Capgemini: Gamification as a business change means

Gaming is a massive industry; it engages people across many social and political spectrums. By leveraging the skills and entertainment value contained in games within elements of the business process, certain transformational process can be motivated and encouraged. In a recent point of view from Capgemini, the role of gamification as a means of cultural change within firms is considered, with the positive results of one intervention considered.

According to business consulting firm Kotter International, a lack of employee engagement with business transformation was implicated as the reason for the failure of 70% of such transformations. While the need for businesses to transform is, in this period of rapidly changing business environments, seen ever more important for long term strategy, in 50% of the cases convincing the wider employees to engage with the requisite changes continues to be of issue. In a recent article from Capgemini, titled ‘Enterprise Gamification: Playing to win’, the insight of the importance of people in the transformation process is reconsidered. Driving digital transformation, the authors note, is not only about introducing new technologies. Achieving true transformation toward new business values requires a shift in the business culture, cultures that have become stuck in the mud.

The need for improved business agility as well as firms developing a clear digital footprint is becoming increasingly apparent. By 2017, as much as 70% of digital business models will be based on a readiness to shift focus and capabilities on changes in customers’ behaviour. In order to do so, deployment of digital developments needs to take advantage of employees’ existing experience with digital environments: rather than focussing on “deployment”, digital changes need to be considered as adoption, one that may be best achieved through gamification.

Gamification
Gamification is a process through which a business introduces elements of the structural features of certain types of competitive games into the wider business context, such that the use of “recognition events” i.e., the points of distinction, improve the “intrinsic motivation” of workforce engagement. The link laid here is between employee engagement and business performance, where there is positive correlation between high engagement and high performance. Elements that engage gamers, which trigger three key motivational aspects: motivation, trigger and ability, are encoded into the business process.

Capgemini’s gamification success
One element of transformation within businesses is creating innovations, with innovations relevant to the changing demand from the market as well as creating solutions to reduce the bottom line. As an example of the success of gamification and as a means to create innovative solutions, Capgemini engaged with the UK energy giant EDF Energy, introducing gamification to the enterprise.

According to their analysis, the introduction of the gamification tools created over 100 ideas for increasing revenue and driving down costs, from a widely engaged workforce, five times the amount created by earlier efforts. The consultancy created a system of interactive leadership boards and point systems which encouraged fun and internal competition that structurally forced 92% of employees to become engaged with the process; capturing the attention of the whole employee demographic. According to Capgemini, the process created the tools required to motivate people of all ranks to engage with solving issues faced by the business as a whole.

“Gamification at the enterprise level is increasingly becoming a solution to transformation as it can in many cases engage employees, consumers and partners more effectively than traditional methods. It provides a mechanism to support any changes to a business’s operating model and drive meaningful digitally-enabled business transformation,” says Maggie Buggie, VP Global Head of Digital Sales and Markets from Capgemini and one of the authors of the article. By using familiar game elements and attaching real world benefits to the transformation process, gamification has a place in driving self-sustaining, collaborative and active communities of employees toward a digital transformation of out-dated business cultures.