According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index special report, 80 percent of the world’s workforce consists of front-line workers. These individuals work directly with clients and are the public face of the organizations they represent.
Ryan Treacy, global digital workplace solutions leader for Microsoft 365 and Power Platform at Kyndryl, believes the right tools can make a long-term impact, saying: “The experience of frontline workers is affected by the technology they use, which in turn is affected by the technology they use in the larger team.” and the perception of the organization.”
In short, front-line employees are more likely to go above and beyond for their customers and make a positive impact, resulting in brand loyalty.
But the investment required to properly equip frontline workers with these tools is sometimes met with hesitancy.
“There is a maximum amount that organizations are willing to spend in order to save money, and I think that can lead to missed opportunities,” says Noel Pennington, director of Microsoft Cloud partner strategy for Retail at Microsoft. “If tools and technologies are available that enable your workforce to work better, that will always be a good investment.”
It’s also important for organizations to focus on exactly what their frontline workforce needs and ensure they get the most out of their money.
“Licensing is very important because ultimately that’s where the costs pile up,” Treacy explains. “If an organization spends $40 a month on a license but only uses 20 percent of it, that’s not as good a use of resources compared to using 90 percent or even 100 percent.
“Frontline workers will typically only use Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Power Apps, SharePoint, and OneDrive. If we can pull back organizations using enterprise licenses and push them back to frontline worker licenses, the money the business recovers can then be spent on other efforts that improve the frontline worker experience .”
“If a stock controller is visiting different stores, an app can check them out via geo-tagging and the employee can then update the stock information directly on their device, which is automatically sent back to the relevant channels,” says Treacy. “This allows employees to visit multiple stores in a day without having to communicate via fax and email or return to head office to report in person.”
Organizations developing these digital solutions need to be aware of the generational diversity in employees.
“Someone who is 60 and still working in retail may not be as technically productive as someone in their 20s,” says Pennington. “You have to make sure your applications are running at the lowest common denominator.”
With the growing popularity of artificial intelligence, retailers increasingly expect the technology to help them reduce the burden on employees.
“At Microsoft, we’re doing a lot of great work in the generative AI space, and while many retailers see this and want to get involved, what they need to consider first is the potential use cases and the ROI that can be created,” says Pennington.
Treacy agrees, noting: “Currently, the best use of AI for frontline workers is through Microsoft Copilot Studio. This allows organizations to ask employees ‘where can I find this product in the stockroom?’ “It allows them to develop chat bots where they can ask questions such as.”