Optimizing employee and customer experiences through Microsoft and Adobe’s workflow digitization

Today’s modern workplace has pushed the demand for business leaders to create meaningful employee experiences. Technology adoption has allowed us to not only impact employee experiences, but business operations and data security.

According to an Adobe-sponsored report by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, Improving Employee and Customer Experiences Through Workflow Digitization, 79% of respondents agreed that digitizing workflows has improved the employee experience. Even more—87%—agreed that the employee experience directly impacts customer experience.

Digitizing processes in organizations can boost efficiency in workflows, reduce errors, and improve collaboration. With automation, we’re not only enabling employees to work smarter, but empowering them to deliver the best customer experiences.

Digitization can create efficient and usable workflows for employees

In the survey conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, respondents indicated capabilities and benefits their organization has achieved as a result of digitized workflows. They experienced:

• Improved efficiency (76%)


• Better document tracking (cited by 75%)


• Time savings (72%)


• Streamlined processes (68%)


• Improved employee collaboration (57%)

Digitization can help improve the employee experience, leading to higher productivity and engagement. By deploying an integrated and secure technology ecosystem that supports workflow digitization, organizations can also streamline wider enterprise operations tailored to any industry.

However, it is critical to understand the roadblocks that companies are experiencing when it comes to creating a modern workplace with seamless collaboration and process automation.

In the report, only 31% of respondents said their organization is very effective in digitizing workflows. Just over a third of respondents in this survey cited that identifying the right technology (35%) and technical implementation challenges (32%) were challenges to their workflow digitization.

Microsoft and Adobe integrations break down barriers to workflow digitization

While there are several challenges getting in the way of digitizing workflows, the two most prevalent are a lack of transparency in workflows coupled with the difficulty in breaking down company silos. This lack of transparency prevents IT from successfully creating end-to-end workflows. Silos lock up data forcing employees to waste time and effort searching for the right data for their job.

A typical approach to digitization is deploying incremental improvements that get bolted onto existing systems without considering the integration with legacy and future technologies and data security ramifications. To address this, Microsoft and Adobe developed over 60 out of the box integrations between our solutions, reducing the need for complex custom integrations.

• Adobe Acrobat Sign for Microsoft Teams allows recipients to sign agreements, send agreements for e-signature, and manage in-progress agreements from within Teams. Adobe Acrobat Sign sends real-time agreement notifications to the activity feed in Teams, so agreements can be viewed and signed directly from the feed. This enables smooth document workflows where documents awaiting signatures can be viewed and accessed from anywhere in the app.


• Many transactions and agreements that involve signatures are important moments that benefit from personal interaction. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft Teams now delivers a new signing experience called Live Sign. Live Sign provides a face-to-face signing experience in which Microsoft Teams meeting participants can sign documents while videoconferencing.


• Pre- and post-sign workflows are necessary but often tedious. Microsoft Power Automate is integrated with Adobe Acrobat Sign, which enables knowledge workers with no coding experience to set up automated and customized e-signature workflows in minutes with its simple drag-and-drop system. This helps organizations free up their IT teams to work on other projects that deliver greater value to the organization and integrates disparate systems such as productivity, communication, and storage solutions through Microsoft Power Automate in Sign in a singular workflow.

This integrated approach addresses critical business and technology challenges as organizations develop digitized workflows. It also addresses data security and compliance issues—another key concern as organizations modernize their operations.

In the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report, 77% of respondents agreed that digital workflows help keep their organization’s company and customer data safe and 79% agreed that digital workflows enable their organization to be compliant with regulations.

Digitizing workflows has a positive role in not only improving employee experiences, but customer experiences as well. Organizations that invest in employee well-being see the same positive correlation with customer satisfaction, especially for those in customer-facing positions.

Improved employee experiences lead to better customer experiences

By providing employees with the support and technology they need to do their best work, they can create fluid, smooth, and meaningful customer experiences. With Microsoft setting the data foundation and Adobe providing a comprehensive marketing and customer experience layer, security organizations are well-positioned to roll out solutions that elevate employee experiences and positively impact customer interactions.

Better access to data delivers greater insight into customers, translating into exceptional customer service. The benefits were clear from the report. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents agreed that digitizing workflows improved the employee experience and 76% agreed that it improved the customer experience. Centralized and easy-to-access customer information sitting on a single platform helps organizations provide a more personalized customer experience.

Simplify your digitization journey with Microsoft and Adobe integrations

Modern workplaces require seamless collaboration, automation, AI, and security to elevate employee experiences so they can work smarter and deliver the best customer experiences. These positive results of digitization are made easier thanks to tight integrations with Microsoft and Adobe technologies that create user-focused workflows which seamlessly fit into the way employees work and communicate.

For a deeper analysis of the impact of digitizing workflows across the enterprise, read the report from Harvard Business Review Analytic services: Improving Employee and Customer Experiences Through Workflow Digitization