The architecture of experience: Tying it all together

Throughout Leapgen’s series for Applaud, we’ve talked about how the NOW of Work requires a human-centered approach for digital transformation. This approach encourages connection, inclusion, continuous improvement, and embraces the human experience over the employee experience which supports your team not just as employees but as humans. Let’s review some key concepts related to human-centered digital transformation.  

First, let’s recall what a human-centered digital transformation is and is not.

Once organizations understand the concept of a human-centered digital experience, the next goal should be to match your HR capabilities with the appropriate interaction type for the user so that you can design your digital interactions in a meaningful and compelling way. The design of your digital interactions is focused on worker preferences and needs and has little to do with which platform or tool you leverage. 

It’s important to remember Hands, Heads and Hearts when considering what type of interaction is most important for a human experience.

Hands: These are the transactions that should just work. They don’t necessarily provide a compelling experience but they need to be repeatable, auditable and documentable (RAD). RAD processes are best suited for technology. 

Heads: This is where people and machines work together. We can leverage data and analytics provided by technology and turn it into meaningful stories and strategies. 

Hearts: This is where you make an impact, where you can truly make a difference. These are your areas of strategic differentiation as an organization and as a result, where human interaction is imperative. 

The result: A digital experience that allows you to leverage technology as it’s designed so that you can provide a strategic and personalized touch at scale. 

The right mindset for transformation recognizes technology as fuel; not the vehicle. 

Let’s review the key elements of the framework:

Mindset/Vision: When setting your digital experience you must first understand where you are trying to go and how you are going to get there. 

Persona/Audience: After a clear vision is set, we focus on people: how do they support the end state, and how will the journey ahead impact them. 

Journey/Process: Knowing that informs decisions about how to improve the experience for the audience through processes.  

Solution/Technology: The last component is technology -- while this low-code / no-code technology makes it easier for those with limited experience to build and connect solutions for both web-based and mobile, it is truly the last portion of the equation. By leading with a clear vision and understanding the people and processes that need to evolve, the technology will naturally reveal itself. 

When starting a deployment, most organizations inherently default to creating detailed process maps from the beginning; diligently documenting who needs to do what, where those tasks should occur and how the requisite data needs to flow. 

As we’ve discussed, what most organizations don’t take into account is the employee sentiment during this experience. How does the employee feel when they have to go to 3 different places to find necessary documentation? How frustrating is it to not be able to get the support needed to complete a simple task? How does this process impact their career or add value to them? 

A journey map can provide the details at a glance into your employees experience, highlighting what they are doing, who they are interacting with and what they are thinking and feeling along the way. It is a tool to assist in digital technology design. 

When your focus is simply on the deployment of the enabling technology, you run the risk of being left with a cool system that no one uses. 

Figure 1: Leapgen Onboarding Journey Example

The five critical frameworks outlined above: PURPOSE, MINDSET, PEOPLE, PROCESS & TECHNOLOGY; are highly important but how do you go about designing human-centered digital experiences, and where do you even start? 

The final “leg” of Leapgen's roadmap for how to bring your digital experience to life: LEARN - INNOVATE - DELIVER. In the conclusion of our blog series, we will be unpacking this  “bring to life your digital experience” roadmap.