CIOs + CFOs…
A Closer and More Important Union Than Ever
The high cost of productivity software tools has wielded an even tighter bond between the CIO and CFO. The CIO needs to pitch successful technical concepts to get funding from CFOs – and CFOs need to understand the technical platforms. And that’s just the beginning. Chief technologists have a bright spotlight shining on them now that entire employee populations rely on the tools and processes their teams have established for today’s remote work world. And simply setting up a brilliant technical framework alone doesn’t justify the cost of the platform – a requirement for successful CFOs. CFOs need to see tangible results, measured by employee productivity that has a meaningful impact on the company’s bottom line.
Many CIOs still struggle with conveying the value proposition of the tools they’ve selected as they seek to empower employees in today’s environment.
Communicating the Value
Employees need to understand how to most effectively use the collaboration and business productivity tools that the organization has provided. Yet, many CIOs still struggle with conveying the value proposition of the tools they’ve selected as they seek to empower employees in today’s environment. Do the tools work? Do employees know about the tools? And how to use them… and then maximize their value? As a result, CIOs at many global brands have established Workplace Experience or Customer Experience teams to try to tackle the change management and employee communication challenge.
A recent result of successful digital transformation, the Workplace Experience team frequently has not matured in its ability to accomplish skilled employee communication to drive productivity.
Priority #1
Ensuring the Workplace Experience leader has aligned with the HR and Communications leaders will help super-charge employee adoption of the organization’s technology tools. Reporting into the IT department, the Workplace Experience team focuses on employees as its customer. The team works to translate “tech speak” into simple to understand communications. Yet, a recent result of successful digital transformation, the Workplace Experience team frequently has not matured in its ability to accomplish skilled employee communication to drive productivity. Ellebridge helps bridge this need, assisting Workplace Experience teams with rapid and precise communications when they need it most.
By effectively communicating technical platforms, like Microsoft Office 365 and ServiceNow, Ellebridge positively enhances the employee experience, upping productivity, all while saving companies money.
Ellebridge in Action
The NBCUniversal Workplace Experience team came to Ellebridge when they needed help messaging a massive change management project throughout the company: the shift to Microsoft Office 365. Over the course of the project, Ellebridge set the strategy and aligned stakeholders across seven functional areas. Once we had strategic alignment, we lifted the communication burden from the technology, communication and HR teams… creating, organizing and executing internal marketing efforts focused on the global and local employee experience. Our focus on all things communication and employee experience gave the NBCUniversal Technology team the bandwidth and peace of mind to focus on their technical areas of expertise. And, with employee adoption resulting from strategic internal marketing, the C-suite was positioned to see tangible results via employee productivity.
Similarly, the NBA approached Ellebridge for help when they began rolling out ServiceNow. In leading the internal marketing/communication efforts, Ellebridge highlighted the benefits in a clear, easy to understand way for employees, beginning with the name: TECHNow. By effectively communicating technical platforms, like Microsoft Office 365 and ServiceNow, Ellebridge positively enhances the employee experience, upping productivity, all while saving companies money. And, with clear communication and employee productivity results, CTOs are well-poised to over-deliver on their priorities, justifying high-technical program cost with CFOs and keeping this essential C-Suite partnership strong.