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In discussions around technology you’ll often hear the word “productivity” basically the idea that through the use of the right technologies, each person can get more work done, more efficiently, and at a higher standard. Technology, pundits will claim, is meant to be one of the best facilitators of improved productivity by supporting the worker and ensuring they have to do fewer things manually.
As one study found, 23 per cent of workers saw increased productivity after adopting mobile applications and software tools. Companies are willing to invest in these tools because they offer a measurable benefit back to the company. Research quoted in the New York Times showed that for every one per cent increase in productivity, there is a $3,500 gain in GDP generated.
But what does all this mean, and how does technology specifically “support” workers? This is important to understand the role technology plays here, because investing in tech for the sake of tech can actually result in a net decline in productivity, as employees struggle to understand the new technology they’re meant to be using.
Most companies are investing in the following areas as a way of boosting productivity across both individual and enterprise:
1) The Virtual Workspace
With COVID-19 driving remote work, and the future of work looking to be a combination of working remotely and working in the office, it became important for organisations to work out ways of maintaining workplace culture and productivity. Virtual workspace tools were the answer here. This includes video conferencing, so people can continue to “meet” and have dynamic conversations, as well as collaboration tools that allow for the seamless sharing of documents, project management, and communication. Tools such as Monday, Asana, Basecamp and Slack all took off in a big way as companies invested in the tools that they needed to keep everyone connected and working together seamlessly.
Those companies that did it right benefitted in a big way. Research suggests that enabling hybrid work and working from home has increased productivity by as much as 47 per cent in some organisations.
2) Improving Knowledge and Skills
Online training tools have really taken off as a way of improving productivity. Previously, training and skilling employees was an expensive and productivity-destroying process. They would need to physically go to classes, and that would often occur during daytime or work hours. It would also mean that for certification and examination purposes, the employee could be unavailable for as much as a day.
Cloud delivery of the course material, supported by online interactivity and collaboration, provides an equivalent learning environment to a physical space, but the convenience of allowing people to study in their own time. That, in turn, means that employees can easily skill up, improving their long-term productivity, without sacrificing their current ability to work.
3) Leveraging Automation and AI
Another big boost to the overall productivity of a workplace can be found in taking advantage of automation and AI. A simple example: Currently, in most organisations, employees in the contact centre need to take a lot of low-level enquiries – common enquiries that a lot of customers ask and can be addressed via a standardised response.
A chatbot can be deployed to answer these enquiries from customers, solving their problems without any human contact. This then frees up the employees for higher-level tasks (such as addressing more complex customer enquiries. The overall productivity of the workplace increases (and employees enjoy a better working environment, now free of the need to handle mundane, dull tasks).
Automation is being made available for more and more processes within an organisation. Anything that is repetitive and standardised can be managed by an AI, and this will result in an exponentially more productive working environment in the near future. In fact, research suggests that the productivity gains that come from AI and automation implementation could be as high as 40 per cent per worker.
4) Outsource Frequently And Reliably
Talent acquisition has always been a challenge, but this is especially true in the current, highly constrained jobs market. With many tasks requiring more and more specialised skills, finding the right employees for a job can be incredibly expensive.
What’s more, finding temporary talent to recruit on a contract basis can be even more difficult. You don’t necessarily need full time staff for every project, but that only narrows the potential pool of employees further.
Enter the new range of work hire platforms online. Now you can list a project, and tap into a global workforce that is able to complete it. Competition between freelancers helps keep costs down, and client reviews help you to vet the right person for the job.
Because most businesses are now set up for remote work, the limitations in terms of how integrated this contracted support can be with the main organisation has reduced significantly. Most employees, both within the organisation and without, will be comfortable with these working systems, as long as the jobs are done in the end, allowing for projects to be resourced as they need to be, and making sure that there’s never a lack of the right skills in the team to complete a task.
5) Improves Time Management
Finally, simple calendar and worklist applications help boost productivity by making sure you stay on track, and can properly plan out your day. Increasingly people are making their work calendars open to their co-workers and clients so they know when to book in a meeting. Importantly, this also allows people to block out time that they’re not available so they can focus on other work projects.
By simply organising your time better, you’ll see a boost in productivity, as you concentrate on each task at hand better, and can make sure that you’ve got enough time to get what you need to done, rather than feeling constantly pulled in two different directions. The amount of work that we need to get done is increasing exponentially, so good time management is essential to productivity.
From helping us to organise our days, right through to helping organisations run with razor precision and maximise the value of every employee’s time, technology enhances our productivity in many ways, and will do so in many more in the years ahead. The secret is in understanding where the productivity of your workplace can be improved, and finding the right solutions that target those areas. There are a lot of technology on the market, and labouring your teams and business with the wrong technology can have a detrimental effect, so it’s worth taking the time to get right.