Enhancing Employee Satisfaction With User-Focused Solutions

UI & UX central to Avolve Software’s development

Digital enhancements have soared over recent years as the public sector grappled with the need to continue to service citizens and improve efficiencies. A much-needed change for the sector, yet it should not just be about productivity and process requirements. The user experience, for both citizens and employees, is fundamental to adoption and success.

By 2025, Gartner predicts that over 50% of government agencies will have modernized critical core legacy applications to improve resilience and agility. This will allow jurisdictions to tap into data to drive customer experience and employee experience initiatives. However, training on systems to retain talent, due to the rapid acceleration of digital transformation, is one of the top concerns for local governments (GovTech).

So how can governments balance the citizen experience and efficient process, alongside inspiring employee loyalty?

Employee Retention – The Technology Impact

With digital transformation revolutionizing jurisdiction processes, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the key to employee retention lies in the technology. If employees feel competent and can do their role proficiently, they feel less frustrated and know they add value. New technology should always include effective employee onboarding, but it should not just be about training.

The selection criteria for new technology should not just be based on functionality and price – sure they are significant factors, but they are wider considerations in the mix. Outdated technology will cost you. It is often slow, involves 10 more steps than is necessary, and have cumbersome processes.

On top of that, it simply creates frustrated employees. The truth is your company needs to implement new technology that is modern and intuitive.

The solution chosen must have direct benefit to the employees: Is this going to save time? Is it easy to use? Employees should see potential and long-term success; they will expect the technology to automate the daily grind of tedious tasks and streamline processes, overall improving their job.

This can be considered as early as the research phase, understanding the complexity of the software, and matching to the skillset of the users. Critically – Does the solution have an intuitive user interface, or will my employees need months of training?

User Interface – Driving Employee Satisfaction

Why consider user interface and user experience when choosing software? The experience that your employees, and indeed your citizens, have in using your agency tools, plays a vital role in their satisfaction.

The usability of the software and visual appearance, influences employee behaviors. This includes the look and design of the application for every screen, button, and page. If it’s engaging, clear and easy-to-use, employees will quickly adopt the technology.

At Avolve, we consider user experience and user interface to be a core component of the electronic plan review solution. Avolve electronic plan review solutions alleviates frequent pain points in usability, and we remove mundane administrative tasks with automation within the permitting process. Importantly, the easy-to-use interface ensures employees require very little training and resources.

“If your staff has used desktop PDF mark-up tools, they will know how to use the same basic functions. Our staff learned very quickly, which enabled us to swiftly provide the plan review service to citizens without losing much time.” Scott Wise, Chief Plans Examiner at Oklahoma City

“Staff were continuously impressed with the ease and intuition of DigEplan. The overall design and ease of use was phenomenal, especially the help menu.” Jared Gerber, Assistant Community Development Director, Sandy City

Quantifying The User Needs: User Experience

The right solution needs to understand the processes and workflows of various internal users. It’s crucial to define the user, such as planning, building officials, engineering, support administrators, etc., so the solution meets their specific needs.

At Avolve we have taken the time to understand technical constraints, such as integration (you can read more here) as well as the business objectives, such as enhanced citizen experience and efficiency, as well as the user’s needs, and reduced administrative tasks. We know this also changes over time, so our team continually evaluates and improves to maximize the overall experience for all users.

Avolve works with existing clients to enhance functionality, understand workflows and processes, and simply improve our offering. This ensures jurisdictions are investing in a partner that supports their choices and empowers them to work more productively. Now just imagine how that would shape the employee experience. Learn how our user-focused functionality has helped governments across the globe.

Technology is crucial in transforming a business and becoming a place where employees want to work and would like to stay. Invest in your employees and give them the best tools to get their work done efficiently. Learn more about how Avolve’s Electronic Plan Review helps improve administrative tasks for employees and enhances the permitting process. Contact us.