With skyrocketing debt, businesses must find new ways to save in 2021. We explore how technology can increase both efficiency and overall profitability.
While we won’t have total market perspective until the pandemic finally abates, it is safe to assume most businesses face an extraordinary uphill battle in reaching financial equilibrium once the dust settles.
With hefty debts accrued over the past 12 months and uncertainty over the future viability of many business models, leaders must seize every opportunity to make their cash go further in the coming months and avoid disaster.
In this article, we’re going to look at how service technology could be the answer, powering a more efficient, effective and profitable way of working. We’ll offer some clear guidance about how to make the most of your tech, as well detailing the hurdles organisations face when it comes to recovery.
But first, we need to look at exactly what kind of gains you can expect to make by introducing new technologies.
How technology increases efficiency
According to a study conducted by Forbes, 87% of experts believe that digitally empowering employees can drive at least 5% additional revenue growth over a three year period.
This is based on a number of factors, including the ease of communication, the empowerment of workplace cultures, the increased efficiency of processes and improvements to customer service.
For many organisations – particularly those with relatively limited existing technological capacity – the most immediate gain will be efficiency: employees spend 17% less time on manual processes when workplace apps are made available to them, as well as making decisions 16% more quickly.
The cumulative effect over time is a radically more efficient and effective workforce, where every wage spend is put to good use. And in the post-pandemic marketplace, that could make all the difference.
However, every business has different financial and technological needs, and most face a variety of challenges introducing new processes. So we’d like to offer five essential tips to help you choose better technology and integrate it more successfully into your organisation infrastructure and avoid crisis mode.
Five Ways to Make the Most of Workplace Technology
1. Start with the low-hanging fruit
Because so many software/tech solutions are available, leaders often struggle to develop an effective strategy; overwhelmed by choice, they fail to act decisively.
The answer is simple: start with the solutions that are easiest to implement and will immediately save time. While long-term thinking is a vital aspect of tech buying, for immediate post-pandemic financial relief, areas like staffing and HR are the most pressing areas to introduce tech and pick up some easy wins.
2. Embrace the cloud
For many, the cloud is a slightly fuzzy concept. But if you’re looking to make real savings from your workplace tech, it really is worth looking for solutions that specifically make use of the cloud’s capacity to lower costs and make solutions more easily available to staff.
The numbers back this up, too: 48% of organisations report focusing on cloud-based services because they offer a better costing model. And the flexibility of cloud-based apps offers a clear advantage: only 18% of companies currently allow their employees to access the information they need anywhere, on any device.
3. Make use of the SaaS model
A common concern for businesses in the post-pandemic era is their lack of internal expertise; there is an assumption that to successfully introduce digital they require an internal tech team. But this simply isn’t the case.
The increasing popularity of Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses means a huge variety of plug-and-play solutions are available to organisations, and can be quickly integrated with none of the fuss tech has traditionally involved so you can maintain business continuity.
4. Focus on empowering your employees
Introducing technology to a workforce can be disruptive, if not done with the requisite care and attention to workers’ needs. And to actually improve efficiency and profitability, your staff need to actively embrace the technology you provide.
Finance & HR departments who focus on employee empowerment will therefore see far faster gains. For example: 69% of workplace technology experts believe that allowing workers to use their own devices to access workplace apps has a positive effect not just on efficiency (because it saves time) but also on employee morale and trust.
5. Plan for the long term
While short-term gains are vital for the immediate post-pandemic recovery, leaders should keep one eye on the future. Many businesses will need to totally reimagine their workforce in the future, and that reimagining must be done in conjunction with technology.
Decision makers should remember, fundamentally, that their investments in information technology will inevitably reshape their employees’ attitudes and performance. And should therefore look towards those which have the greatest potential to improve employee performance and enable greater flexibility.
Rota helps people-driven organisations to build, manage & engage their entire workforce all in one place. Our leading technology brings your internal & external staffing processes together to ensure the very best outcomes for you and your teams using data driven insights. If you’re looking to learn more click here.