Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2022 - 66

CLOSING
DEALS
AXONIFY ACQUIRES NUDGE TO IMPROVE
THE FRONT-LINE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
BY SARAH GALLO, CPTM
Front-line workers, also referred to as
deskless workers, are the " face " of an
organization. They are the ones working
directly with the people a company serves.
From grocery and restaurant employees
to truck drivers, manufacturing workers
and health care professionals, frontline
workers make up a whopping 80%
of the global workforce. However, J.D.
Dillon, chief learning architect at Axonify,
a learning and communications solution
for front-line employees, says that the
front-line employee population has long
been underserved.
Recent Microsoft research found that
one-third of all front-line workers say
they do not have the right technological
tools to do their jobs effectively, and that
number rises to 41% for employees in nonmanagement
roles.
Fortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic
showed just how vital front-line workers
are to not only sustaining a business
but also to supporting society at large.
As a result, more training providers
are launching innovative solutions to
support the front-line workforce, and
more companies are adopting them.
" The future is super bright " in terms of
technology solutions for front-line workers,
Dillon says. The problem? A lot of that
technology is scattered, with users having
to jump back and forth between different
applications for different processes. This
can quickly frustrate users and decrease
productivity. Axonify's recent acquisition
of Nudge, an employee communications
and execution platform, is working to
change that.
Let's consider how Axonify+Nudge
is positioned to improve the front|
66
line employee experience through an
integrated, easy-to-use solution.
WHY NUDGE?
Nudge has been helping companies
improve
the way they
communicate
with their front-line employees for the
past 10 years. But it's only within the
past two years that more companies
have truly prioritized front-line employee
communication, says Jordan Ekers, chief
operating officer at Nudge.
" With all the change that's been going on
in the world, it really exposed [companies']
inability
to
effectively
get
critical
information to the front-line. " In other
words, the " old way " of communicating
(i.e., pushing out information, crossing
your fingers and hoping that people can
execute) wasn't cutting it.
On the surface, employee communications
and training might seem like two unrelated
functions. But fundamentally, they're both
trying to achieve the same thing: Making
sure that people have what they need to
do their jobs well, Dillon says.
With Nudge's task management and
mobile-friendly two-way communications
capabilities,
Axonify+Nudge
multiple customer pain points.
One of the biggest challenges it addresses
is connecting leaders and executives to
front-line workers (who are often siloed
from the rest of the organization) by
giving them the ability to deliver real-time
feedback to users. This allows companies
to be more agile as business priorities shift.
It also improves the employee experience
by ensuring that every employee has
the information and feedback they need,
when they need it.
tackles
In the end, even the most innovative
companies will suffer if their front-line
workforce isn't supported with the tools
they need to execute its vision on the
ground, every day. Learning solutions like
these will be the fuel they need to propel
forward and into the future.
Sarah Gallo, CPTM, is a senior editor
at Training Industry, Inc., and co-host of
" The Business of Learning, " the Training
Industry podcast. Email Sarah.
Bringing together training, reinforcement,
coaching, feedback and communications,
Axonify+Nudge fuses learning and
development into the front-line employee
experience. In doing so, its business value
is that it gives employees the information
and knowledge they need to be confident
and successful in their roles, Ekers says.
To prove this impact, the platform uses
machine learning to connect training
data to the business' key performance
indicators. This makes it easy for learning
leaders to showcase the impact of learning
initiatives delivered through the platform.
TECHNOLOGY, SIMPLIFIED
Most companies realize the need to equip
front-line employees with the tools they
need to be successful. After all, access
- or lack thereof - to technology can
make or break the employee experience,
which is a key factor in retaining front-line
workers (a notorious challenge).
That said, companies don't want to
be responsible for administering and
managing a complex tech stack. As Dillon
puts it, people want " the power of multiple
technologies " without the hassle.

http://desklessworkforce2018.com/ http://desklessworkforce2018.com/ https://hbr.org/2022/03/why-u-s-frontline-workers-are-quitting https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/technology-unlocks-a-new-future-for-frontline https://trainingindustry.com/articles/workforce-development/closing-the-digital-divide-learning-solutions-for-frontline-workers/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/12/microsoft-teams-frontline-essential-workers-workplace-tech-collaboration/ https://trainingindustry.com/press-release/workforce-development/axonify-acquires-nudge-to-bring-digital-employee-experience-to-the-next-level/ https://trainingindustry.com/training-industry-podcast/

Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2022