. It allows organizations to look at their ITOM tools and processes and see where capabilities (e.g., workflow automation, reporting and analytics, etc.) can be combined with ITSM to untangle complexity, reduce operational costs, and improve service performance.Consolidating disparate toolsThe ramifications on service operations of using disparate tools for ITSM and ITOM are more than technical. In fact, they stretch across people, processes, and performance.When juggling multiple service and operations tools, organizations often experience costly and complex upgrade and integration efforts, multiple vendor relationships with different support methods, and duplicate, inconsistent, or outdated tools.But those issues pale in comparison to the operational and business-level hurdles: changing operations and ways of working, the necessity for different skill sets to manage different tools, and siloed performance data and insights.Consolidating service and operations tools helps address these issues, allowing enterprises to excel in process standardization/optimization and employee productivity improvement.Remember, unifying ITSM and ITOM capabilities is not only a technical endeavor, but also a people project that involves overcoming resistance to change. The organizational change management tools and techniques in ITIL 4 can address concerns by explaining the need for change, communicating benefits, and providing training.Evolving service operations with AIOpsAIOps describes the use of data, machine learning (ML), natural language understanding (NLU), and AI to automate service operations. When AIOps is part of ITOM, supports ITSM, and aligns with ITIL 4: Historical incident and event data is simplified for organizations to understand and predict business impact through automated alert correlation, prioritization, escalation, and remediation. ML helps slash response times by identifying root causes of incidents, events, and issues through automated root-cause analysis. IT services and infrastructure can be scaled to meet demand using automated capacity and cost optimization. ML embedded in automated workflows can filter low-value tasks and alerts from multiple systems, giving teams uninterrupted time to focus on high-priority issues in a single system of insights and actions. A path to successWhen ITSM and ITOM teams collaborate using ITIL 4 best practices, a powerful partnership emerges that can deliver improved capabilities and performance to meet stakeholder expectations.Zooming out and looking at the entire map of modernizing ITSM services reveals an exciting path filled with opportunities and challenges at every turn.ITIL 4 is your guide throughout this journey, showcasing how to support the enterprise in a way that aligns with business goals, creates value, and scales to meet growing expectations. Find out more in our ebook: Unifying ITSM and ITOM with ITIL 4.
Modernizing service delivery for government employees and citizens
Modern digital experiences play a major role in how government agencies serve their communities. Digital enhancements can streamline processes, improving reliability and accessibility for employees and citizens.Both groups need to access services through multiple channels. Modernized solutions that enhance employee experiences can improve service delivery across the board.Simplifying employee experiencesIn our seventh episode of the Canadian Leadership Exchange, we spoke with Sheila Robinson, assistant deputy minister and chief information officer at British Columbia’s Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. She shared how the ministry is improving digital experiences within its Information Services Division (ISD) so that ministry employees can better deliver services to British Columbians.To offer service delivery throughout the ministry virtually, and to provide remote access for those delivering and receiving services, ISD looks for digital tools and platforms that are intuitive, accessible, manageable, and data-centric—without increasing workload.Throughout the public sector, services need to be modern, accessible, and streamlined. Robinson sees three fundamental shifts driving digital accessibility: Hybrid models Virtual and face-to-face delivery of services Services provided through apps Ensuring digital transformation successAs leaders embark on transformation initiatives within their workplaces, people-centered solutions can help break down silos between departments. This streamlines workflows across teams and can significantly improve project delivery times.Robinson’s team collected feedback from staff about which solutions worked and which didn't. From there, they focused on creating a single source of truth, built on LIKE.TG, that would provide real-time insights. This allowed teams to see and share how their services were being used and where improvements could be made.Watch the video to learn more about how the ISD enhanced employee experiences and service delivery through transformative digital solutions:
Most Effective Digital Marketing Tactics and Techniques
Effective digital marketing tactics and techniques are a fundamental part of any successful online business. Reaching a bigger target audience, interacting with your followers, and converting leads are crucial steps in developing a strong and meaningful online presence. And you can only achieve that by leveraging robust and reliable digital marketing tactics and techniques. Read on to learn the most effective digital marketing tactics and techniques in 2021 Pay per Click (PPC) PPC is a pay-to-play arrangement that helps improve the ranking of your website on Google search results. Everything is done in Google Ads, the most effective tool for designing campaigns and monitoring results. There are two major working environments in PPC: the Google Display Network and the Google Search Network. The former reaches 90 percent of Internet users and allows sites to join Google AdSense and offer advertising space. The latter focuses on enhancing results via search engine results pages (SERP). These two channels help you display tailored ads on Google at the different phases of the buyer journey Chatbots Chatbots are another effective digital marketing tactic in 2021. This artificial intelligence-based technology leverages instant messaging to facilitate real-time conversations with both your customers and website visitors. Many customers like engaging with chatbots because they are highly responsive 24/7, provide answers instantly, and accurately remember your purchase history, and are always patient. They provide excellent customer services by meeting if not, surpassing the expectations of customers and automating redundant tasks, allowing you to concentrate on more crucial tasks. Conversational Marketing With widespread preference and adoption of chatbots, it’s now clear that modern marketing has become more conversational. Customers prefer it that way, and businesses are working tirelessly to meet this need. One survey shows that 82 percent of consumers prefer a prompt response when they have a question. Conversational marketing allows digital marketers to have a one-to-one connection with their customers in real-time. This type of marketing is currently available in almost every channel, enabling brands to meet consumers on their terms – on the consumers’ preferred devices, channels, and time schedules. Personalizing your marketing is the most effective tactic for standing out in 2021. And that involves personalizing your content, emails, social media marketing, products, and more including instant messaging apps, like WhatsApp for Business. Take a look at these personalization statistics: 63 percent of consumers loathe generic advertising blasts. 80 percent claim they prefer buying products or services from a company that provides personalized experiences. 90 percent say that personalization is attractive. Personalization If you want to choose an employee of the month, you do need to be careful. Sometimes, this can lead to jealousy and tension between coworkers, but it can be a good option if you do it right. Make sure you choose an employee who is doing a lot of good, hard work for your company. You can even have employees nominate each other to help make your decision. Then, you can choose employees that other employees like and admire. You can give a shoutout to the employee of the month at your next meeting or on social media. Or you can sit down with them and ask a few questions about their work, such as productivity tips. Then, you can share the interview to recognize your employees in a company newsletter. Creating your own online presence is a must. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) By optimizing your website and content, it becomes easy for your target customers to find you. So SEO should be an important part of your digital marketing tactics and techniques in 2021. These two crucial statistics will help you make up your mind regarding the value of website and content optimization: In a poll, Google found out that 49 percent of respondents use search to identify or learn about a new product. Google gets more than 70,000 searches every second. These figures mean that if you don’t optimize, then you’ll be losing out on all this massive traffic. But with simple tweaks to your website and content, you can attract qualified traffic, improve your online visibility, enhance brand authority, and increase your conversion rates. For instance, a well-tailored SEO for dentists would involve technical SEO, industry-specific keyword research, tailoring your content to the target customers and formatting it for search, and debunking link building myths while building links correctly. Responsive Web Design Brands across the globe are reaching their target customers by mobile and that’s going to be the trend in 2021 and beyond. Optimizing your website for mobile screens is a fundamental aspect of digital marketing. A UX designer can be crucial in ensuring your website has an intuitive and user-friendly design. The only way you can pull this off is by ensuring your website has a responsive design. You can make your site work well on mobile screens and a variety of other devices like smartwatches and tablets by leveraging responsive programming. But if you aren’t familiar with web design, you should hire a professional UX designer or web designer to ensure your website is optimized for mobile users. A good tip would be if you think of making use of coworking spaces. These places are great not only to boost your productivity and avoid boredom but also to meet up with other professionals. For example, this would be a great place to find the right web designer with whom you can collaborate. So, if you happen to be in Canada, coworking Toronto is waiting for you, and using coworking software can help you manage your interactions and workspace efficiently. Search engine marketing You may be new to the concept of SEM or search engine marketing. It is a kind of internet marketing that allows you to improve the SERPs of your website by using paid advertising methods. You are going to need an expert for using this field as well, especially someone that has worked with Google Ads for some time and knows display and search ads. If you are planning on using Google Ads, it might be a good idea to educate yourself first about the entire process. You are going to appreciate the fact about Google that it makes Google Ads simple to use by using customization. The tool allows you to decide whether you want YouTube video ads, graphic display ads, text-based search ads, or in-app mobile phone ads. All these things about the selection depend on the kind of business you have and the target audience you are planning on touching. Google makes things easier by using localized ad capability with superior metrics to keep track of how your ads are working out. Keep in mind other paid ad opportunities such as Facebook Ads. They provide ample opportunity for customizing several ad formats. To learn even more about managing remote teams and keeping employees working at home highly engaged, download our ebook now. Download now Using videos During the last decade use of visual culture has attracted the attention of the digital world. There are many forms associated with this but without a doubt, videos are at the top of this list. We have reached a point where a lot of people looking for content prefer to use videos above all other kinds of mediums. Most internet marketers these days use platforms such as YouTube of some kind or another. This wave has come along largely due to the massive viewership of platforms such as YouTube, which has a user base of over 2.68 billion individuals worldwide. However, where you will post the videos will not matter much unless it has compelling content on it. Personalized videos have become the main attraction these days addressing different pain points for the users such as transferring large videos. It also makes your business appear more human. The videos can be about tours of your business or testimonials from customers depicting the human side of the business. If you can narrate a compelling story about the business and display that you can solve some pain points of the customers you will have a win-win formula. Content marketing Content marketing can be termed as an extension of inbound marketing. It plays a huge role in attracting your target audience. The more significant part of content marketing is that you have to make your content relevant, consistent, and valuable to make it worth the time and effort of the customers coming in. In these times you have to focus on creating content that will resolve the customer pain points and yet stay evergreen. Using black-hat SEO techniques or shortcuts to reach the top of search engines is not going to work thanks to the probing eyes of Google. As many people like to put it, "Content is the king". For making sure that digital content marketing strategy works out well, you will also have to concentrate on mobile-related content, influencer marketing, native advertising, and marketing automation. Take the mobile content seriously as smartphones make up for half of the devices used to access the internet. You can use automated tools that send your content to the searchers at exactly the right time. Or, you can use tools like an AI text generator to streamline your content production, enabling automated creation and timely distribution to reach your target audience effectively. Social media marketing You must have already posted some kind of content on social media before reading this post. However, is there a way of making the posts more effective and useful this year and in the upcoming years? For capturing the modern audience there are several things you can do as noted by Forbes. This includes automation for posting the content exactly at the time when you are aware that the target audience is reading it. You can use online tools for this post scheduling as it helps a great deal while reaching out to the users in several time zones. It is also a good idea to curate content for proving your clout. Do not be proud while doing it because it adds luster to the brand and your expertise. While you are curating content from other sources they are likely to reciprocate. Keep in mind to hire influencers for posting this content on various social media channels. Creating a Google My Business Profile Creating a Google My Business (GMB) profile is a foundational step for boosting your online presence for your business. GMB allows businesses to manage their online information as it appears in Google Search and Maps, which is vital considering most consumers turn to Google for local business information. By setting up a GMB profile, you ensure that your business details are accurate, and you can showcase your products or services through posts, photos, and customer reviews. Moreover, using a tool for scheduling your Google Posts can organize and speed up your postings, saving you time and effort. You'll be able to effectively plan and publish your Google posts, ensuring a consistent online presence for your business and maintaining regular engagement with your audience. Ultimately, an active and well-maintained GMB profile, can attract more customers to your business. Upgrading and optimizing your database A robust database not only helps with more efficient digital marketing but also powers up other components of business operations. And if you're looking for speedier performance, security enhancements, and real-time data processing benefits, here are some optimization options to keep in mind: Explore Upgrade Options: There are lots of alternatives out there if your current database isn’t up to scratch. You could consider upgrading from MySQL to MariaDB, or pick a marketing-specific CRM solution like Pipedrive to collect and organize your data. Streamline Data Analysis: As crucial as it is to drive traffic towards your site with digital marketing maneuvers, having a sturdy backend plays an equally important part in holding onto customers once they do visit. Don’t try to analyze every single metric, but focus on the ones that matter most to your brand. Make Adjustments Based on Customer Insights: Collect data on visitor habits once they land on your site, and tweak campaigns based on what you learn. If conversion rates are poor, this is a must. Parting Shot An effective marketing strategy can generate remarkable results, especially if you chose it based on the unique needs and requirements of your business. These six digital marketing tactics and techniques will help you grow your target audience and increase your sales in 2021 and beyond. About Author: This article is written by a marketing team member at LIKE.TG. LIKE.TG is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk.
Motivate Employees with Workplace Gamification
2020 certainly presented HR teams with new challenges. On one hand, many new employees joined new companies and new teams during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the vast majority were suddenly forced to work from home during this time. And if those companies did not have an official work-at-home policy in place before this sudden event, this new dynamic could present a number of real challenges, including low morale, demotivated employees, and lost productivity. Despite this sudden challenge, HR managers and teams could use gamification in new ways to overcome these potential obstacles and actually get even more out of remote teams. Gamification in the workplace is not a new concept. It has been used successfully by business leaders and managers for quite a while, but it’s worth a look at the potential of this strategy. Interestingly, this concept parallels the idea of "gamification in marketing" where engaging tactics are used to enhance customer interaction and brand loyalty. In both contexts, gamification leverages human psychology for positive outcomes. What is a gamification program? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines gamifying as “the process of adding games or game elements like keeping score and competing among teams as well as using other non-game contexts like online marketing, product promotions, or even a simple task.” Recently, gamification has become an even more popular work trend in business environments, especially as a way to drive employee motivation and engagement. This leads us to a follow-up question: Just what is workplace gamification? What is Workplace Gamification In this context, gamification does not refer to turning work into a game. Instead, it is a play on human psychology, which uses a game context to motivate a person to attempt to compete with others and prove themselves to be the best in front of their manager (or other authority), peer group, and competitors. To picture the value of gamification, just think of the good old days when completing your homework correctly meant getting a gold star on your paper and even a little praise from your teacher. That was the power of gamification. You’ve been a part of these situations for a long time now, to the point where this idea has become a natural part of your daily life starting with school and now, in the workplace. Examples of gamification in the workplace can include game-based activities such as keeping score of who closes more deals in sales, or who achieves a specific monthly goal first. Rewards and recognition approaches (and platforms such as LIKE.TG’s Workmates) are based on the same concept and can provide extra motivation for more collaboration and teamwork. Benefits of Gamification and Game Mechanics in the Work Environment While it may be tempting to rush in and attempt to take advantage of many different aspects as you implement gamification, business leaders first need to identify and focus on those that best suit our requirements. Learning Never underestimate employees’ urge to compete and “win” in their quest to prove that they are better than all others. In this case, your workforce will strive to be the best at their jobs but will also be interested in exploring and adapting to the most recent developments in the industry, both while on the job but also during any training or education they may be pursuing. This opens them up to a whole new world of learning, which leads to even more advanced skills. If done successfully, this new level of expertise will become a win-win: beneficial for the company and the employee. Higher Efficiency Higher skills lead to better efficacy in direct proportions, and that is what you as an employer aim for, isn’t it? This also positively affects the overall organizational productivity and works to motivate employees, thus propelling the enterprise towards its goals faster. Challenges Contrary to popular belief, everybody likes a challenge! And when it comes to a group task, let’s just say it’s a recipe for success. Creating inter-departmental teams and setting up competitive game-based goals is a surefire way of raising the workforce’s morale while also promoting teamwork between various departments. Many companies also use CRM software to ensure that all members are on the same page about each assigned task. Improving employee experience doesn'tneed to be difficult - or expensive! Learn how Real-Time Self-Analysis Having fun while working is important but what is also essential is the fact that each employee can analyze for themselves how well they’re performing or how far they are from reaching their targets in real-time. Keeping a check on one’s own work further builds responsibility and motivates the worker to try harder. Tips, Tricks, and Ideas for Motivation and Engagement Each company has its own policies for motivation and engagement and appreciation of their employees, and none can be considered higher or lower than the next. As mentioned before, you need to choose the best way to recognize and reward your workforce. The following however are some generic ideas that may help you in successfully gamifying your organization. Company-wide Recognition Tipping your hat for their exemplary services in front of the entire office is sure to earn you their loyalty, while also motivating them to work harder and achieve more targets. Demonstrating appreciation in front of their colleagues is a great way to let all your employees (even worldwide) know digitally through your social media pages of their success. Everyone loves fame and recognition and giving it to them, even on a minor level, will increase their morale and encourage other employees as well to perform better. Company-sponsored Skill Upgradation Many corporations around the globe don’t just assign tasks to their employees but also help them in upskilling through various free and paid courses. These opportunities to learn more in their fields are respected and greatly appreciated by the workforce as it does not just display that the company has their overall welfare in mind, but also enhances their individual market value. Free Services and Gifts Company-sponsored trips, discounts on gyms for workers of a certain enterprise, free gifts on the business’ founding day, and gift cards to online or offline brands and stores on the personnel’s birthday are just some ways of celebrating the alliance between the organization and their employees. However, these go a long way in building a rapport amidst the parties, and the team steps up their game to justify these presents. You can gift them an experience as well. Applaud Everyone’s Contribution Often while commending the work of the highest achievers, the corporations forget to acknowledge the job well done by the rest of the team. This can hurt their confidence and determination, thus leading to a decline in their productivity. Thus next time, make sure all your employees feel appreciated while incorporating gamification at work. Game-based Training Use elements and game mechanics like scoreboards, leadership positions, points, and badges during the various training sessions of the workforce. You can also use social media platforms to keep a track of the highest scorers. This encourages the workers to give their best in the process which has a dual effect - on one hand, they learn better as that’s the way to higher rewards, and on the other hand, it builds up a healthy competition in the teams which further propagates inter-departmental and intra-departmental harmony and a happy work environment. Ensure Employee Wellness A sedentary lifestyle can lead to a whole lot of health issues for your workers. By including some gaming elements in their daily routine, like points to the one with the highest number of steps per day, can contribute to their good health while simultaneously showing how much the company cares for their well-being. This can also further reduce the number of sick leaves taken by the staff, annually. Gamification to Games - Beware! A common misconception in organizations, that stems from the term ‘Gamification’ itself is that it refers to turning work into a game. That is absolutely not what it is though. The best-gamified process is considered to be the one where the player doesn’t even realize that he/ she is playing. Avoid building games on top of complex processes as that might result in lowering efficiency in the long run as the team now has to spend more of its resources on both the game and the actual task. Conclusion In the end, we are certain that you have accurately grasped what the term and its surrounding hype are all about. Now is the time for its effective application. So what are you waiting for? Run for it now before someone else takes the cake. Best of luck! About Author: Pratik Dholakiya is the founder of Growfusely, a content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO. He regularly speaks at various conferences about SEO, Content Marketing, and Entrepreneurship. As a passionate SEO and content marketer, he shares his thoughts and knowledge in publications like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, The Next Web, YourStory, and Inc42, to name a few. He can be reached at Twitter @DholakiyaPratik
Moving communications service providers beyond traditional telecom
Communications service providers (CSPs) have been at the forefront of the pandemic, helping customers and entire industries make critical transformations almost overnight. When education, healthcare delivery methods, and supply chains were interrupted, CSPs stepped up and provided digital work environments and automations that became lifelines.Now, CSPs are laying the foundation for even more. Multi-access computing (MEC), 5G, and reducing the cost and complexity of managing networks are only the beginning of what’s to come.“Our strategy for telecommunications is simple,” says Rohit Batra, head of product for telecommunications and media at ServiceNow. It’s “to be the system of action for CSPs to deliver frictionless workflows across the entire customer journey.”Simplicity is at the core of LIKE.TG: the delivery of products, the ecosystem to enable next-gen services, and the customer experience itself. Whether CSPs are launching new services or transforming an existing business, LIKE.TG helps them drive, innovate, and execute transformation strategies by connecting ordering and assurance workflows.Streamlining order managementToday’s order management approach doesn’t scale to the needs of modern CSPs. It generally requires stitching together multiple disconnected systems and labor-intensive processes.Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading information and communications technology providers, worked with LIKE.TG to streamline its order management process so it could bring solutions to market faster, increase productivity, and reduce the complexity of its web of legacy systems.With LIKE.TG, the company has improved order capture and gained needed billing updates, order orchestration workflows, inventory updates in real time, and the ability to use TM Forum open APIs—all within a single platform. Proactively addressing customer careAnother challenge for CSPs is the ongoing pressure to reduce cost to serve. For example, a tier 1 telecom provider may have tens of thousands of customer care agents who use multiple, disparate legacy systems with complex processes. This can lead to excessive handling times, rising costs to serve customers, and service-level agreement breaches for enterprise customers.BT Group, which serves B2B and B2C customers in 180 countries, worked with LIKE.TG to transform its BT Meetings division. The different groups making up BT Meetings each used their own processes and tools, many of them customized and at the end of life. Each group also had different service desks that relied on manual processes centered on email and phone.LIKE.TG Telecommunications Service Management helped with automation and self-service capabilities—particularly Virtual Agent, Service Catalog, and Predictive Intelligence. As a result, BT moved 70,000 customers and 1 million services to LIKE.TG, retired two legacy systems, and achieved a staggering 85% agent satisfaction.Automating service assuranceDelivering reliable, predictable, and transparent services makes for strong customer relationships, allowing CSPs to protect existing revenue and cross-sell new or expanded services and products.Lumen turned to the Now Platform to transform the delivery and assurance of its next-generation connectivity services, specifically integrated workflows across Day 1 and Day 2 operations.“Today’s customer is looking for the package, which means you need to orchestrate across multiple control domains to be able to deliver that capability. We see that as really being one of the strong suits of the LIKE.TG platform—to be able to take a larger role within our Lumen ecosystem,” says Shawn Draper, Lumen vice president of enterprise platform engineering.Learn more about how your communications company can transform the customer and employee experience and better manage network and technology investments. Download our Telecommunications Book of Knowledge.
Moving the Needle on ESG Reporting
The world of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is all about moving from intent to impact while creating long-term value for businesses. Many companies are struggling to keep up with the overwhelming demands of ESG reporting, implementation, and initiatives.I recently had the pleasure of attending and speaking at two ESG-focused events: Hannover Messe and ESG Europe. Of the many topics and issues discussed, one thing was clear across the board: The highly fragmented reporting landscape in Europe and around the world is hindering progress in the ESG space.Assessing the current environmentThis shifting landscape puts pressure on the already-overtaxed small teams responsible for operationalizing ESG at scale. The European Union’s (EU’s) Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and growing recognition that ESG considerations offer both risk mitigation and value creation opportunities to companies that take it seriously over the long term are good examples.Many factors are at play: lack of a unified global standard, confusion around mandatory versus voluntary disclosure, and varying requirements at the local, national, and global levels. For multinational corporations, this becomes an even greater challenge as they struggle to meet changing requirements across borders.The introduction of the EU CSRD, on top of other confusing regulatory frameworks, is burdensome—and we haven’t even seen how localization will affect the regions.According to future-facing law firm CMS, “The reporting standards comprise 82 disclosures with phasing-in periods for several areas. There are 1,144 data points that may need to be reported on, dependent on how material they are assessed to be.” Embracing technology for ESG efficiencyWhen ESG teams spend all their time reporting and telling the story of the past, it’s hard for even the most dedicated teams to write the future. And there’s never been a more important time to prioritize ESG. Strong ESG propositions have been linked to cost reduction, regulatory and legal interventions, productivity enhancement, investment and asset optimization, and value creation across top-line growth.Now more than ever, as we wait for harmony in the regulatory space, we need a more efficient way to showcase progress in ESG. That’s where technology comes in. Technology-enabled solutions, such as LIKE.TG ESG Management, can help ESG teams manage and measure risk and master the challenge of reporting. Tech can help overtaxed teams keep pace with the ever-changing regulatory landscape.Beyond regulations, technology can enable companies to create real solutions to climate change. It has the power to address climate change goals, carbon sequestration, and net-new energy sources—and enable just corporate transition.It also holds the power to remove friction and create greater efficiencies in these programs and reporting. Technology can help teams move from reporting on the past to achieving their missions for the future.I was struck by something Markus Müller, chief investment officer at Deutsche Bank, said: “This entire thing is about resources—environment, society, labor, policy, governance. These are indicators we need to transform our society. We have limited resources, and we'd be naive to say we are not dependent on the things we are embedded in."Everything in our world is dependent on the planet we inhabit—and we’re breaking the machine that sustains us. The first step toward creating positive change and a better future is embracing tech-enabled solutions to ease the strain of reporting and inspire others with stories about the endless possibilities.Find out how LIKE.TG helps organizations manage ESG to create value.
My early-career journey as a LIKE.TG co-op
From getting invited to an NBA game to going on stage and speaking in front of the entire company, I feel like the luckiest early-career professional ever. Being an international student, I’ve had hurdles throughout my college career. LIKE.TG helped me overcome many of them and truly allowed me to dream big.At LIKE.TG, title doesn’t matter—I’ve been treated and cared for the same as anyone else. With the encouragement and support of my colleagues, I gathered the courage to approach our amazing CFO, Gina Mastantuono. She agreed to be a part of the video summary of my experiences at the company. Like her, everyone I’ve met at the organization has welcomed me with open arms.Authentic selfIn the past, I faced difficulties being myself in the workplace. I was expected to put on a façade, so that’s what I did. At LIKE.TG, every single person I’ve met embraced my extroverted, spontaneous, and energetic self. My achievements were always recognized. There was, without fail, a new opportunity for me to grab onto every single day.Although my role was specifically product public relations, I owned a three-blog series, led Instagram takeovers for my early-career peers, emceed for our company all-hands meeting, and was able to explore many different departments across the company.I was lucky enough to have a manager who constantly challenged me, believed in me, and motivated me to excel in my role. I’m more than grateful and wish every early-career professional could have a similar experience.Although my journey as a LIKE.TG co-op is coming to an end, I plan to stay in touch with everyone I’ve met and continue to seek advice from all the mentors and friends I’ve gained during my time here.Watch the video to learn more about my LIKE.TG Journey:
Navigating Pay Changes: Lessons Learned from Noteworthy Case Studies
In today's ever changing business landscape, organizations are constantly faced with the challenge of navigating pay changes. Whether it's adjusting salaries, implementing new compensation structures, or addressing issues related to pay equity, these changes can have a significant impact on the overall success and employee satisfaction of a company. In this article, we will explore a few important case studies that shed light on the best practices and lessons learned in navigating pay changes. From understanding the importance of data analysis to fostering transparent internal communication, these case studies offer valuable insights for organizations looking to navigate pay changes effectively. The Power of Data Analysis One common theme that emerges from the case studies is the power of data analysis in informing pay changes. By leveraging data, organizations are able to acquire a deeper understanding of their current pay structures, identify any inequities, and make informed decisions regarding compensation adjustments. Transparent Communication is Key Another key lesson from the case studies is the importance of transparent communication throughout the pay change process. Employees should be able to understand the rationale behind key changes and they can avail of the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. One case study highlighted the importance of conducting town hall meetings and regular employee communication sessions to address any concerns or misconceptions regarding pay changes. By fostering an open and transparent communication environment, organizations can build trust and ensure that employees feel heard and valued. Additionally, organizations should provide clear and concise information about the changes, including the reasons behind them, the impact on individual employees, and any steps that will be taken to address concerns or issues that arise. Building a Culture of Fairness and Equity Creating a culture of fairness and equity is another crucial aspect of navigating pay changes. Organizations must ensure that their pay practices align with their values and promote diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity. By taking proactive measures to promote fairness and equity, organizations can build a strong foundation for successful pay changes. The Role of Performance Management Effective performance management plays a crucial role in navigating pay changes. Organizations should have a clear and transparent performance evaluation process in place to ensure that pay decisions are based on merit and aligned with individual performance. By tying pay changes to performance outcomes, organizations can ensure that compensation is fair and rewards top performers accordingly. The Performance software offers a comprehensive performance management system designed to enhance employee productivity and development within an organization. Some of the key features and aspects of the app's performance management functionality are Goal Setting and Alignment, Regular Check-Ins, Feedback and Recognition, Performance Reviews, Skill Development and Training, 360-Degree Feedback, Performance Analytics, Career Pathing, Recognition and Rewards as well as Integration and Accessibility. The Workmates app's performance management features aim to foster a culture of continuous improvement, open communication, and employee development. By providing tools for goal setting, feedback, training, and performance evaluation, the app contributes to creating a motivated and engaged workforce that drives organizational success. Engaging Employees in the Pay Process Engaging employees in the process involving pay change is one more critical factor in successful implementation. Employees should have a voice and be actively involved in shaping the changes that affect their compensation. One case study focused on a retail company that conducted employee surveys and focus groups to gather feedback and input on proposed pay changes. This approach allowed employees to feel empowered and invested in the process, leading to higher levels of acceptance and satisfaction with the changes. Adapting to Changing Business Needs In today's dynamic and rapidly evolving business environment, organizations should be more adaptable and responsive to changing business needs. Pay changes should align with the overall strategic objectives as well as goals of the organization. One case study highlighted a technology company that underwent a significant restructuring process. As part of this process, they implemented a new compensation structure that rewarded employees based on their ability to adapt and contribute to the company's evolving needs. This approach ensured that pay changes were aligned with the organization's long-term vision and helped drive employee engagement and productivity. Case Study 1: Tech Innovators Inc. - Balancing Equity and Market Competitiveness Tech Innovators Inc., a rapidly growing technology company, faced a dilemma when its compensation structure began to lag behind industry standards. The company embarked on a comprehensive analysis of its pay practices, benchmarking against competitors and considering the importance of equity within the organization. The key lesson learned from this case study is the significance of striking a balance between internal equity and external market competitiveness. By addressing pay disparities and aligning compensation with industry norms, Tech Innovators Inc. not only retained top talent but also fostered a culture of fairness and transparency. Case Study 2: Global Retail Emporium - Communicating Change Effectively Global Retail Emporium found itself in a situation where economic shifts necessitated a temporary reduction in bonuses and benefits. The company's success in managing this change hinged on clear and empathetic communication. Lessons drawn from this case underscore the importance of transparent communication when implementing pay changes. By openly discussing the reasons behind the alterations, providing a clear timeline for recovery, and offering support mechanisms, the company was able to minimize employee resistance and maintain morale during a challenging period. Is Your Company's CultureWorking Against You? Find out how to improve your companyculture with our short quiz. Take the Quiz Case Study 3: Sustainable Startups Co. - Aligning Pay with Values Sustainable Startups Co., an environmentally conscious organization, recognized that its compensation model needed to reflect its commitment to sustainability. The company embarked on a unique journey by introducing performance-based bonuses linked to environmental impact metrics. This case study highlights the lesson that pay changes can be leveraged to reinforce an organization's values and mission. By aligning financial incentives with core principles, Sustainable Startups Co. not only attracted purpose-driven talent but also demonstrated its authenticity as an environmentally responsible entity. Case Study 4: Financial Services Group - Flexibility in Total Rewards Amidst changing market conditions, the company Financial Services Group adopted a flexible approach to total rewards. Recognizing that rigid pay structures might hinder agility, the company explored a more versatile compensation system that allowed employees to allocate their rewards according to personal preferences. This case study underscores the importance of tailoring pay changes to individual needs and preferences. By affording employees the autonomy to shape their compensation, the Financial Services Group bolstered employee satisfaction and loyalty. Conclusion: These noteworthy case studies provide a rich tapestry of insights into the art of navigating pay changes effectively. From finding equilibrium between internal equity and external market benchmarks to communicating changes transparently, aligning pay with values, and offering flexibility in total rewards, organizations can glean invaluable lessons from these experiences. By implementing these strategies, organizations can ensure that pay changes are fair, transparent, and aligned with their overall business goals, ultimately leading to increased employee satisfaction and engagement. As the business landscape continues to evolve, the ability to navigate pay changes wisely will remain a cornerstone of success, contributing to enhanced employee engagement, organizational resilience, and sustainable growth. Try Workmates Interactive Demo Click trough it yourself withinteractive demo. Try It Now
Navigating the Challenges of Remote Employment: Tips for Employers and Employees
While remote work offers many benefits, such as flexibility, reduced commuting time, and increased productivity, it also comes with its own set of challenges. In this article, we'll provide some tips for both employers and employees to help them overcome the challenges of remote employment. Remote work brings about numerous benefits, including flexibility, increased productivity, and reduced costs. However, working remotely also presents several challenges, such as isolation, communication barriers, and difficulty with accountability. In this article, we will explore some tips for employers and employees to navigate the challenges of remote employment.One way to make it easier for you is to implement an onboarding software for remote workers. Take a look at what LIKE.TG's onboarding solution can do for you. Establish clear expectations: One of the biggest challenges of remote work is ensuring that everyone is on the same page. When employees work remotely, it's important to establish clear expectations regarding communication, work hours, and deliverables. Be sure to communicate these expectations clearly and consistently to avoid confusion or misunderstandings. Establishing expectations early on can help employees stay focused and productive and can prevent potential issues down the road. Remote employment can make it challenging to maintain employee engagement. To improve engagement, consider the following strategies: Communication, virtual team building, recognition and rewards, professional development and flexibility. By implementing these strategies, remote employers can improve employee engagement, motivation, and satisfaction. Provide the necessary tools and technology: Remote workers need access to the right tools and technology to do their jobs effectively. This includes access to communication tools like video conferencing software, project management tools, content management system (CMS) and cloud storage solutions, Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution, and even virtual mailbox solutions. Providing employees with the necessary tools and technology can help them stay connected and engaged, which is essential when working remotely. Using these tools allows you easy collaboration on content creation and management, it also provides you a centralized location for all digital content while making it faster and more efficient. Integration with open APIs to your corporate enterprise systems and external cloud providers to enable inter-application workflows and data retrieval. All of this helps you store, access, and visualize any relevant data from any of your sources. Salary: One of the most significant challenges of remote work is ensuring timely and accurate financial payments. Employers must ensure that remote employees are paid on time and receive the correct amount of compensation. These services offer fast, secure, and reliable payment processing, making it easy for employers to pay remote employees, regardless of their location. Employers must ensure that remote employees are paid on time and receive the correct amount of compensation. One way to ensure accurate payment is to use reliable payment processing services. These services offer fast, secure, and reliable payment processing, making it easy for employers to pay remote employees, regardless of their location. These can range from benefits that make an employee's work-life easier to navigate, like virtual credit cards for employees in managerial roles to more customized benefits based on lifestyle. One of these methods is benefit programs such as retirement benefits, health insurance plans, paid time off, equity, and many more. They can have a significant impact on employee engagement and retention. Establish a routine: When working remotely, it's important to establish a routine to help you stay focused and productive. Set a schedule for when you'll start and end work each day, take breaks, and engage in other activities. Creating a routine can help you avoid distractions and stay on track, which is essential when working remotely. This includes setting a regular work schedule, taking breaks as needed, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It is also essential to communicate effectively with supervisors and coworkers, providing regular updates on work progress and being responsive to feedback. It is also important to take care of one's physical and mental health, including taking breaks throughout the day, getting regular exercise, and seeking support when needed. Stay connected with colleagues: When working remotely, it's easy to feel disconnected from colleagues. Make an effort to stay connected by scheduling regular check-ins or participating in virtual team-building activities. Staying connected with colleagues can help you feel more engaged and invested in your work and can also help you build strong relationships with your coworkers. Communicate with your employer: Communication is key when working remotely. Make sure to communicate regularly with your employer to stay on top of expectations, deliverables, and any potential issues. Keep your employer informed about your progress and any challenges you may be facing. By communicating regularly, you can avoid misunderstandings and ensure that everyone is on the same page. For employers, it is essential to establish clear communication channels and expectations for remote employees. This includes setting expectations for communication and work schedules, as well as outlining the tools and platforms that will be used to stay connected. It is also important to provide adequate training and support for remote employees, including access to necessary software and hardware, as well as IT support. Providing regular feedback and recognition for good work is also critical to maintaining employee morale and productivity. Set boundaries: Working remotely can sometimes blur the line between work and personal life. It's important to set boundaries to ensure that you're able to disconnect and recharge after work hours. Set clear boundaries around when you're available and when you're not, and avoid checking work emails or messages outside of work hours. This can help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and prevent burnout. Conclusion Remote work offers many benefits, but it also comes with its own set of challenges. Employers and employees must navigate these challenges to ensure that remote work is a success. By following the tips outlined above, employers can help their employees stay engaged and productive, while employees can stay focused and avoid burnout. With clear expectations, the right tools and technology, and a focus on communication and self-care, remote work can be a viable option for many organisations and individuals. LIKE.TG’s Onboard solution automates the entire field of onboarding approach to save time, increase data accuracy, and help ensure compliance with industry regulations and requirements. Onboard solutions help to save so much valuable time and effort while increasing data accuracy, improving compliance and achieving the best results.
Navigating the new challenges of hybrid work
Work changed in 2020, but not just for the lockdown period—it changed forever. It’s become increasingly clear that we won’t return to the old working model.Workers have become accustomed to the autonomy of a remote environment. The 2021 Employee Experience Imperative found that six in 10 employees prefer some amount of remote work. As vaccine rollouts make office work possible again, employers are realizing hybrid is the future.However, hybrid work comes with a new set of challenges. Organizations must put effort into creating the collaboration, experiences, and efficiency the business and its workforce demand.Hybrid work: Avoiding a two-tier experienceMany organizations are thinking about the space challenges of supporting hybrid work. Where will everyone sit? Will there be enough meeting rooms?But there are some other big challenges to consider as well, such as inclusivity. Hybrid environments create a risk of uneven power dynamics between remote and in-person employees—a two-tier dilemma.According to Harvard Business Review, the creation of these power differentials within teams can “damage relationships, impede effective collaboration, and ultimately result in reduced performance.” So, organizations must ensure all workers, whether remote or in person, get a consistent employee experience.5 ways to deliver a consistent experienceAvoiding a two-tier system starts with ensuring all employees—no matter where they work—have the same opportunities for support and collaboration. LIKE.TG and Microsoft Teams are committed to bridging that gap. As of July 2021, Microsoft Teams has 250 million monthly active users.Here are five things we’re doing together to help organizations deliver consistent experiences in this new world of work, for employees and the teams that support them: Through the LIKE.TG and Microsoft Teams integration, employees can get help in the collaboration tools they use most frequently—from home or the office. Within the familiar and convenient Microsoft Teams environment, employees can submit and follow up on tickets from anywhere. With AI-powered recommendations, the LIKE.TG Virtual Agent can provide answers to frequently asked questions by employees, and the power of Predictive Intelligence can help agents efficiently resolve cases as needed. For more urgent issues, employees and agents can simulate an in-person experience by initiating a video call, chat, or meeting directly in Microsoft Teams. With always-on virtual agents running in Teams, employees are able to get help from a single place, and in the tools they already use. They don’t need to toggle between apps or waste time finding whom to contact. The Virtual Agent deflects common service requests such as “How much was my last paycheck?” or “When will my benefits kick in?”—reducing the workload for IT, HR, and facilities teams and freeing them to focus on more strategic tasks. Uniting peopleAs work changes, employees and businesses need tools that bring people together even when they’re apart. By integrating LIKE.TG and Microsoft Teams, you meet employees where they are and increase employee collaboration and satisfaction—lessening the potential of a two-tier experience.Learn more about how LIKE.TG and Microsoft Teams are making hybrid work, work for you in our ebook.
Nearly 1,000 organizations worldwide implement LIKE.TG’s free emergency response apps
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, LIKE.TG invited our global partner ecosystem to join us in supporting customers across the world who chose to implement our four no-charge emergency response apps. We also invited partners and customers to develop their own COVID applications on the Now Platform®.To date more than 1,000 organizations have downloaded the emergency apps, which help keep employees safe and productive during this difficult time.The four emergency response apps were created with great speed and agility in early March, to help our customers and partners manage complex crisis management workflows. Given the need to create new workflows fast, when they were needed most, we recognized that many customers and partners would also want to create their own COVID-related apps on the Now Platform®.In recent weeks, many of our partners across the world have identified new COVID-related workflow requirements and embraced the opportunity to create their own emergency response apps. Australia-based Enable and San Diego’s Cask are two partners who leaned in with LIKE.TG to help customers keep their businesses running and their employees safe.Working with the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Enable created a LIKE.TG-based web portal to help local tech companies manage their business continuity challenges.“The website is a one-stop shop for organizations to find free service offerings, advice and tools,” says Enable CEO Bruce Hara. “The aim was to help Australian businesses trying to keep their head above water as they close offices and worksites, have staff work from home, and lose contact points with their customers. The site is packed with vital information on, and free tools for, alternative work arrangements and new technologies, including collaboration platforms for remote business services."Enable and LIKE.TG created the AIIA portal pro bono. Since launch the portal has received more than 40,000 visitors, representing 30 different organizations.In California, meanwhile, LIKE.TG partner Cask built a COVID-19 testing app for the City of Los Angeles in under 36 hours. Cask used the Now Platform to deliver a world-class outcome with unparalleled speed, agility and impact.“The City of Los Angeles came to LIKE.TG and Cask to ask how they could coordinate and streamline testing,” says Cask vice president Jason Rosenfeld. “We built an app that supports drive-through testing so Angelinos can drive up, have their appointment to get tested, and then move on, versus having to wait in the line.”Cask’s development team stayed up all night to get the app launched. Cask initially worked hand-in-hand with the Los Angeles mayor’s office, and then handed off management of the app to the city’s IT team. Within a few days of launching the app, the city was able to conduct more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests safely. We are honored and grateful that our partners stepped up so quickly to build these applications and support our customers in their time of need. When we unify our focus and work with our partners on mission-based objectives, we enable an amazing “force multiplier” impact on our customer outcomes.This is just the beginning. LIKE.TG has many other partners across the world who embrace our values and culture as extended members of the LIKE.TG family. These partners are in the process of creating and certifying new COVID-19 workflow applications to help customers address their most challenging requirements.COVID-19 has forced us into a new normal. On good days and bad, we continue to live out our purpose and focus on doing what’s right for our customers and the world. At LIKE.TG, we make the world of work, work better for people—with and through our partners.
Nearly 1,000 organizations worldwide implement LIKE.TG’s free emergency response apps
Update on LIKE.TG’s Emergency Response program: With help from our partners, LIKE.TG is helping organizations manage through the COVID-19 pandemicOn March 16th LIKE.TG released four emergency response apps free of charge to help organizations manage through the COVID-19 pandemic. To date nearly 1,000 different organizations have started leveraging these apps to assist their employees during the crisis. They include federal and state agencies as well as hospitals and healthcare organizations.LIKE.TG is working with its partners, including Accenture, Deloitte, DXC Technology, EY and KPMG, to distribute and support the apps.“We are humbled by the extraordinary and rapid response to these apps in an effort to help the world flatten the curve on COVID-19 as fast as possible,” said Bill McDermott, LIKE.TG’s CEO. “These LIKE.TG applications enable emergency outreach, self-reporting and exposure management, which are precisely actions that organizations can take right now to help people get through this crisis.”“Local, state and federal agencies, hospitals and healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and the list goes on. Customers in different sectors around the world are utilizing these apps. We are truly putting technology in the service of people, everywhere,” McDermott continued.One early adopter is the San Francisco city government. Linda Gerull, CIO of the City of San Francisco, said: “Unlike emergencies that impact physical infrastructure, this pandemic crisis targets people. The City of San Francisco is committed to continued high quality service to residents and must now ensure the city workforce is available and working on prioritized response initiatives. LIKE.TG’s community apps for emergency self-reporting and emergency exposure management will deliver mission critical information to resource managers to assess and manage organizational readiness in key areas of healthcare, law enforcement and fire as well as city essential services.” Partner supportTo further support customers, LIKE.TG is working closely with its partners, including Accenture, Deloitte, DXC Technology, EY and KPMG. These partners are helping their customers to quickly deploy the LIKE.TG community apps. They also are working with customers to quickly develop other emergency response apps on the Now Platform that address specific industry and customer needs.Accenture“We have been working closely with LIKE.TG and our many other technology partners to help governments, businesses and communities around the world at this most critical time of need,” said Paul Daugherty, group chief executive of Accenture Technology and chief technology officer. “We remain committed to these partnerships and to bringing the full strength of our technology, systems and industry expertise in assisting organizations as they work to navigate this unprecedented and evolving situation.”Deloitte“Right now it’s more critical than ever that we work together to bring our experience, innovation and agility to serve organizations who are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Den Roenfeldt, principal and LIKE.TG alliance lead, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “We are proud to work with LIKE.TG to apply our technology applications and experience to help clients better track the spread of the virus internally, provide employee outreach and share knowledge quickly.”DXC Technology“In response to the current crisis, organizations worldwide are doing their utmost to address the needs of their people, customers and partners. DXC Technology and LIKE.TG are committed to proactively deploying these new apps quickly, efficiently and securely to help manage crisis response workflows and risk to the business,” said Dan Stoks, vice president of the global LIKE.TG practice at DXC Technology. “The development of our new Corporate Incident Response application – which allows clients to quickly respond to critical events by orchestrating response teams and plans, while maintaining a 360-degree view of the situation – is an example of that commitment.”EY“In times of crisis, organizations need reliable solutions to ensure critical operations are running smoothly and efficiently,” said Paul Webb, global LIKE.TG practice leader at EY. “Leveraging the Now Platform, EY rapidly developed a digital solution that provides businesses with the ability to swiftly connect with EY payroll advisors, operations teams and professionals as they cope with the impact of COVID-19. The close collaboration with LIKE.TG puts the urgent needs of EY clients first, providing them with technologies and guidance to prioritize employees while focusing on sustaining normal business operations.”KPMG“As we face unprecedented business disruption, KPMG is pleased to work with LIKE.TG to help organizations quickly maneuver through this challenging time. As our clients are faced with meeting the critical needs of their employees and customers, it’s imperative that we work together and continue to innovate,” said Mitch Kenfield, LIKE.TG executive sponsor and US practice lead partner at KPMG US. “Through the power of LIKE.TG and KPMG, we can continue to support organizations with real solutions, while easing cost challenges during this difficult time.”Available at servicenow.com/crisisresponse, the four community apps — Emergency Response Operations, Emergency Outreach, Emergency Self Report, and Emergency Exposure Management — are designed to help LIKE.TG’s customers and non-customers, including government agencies and enterprises, manage complex emergency response workflows. The Emergency Response Operations app is available for no charge to government agencies. The other three community apps are available for no charge to companies and agencies through September 30, 2020.Emergency Response Operations app for government agenciesWashington State’s Department of Health, a LIKE.TG customer, initially created the Emergency Response Operations app on the Now Platform to manage their own response to COVID-19. Working with LIKE.TG, the Department of Health is making the app available to all government entities at no charge.“As the epicenter for COVID-19 in the U.S., the State of Washington’s agencies, emergency responders and public health professionals had to rapidly assemble an incident management structure to lead outbreak response and mitigate the spread and impact,” said Jennifer McNamara, Chief Information Officer, Washington State Department of Health.“Leveraging LIKE.TG’s Now Platform, we were able to digitize processes that allowed us to quickly resource critical Incident Management Team positions. This automated a manual and labor-intensive process that was fraught with errors while also providing real-time visibility into resource allocations. Improved accountability will allow us to secure the maximum federal reimbursement for incident expenditures. We are building on the success of this phase with automation of the other Incident Management Functions such as resource demobilization, planning, logistics, and finance.”“Given the complexity and importance of community within this crisis, we believe it’s our duty to share our approach and the application we were able to quickly develop on the Now Platform. That’s why we have worked with LIKE.TG to make our application freely available to other governmental entities. By digitizing these processes, responding to an emergency does not have to create an emergency to coordinate,” McNamara concluded. Customer care planIn addition to the State of Washington’s Emergency Response Operations app, LIKE.TG developed and introduced these three, no charge community apps: Emergency Outreach: during a crisis, this app leverages the Now Platform to help companies connect with employees to assess the impact. Employers can reach out by email to provide information and safety measures and request a response to confirm if employees are safe and where they are located. Employers can also leverage the LIKE.TG Now Mobile App to send push notifications to employees via mobile to get response. Emergency Self Report: this app helps an employee notify their employer that they are self-quarantined and when the employee will return to work and provides workflow support for the employer. Emergency Exposure Management: when a company becomes aware that its employee is diagnosed with an illness, this app helps the employer identify other people who might have been exposed based on the employee’s meetings history and job location. These community apps are part of a broader Customer Care Plan launched by LIKE.TG to support its customers as they focus on maintaining business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes a commitment to maintaining virtually 100% uptime for LIKE.TG instances; and launching a Now Community forum where customers and partners can interact with other customers, as well as an Apps Suggestions portal, where customers and partners can provide their ideas for COVID-19 related apps or features.More information about LIKE.TG’s customer care plan, including accessing the community apps, can be found at servicenow.com/crisisresponse.
New AI-powered chatbots heighten need for a service management platform
The technology behind OpenAI’s new ChatGPT service could change how humans interact with applications and machines. Tech giants such as Microsoft and Google are racing to catch up by launching their own AI-powered chatbots, realizing this technology can improve their search capabilities and enhance their product offerings.As new AI technologies and applications flood the market, strict governance will be critical. Disruptive technologies like these can have a significant impact on service delivery. Organizations will need the capabilities of a robust service management platform to manage this.Disruptive chatbotsAI-powered chatbot technology can understand human language and generate accurate, relevant responses. This will likely change current innovation strategies, resulting in a new wave of modernized applications that eliminate the need for complex user interfaces to interact with software and machines.For example, by incorporating ChatGPT into Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Teams, AI components would be able to assist employees in improving the quality of their content when generating summaries, writing emails, or creating reports.Organizations will benefit from AI-powered chatbot technology that can answer complex questions, provide personalized support, and automate routine tasks. This type of technology should enhance customer experience by making it easy for customers to ask questions and receive accurate and timely responses.These powerful AI components can also adapt to user behavior, making adjustments on the fly to provide a better experience for users across different platforms and devices.Benefits of AI-powered chatbot technologyAI and machine learning (ML) components behind the latest AI-powered chatbots can analyze large data sets in seconds, identifying patterns, correlations, and trends that human analysts might not see. This can provide organizations with a deeper understanding of customer and employee behaviors. Enhanced insights from AI-powered data analysis can improve decision-making processes.For organizations that develop and customize applications internally using no-code and low-code technology, AI-powered chatbots could provide contextual guidance. They could suggest integrations and troubleshoot issues to help citizen developers create more sophisticated applications without having to learn complex programming languages.ML capabilities can help AI-powered chatbots learn and adapt over time, making chatbot assistance an invaluable resource for citizen developers moving forward.AI-powered chatbot technology has the potential to spawn more entrepreneurs and innovation, as well as boost the productivity of internal IT development. As a result, a new generation of modernized applications that address specific business needs and improve productivity will be introduced. AI chatbots in governmentThe federal team I’m part of at LIKE.TG is excited about the prospect of AI-powered chatbot technology revolutionizing the way government agencies serve citizens. AI chatbots could improve the accessibility and responsiveness of government services.Intelligent chatbots can give citizens a personalized experience while providing accurate information on a range of civil services, such as taxes, healthcare, education, and transportation.Citizens who struggle to understand government processes when filling out paperwork could receive guidance from AI-powered chatbots. In turn, government agencies could streamline government processes and improve their service efficiency by automating redundant tasks, such as scheduling appointments, processing forms, and answering frequently asked questions.Enhanced government services also benefit employees by reducing their administrative workloads and giving them more time to focus on fulfilling and meaningful work.The need for a service management platformWithout proper governance of AI-powered chatbot technology, however, organizations could experience an uncontrolled increase in the number of applications deployed—a problem known as “application sprawl.” By making an IT environment complex and difficult to manage, application sprawl can lead to a range of issues, such as increased costs, reduced efficiency, and security vulnerabilities.A powerful service management platform, such as the Now Platform, can help developers design new applications, manage service transitions, and continuously improve services. It can provide real-time visibility into the status of IT operations, security incidents, and critical business processes while governing how new AI-powered chatbot technology is acquired, created, and rolled out to employees and customers.Service management features can ensure new applications are fully optimized to meet the needs of both the business and its customers.Features in the Now Platform can help organizations monitor and audit their existing applications. Platform features can also help administrators manage demands by giving them tools to review the business case for each demand or application that’s introduced to the environment.The Now Platform can provide stakeholders with tools that will help them develop an overall strategy for managing the application portfolio. With an effective service management strategy in place, organizations can fully leverage the power that will be available in AI-powered chatbot applications on the horizon.Find out more about how the Now Platform helps organizations implement and enforce governance practices.
New Americas Advisory Council to help solve complex business challenges
In today’s uncertain macro environment, companies are navigating complex business challenges while facing unforeseen hurdles resulting from the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical instability, among other things.Against this backdrop, LIKE.TG customers are turning to us to help them strike the right balance. They know they can’t slow down when it comes to adopting digital-first strategies and solutions that will help them: Create great customer and employee experiences Drive new business value Accelerate growth and transformation That’s why I’m excited to announce the formation of the LIKE.TG Americas Advisory Council. This independent body of senior business leaders will serve as strategic advisers to LIKE.TG as we continue to grow and support our customers in markets and industries across the globe.Why an Americas Advisory Council?With the deep industry knowledge and vast experience of our new council members, we’re well prepared to partner with our customers in North America and South America. This will help customers unlock more value and cost savings while driving greater efficiency.The Americas Advisory Council builds on the success of our EMEA Advisory Council, announced in 2021. Tapping leaders’ industry expertise to support the company’s growth strategy in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) helped us provide deep support to our customers as they faced pandemic-related challenges. Meet the Americas Advisory Council membersWanting to extend that support and expertise to the Americas, I’m proud to introduce our new Americas Advisory Council members.Edwin Bennett serves as a senior adviser to EY. He was formerly vice chairman of operations, deputy vice chairman and chief operating officer of consulting services, and managing partner of the assurance and advisory business services."LIKE.TG is poised to be the digital cloud leader for the future,” he says. “I'm very excited to work alongside the amazing LIKE.TG team to accelerate growth and further distinguish our unique value proposition to the market.”Joan Wainwright serves as a board member at RS Group and NJM Insurance Group. She previously held senior positions at TE Connectivity and Merck, and was deputy commissioner of communications for the Social Security Administration during former President Bill Clinton’s administration.“I am thrilled to be part of the LIKE.TG team and look forward to helping provide even greater support and success to existing clients, as well as identifying new ones that will benefit from the Now Platform,” she says.Arun Nayar serves as a senior adviser to McKinsey & Company and is a board member at Rite Aid, Amcor, and GFL Environmental. He was formerly the executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) of Tyco International (now Johnson Controls), the CFO and vice president of global operations of PepsiCo, and the president of ABB Financial Services.“As businesses across industries look to accelerate innovation, deliver better experiences, and drive quick time to value, they are in need of the Now Platform now more than ever,” he says. “I’m greatly looking forward to working alongside my fellow council members and the LIKE.TG team to positively impact organizations across the Americas.”Together with our new Americas Advisory Council members, we have an incredible opportunity in front of us. We look forward to helping organizations globally navigate a rapidly shifting business landscape and their industry-specific challenges.Find out more about how LIKE.TG makes the world work better.
New Center of Excellence for Accessibility to strengthen inclusion
Inclusion is and always has been core to who we are at ServiceNow. I’m excited to announce the creation of the Center of Excellence for Accessibility to help strengthen our commitment to inclusion—for our employees, our customers, and our end users.According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 61 million Americans have a disability. That’s one in four adults. By equipping product teams with training, accessibility experts, and robust product testing, the Center of Excellence for Accessibility will help ensure LIKE.TG products deliver an optimal experience for all users.An inclusive work environmentThe Center of Excellence for Accessibility is just as committed to employees as it is to customers and partners. The center will work with departments across the company to maintain an inclusive and accessible work environment for more than 16,000 LIKE.TG employees.The scope of work goes well beyond physical accessibility, such as accessible restrooms and wheelchair ramps. It will also focus on digital accessibility—making information and communication technologies accessible to everyone.In 2021, for example, we overhauled the language in our products to make it more inclusive, replacing problematic words such as “master,” “slave,” “blacklist,” and “whitelist.” In addition, in our Rome release, we ensured our public and employee-facing products—such as our Customer Service Portal, Employee Center and Virtual Agent experiences—reached WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.Diversity, inclusion, and belonging foster innovation and are a business imperative for the long-term success of our company and our customers. Accessible technology for all increases productivity, attracts a wider talent pool, and can play an important role in driving business growth. An inclusive leaderThat’s why I’m also excited to announce that we’ve chosen a seasoned accessibility veteran to lead the Center of Excellence for Accessibility. Eamon McErlean will serve as vice president and global head of accessibility. He’s an industry visionary, hailing from Nike and Apple. At Nike, he created and implemented digital accessibility initiatives to ensure accessibility in all of the company’s products.“Accessibility needs to be at the forefront and core of every modern software experience,” he says. “Companies should think about accessibility in the same way they think about security or performance and make it a standard part of their overall product development processes.”At LIKE.TG, we make the world work better for everyone. The Center of Excellence for Accessibility is just one example how.Find out more about our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
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