Why and how companies should implement gamification in business processes

You can solve work problems not only in standard ways. To diversify the routine of employees, you can use gamification: it affects motivation and engagement, facilitates communication and unites colleagues within the organization.

VK People Hub Product Manager at VK Tech Maxim Sorokin talks about how to implement gamification into processes, which companies it will suit and what results to expect from it.

Why and how companies should implement gamification in business processes

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Author: Maxim Sorokin

What is gamification

Gamification is a method of using game elements in non-game processes. With gamification, routine tasks become more interesting by adding different mechanics to them.

Game elements are often found in advertising – “find the secret code in the application and get a prize”, “complete the quest and get a promotional code for a discount”. But they can be used not only in this way: the game affects motivation in any area.

For example, to increase engagement, you can make achievements on the corporate portal – a nice bonus for contributing to the project.

This is what achievements look like on the VK corporate portal – each of them is given as a thank you for working on projects

Gamification is usually implemented in areas where process owners are stuck on growth limits: additional motivation provides an impetus for change.

Game mechanics can be built not only into a corporate portal, but also into a messenger or company website – the main thing is that employees actively use this platform.

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How companies can use gamification

By introducing game mechanics, you can launch new processes or get old ones off the ground. For example:

Launch transformation processes in the company

Game scenarios can help employees better understand and accept changes in the company.

For example, a manufacturing organization launched a game in which it was necessary to submit ideas for digitalization. This is how the company involved IT staff in digital transformation, and awarded virtual currency as a bonus for implemented innovations.

Manage employee loyalty

For example, you can develop simulations in which employees make decisions in the context of new business processes.

Bank case: implementation of online mortgage sales with Game of Thrones style gamification elements. In it, game currency was awarded for performing targeted actions.

This is what the store page looks like on the VK corporate portal where you can buy goods for local currency

Build performance assessment systems

For example, the use of leaderboards encourages healthy competition and increases overall productivity levels. It is important that leaderboards are transparent and take into account not only the number of tasks completed, but also the quality of work.

The FMCG company publishes on its portal a leaderboard of the best sales employees depending on the region. The top 3 of this rating at the end of the month receive a bonus.

Increase employee motivation to learn

For example, you can implement a training program in the format of games, where you earn points and receive rewards for successfully completing the course. The format can be different – online training or offline games.

Adapt newcomers

The gameplay helps you quickly get used to the company and join the team – for example, through a quest with tasks regarding information about departments and colleagues.

Who is gamification suitable for: companies from the IT and creative industries, digital agencies and any non-conservative companies. The main thing is that teams encourage a creative approach to work, innovative thinking and a desire for innovation.

Who is not suitable for: very conservative, closed companies. It is difficult to impose game mechanics on strict or uniform processes. Due to the specifics of some areas, it is inappropriate to gamify the work of specialists – for example, firefighters, doctors, civil servants.

How to make game mechanics work

Here are a few things to consider before developing gamification:

Goal setting

Gamification cannot be aimed at solving a specific business case. It is important to understand that game elements cannot have a direct impact on business objectives – they do not have their own metrics.

For example, counting on an increase in product sales through the introduction of gamification is reckless. To influence this metric, you need an integrated approach.

Game design and engineering

Game elements should be integrated into processes in a natural way. In mechanics, everything should be simple and intuitive so that it is easy to understand, otherwise its meaning is lost.

For example, to develop sales managers in a retail chain, the following gamification tools were used:

• Achievements. For completing lessons, completing tests and participating in discussions, users receive achievements. For example, “Beginner ROP” for studying the first parts of the course or “Active participant” for participating in working groups.
• Awards. Each achievement earns the player points, which can be exchanged for merchandise from the corporate store.
• Progress. Users see their progress on a visual scale or in a table – this motivates them to continue learning.
• Leaders. A table with player results encourages users to become more active.

Interest support

If you use gamification for more than three months, you need to further whet the interest of employees so that the process does not fall out of their focus. For example, add new levels to the game or set up notifications that remind you to enter it again.

Feedback

When a person begins to immerse himself in gamification, he may see shortcomings that the game developers missed. Therefore, it is important to collect any feedback and adjust the game elements to make them even more interesting.

At each stage of the game there should be a feedback form for participants. You also need to interview managers and other stakeholders personally and analyze their vision of the process from the outside.

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How to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification

After introducing gamification, you need to evaluate its effectiveness – this will help you understand what to add to the game next time and how well it suited a specific process or task.

What can be measured:

• Engagement: for example, gameplay activity, frequency of platform use, achievement achievements, reward activations and game mechanics.
• Indirect impact on business goal: you can see if the KPI numbers have changed after the introduction of gamification. One of our clients increased the number of rational offers by 60% during the active part of gamification. Their economic effect exceeded 100 million rubles.

How does the gamification development process work?

1. Definition of business objectives: Before starting implementation, it is important to identify the problems, needs of the business and employees.
2. Creation of the game concept and mechanics: We select game elements and motivation mechanisms that correspond to business goals.
3. Test: We are doing a trial run of the game and finalizing it based on feedback from employees.
4. Implementation: We constantly monitor the results and make changes to the game if necessary.

How modern corporate portals help implement gamification of business processes

• You can come up with and implement any game mechanics upon request. For example, one of our clients implemented badges of different levels for the largest number of articles in the knowledge base and implemented ideas.

• Vendors have an API that allows you to receive information about events from CRM systems using an integration method. This allows customers to independently determine target actions of employees and reward them in the corporate portal.

• Typically, corporate portals have built-in gamification mechanisms by default, which the vendor informs users about. For example, “Successful comment” badges if it received 10+ likes, or happy birthday greetings.

Cover photo: guteksk7 / Getty Images