Enterprise Gamification: Making work fun
A detailed look at Enterprise Gamification or Gamification at Work. An example of Enterprise Gamification — SAP Roadwarrior.
Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. It can also be defined as a set of activities and processes to solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements.
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When I first mentioned the term Enterprise Gamification to a colleague the first impression I created in their minds was employees sitting around on a couch and competing over a game of FIFA during a coffee break.
Well, Enterprise Gamification is nothing like that, not really!
Then what is Enterprise Gamification you ask?
Just like Gamification, Enterprise Gamification taps into employees' natural desires for competition, achievement, gratification, social value, fun, and external gains. It not only improves engagement and adoption but also improves productivity, retention, customer engagement and satisfaction, employee morale, as well as reduces costs and drives up revenues.
These are usually custom defined and tie into the organizational strategy with the values, beliefs, and organizational culture forming a core of the gamification strategy.
The strategy is often driven by an end goal (just like every other game), which could either be increasing adoption of a new tool or software, driving engagement, boosting sales or productivity, or a combination of all the aforementioned factors and more…
A few points to keep in mind though while adopting such a strategy:
- It is not a game!
Gamification and enterprise gamification, in particular, is not a game, it is a well-crafted strategy involving crucial decision making, mechanics, and tools that have been developed to inculcate and encourage certain types of behavior.
The focus here is on the seriousness and motivation whilst still maintaining the fun element of a “game”. - Empathy
A good game designer is always aware that at the core of the game lies not the mechanics, not the rewards, not the artifacts but the player. Hence, it is absolutely important for the strategist herein to focus on the player i.e. the employees. One must not trap the employees into an endless rat-race that is governed by the rewards and rewards only.
Training, coaching, and feedback take center stage, and there is an effort not to belittle employees by emphasizing their peers’ performance. - Gamification is great for learning
Gamification serves as an excellent tool for learning and training employees. It can be used to facilitate learning by breaking down entire modules into bite-sized chunks. It also acts as a great motivator to reward hard-working employees to learn and keep building upon their skill-set. A great example being offering learning to employees based on the areas where they aren’t performing well in terms of their KPIs. - Focus on what matters
Most organizations focus on the obvious game mechanics, such as points, badges, and leader boards, rather than the more subtle and more important game design elements, such as balancing competition and collaboration or defining a meaningful game economy. As a result, in many cases, organizations are simply left counting points, slapping meaningless badges on activities, and creating gamified applications that are simply not engaging for the target audience.
But which organization managed to gamify their process? Well, SAP did… Enter SAP Roadwarrior
SAP Roadwarrior
In the current dynamic scenario, Sales Reps and Client Facing personnel often exclaim that they are stuck in between the rapidly evolving tech space and the questions and requirements from the clientele.
Typically, there are documents and e-learning videos available to the sales reps. However, these are time-consuming to go through, and sales reps do not find that this training format meets their dynamically evolving needs.
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SAP Roadwarrior is a game that simulates a customer meeting in which the sales rep needs to respond to customer questions to earn points and unlock badges. Here an SAP Roadwarrior screen is showing the simulated sales negotiation with the CTO of a car auctioning company.
Various industries, types of clients, and scenarios are integrated into the game as levels wherein it puts sales reps into simulated meetings with customers to prepare them for real meetings, and it allows players to socialize, compete with and motivate each other.
A leaderboard shows the score of all players, this motivates the sales reps to try to do better than their colleagues do. Ultimately helping them feel more comfortable in customer-facing meetings, having practiced via the simulations in Roadwarrior.
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