Analyst Perspectives

Consumer and mobile applications have influenced our expectations. Nearly all of us carry a smartphone, and we interact with a variety of applications on our devices. Those applications have forever influenced what we expect from computing systems. When I search the web for a gas station, I’m not searching for all gas stations. I’m searching for those stations that are near me. Not just near my regular location, but near my current location. We expect personalized interactions, not generic, one-size-fits-all interactions. These expectations have spilled over from consumer applications to enterprise applications. Unfortunately, enterprise IT applications have not fully met these expectations yet.

I’ve written previously about these issues in the context of data and analytics processes. But these same issues affect the entire digital technology estate of an organization. Many organizations talk about modernizing their digital technologies. Those modernization efforts should include personalized experiences for all constituents: customers, workers, suppliers and other partners.

In the case of customers, 70% of organizations have reported they expect to compete based on customer experience (CX), outweighing any other factor, including customer service, products and branding. If this is the primary way to compete for customers, certainly it makes sense to personalize those experiences. And our product experience management research shows that personalizing information based on the profile of the buyer or consumer is one of the least difficult challenges organizations face today.

Workers in many organizations waste countless hours simply navigating to the application screens that are most relevant to the task they are performing. These inefficiencies not only cost the organization additional wages but also lead to frustration and, potentially, employee turnover. Personalized user experiences can address these issues. We assert that through 2026, more than one-half of organizations will add personalized experiences to their business applications to maximize productivity and effectiveness. In addition to personalized application experiences, workers can also benefit from personalized learning experiences. Understanding an individual’s goals along with the work they have performed can be used to guide workers through learning paths that improve their productivity, job satisfaction and longevity with the organization.

There are many ways to deliver personalization. Information about past interactions is often a good predictor of behaviors and preferences. When past interactions are not available, profile information can be used, including demographics and location. In the case of workers, their profile would include information about their department and job. All of this information can be used to identify similar individuals and patterns of usage or roles. And, someone is unknown only for a short period of time. Once they start interacting with a system, their responses to the recommendations of the system quickly contribute to their profile and help refine their experience.

Every organization should be examining ways to provide personalized experiences. Personalization has many benefits including increased productivity of workers, better customer experiences, and greater retention of customers and the workforce. As organizations develop internal applications or purchase applications, they should make sure to include personalization in their criteria and plans.

Regards,

David Menninger