Game-Changing Ways to Boost Business Productivity with Technology
A recent McKinsey survey revealed that large-scale digital transformations often fail to deliver expected results, and even when short-term benefits occur, they frequently prove unsustainable. What can we learn from this? It’s clear that while technology has the potential to be a game-changer, implementing new solutions is ineffective if they aren’t scalable, manageable and accessible to your workforce.
Driving a sustainable tech transformation
Before embarking on a large-scale business technology transformation, it's crucial that all stakeholders - tech, operations and C-suite - are aligned. A successful transformation starts with small, manageable implementations, like improving payment systems, and gradually scales with leadership support. Take Artificial Intelligence (AI) in business applications as an example: adopting it too quickly without complete data sets or proper human training can lead to costly mistakes, such as Air Canada’s digital assistant mishap or the healthcare prediction algorithm that failed to serve black patients in 2019. These examples highlight how premature adoption can be risky.
Here are some more ways businesses can sustainably manage and successfully scale a digital transformation:
Conduct an impact and risk assessment: Here’s where we ask questions about the capabilities of a technology and how it stacks up against its competitors. It’s important to know not only how it might facilitate an existing process but also how it can create new opportunities. If the technology is particularly disruptive, you need to be aware of exactly how big the influence on your business will be, how many people need to be involved in the adoption process and what resources are required to implement the technology.
Employee Training: Be ahead of your change management. Your workforce needs to have the right culture and individuals to embrace the new technology. Training and managing resistance are key to ensuring successful adoption and long-term sustainability.
Scalability Planning: Implement technology that can grow with your business. Starting small and planning for future expansion means your new technology will be manageable and adaptable at every step.
How to use technology to increase your business productivity without the risk
Repetitive tasks can be automated
If a task can be automated, it should be. And if you start small, automation software can be reliably scaled throughout a business. Zapier, for example, is able to automate anything from data entry to scheduling with no need for developers. It can be used by just one person or by an entire business.
And there’s constant innovation in this area, many workflow automation tools act as third-party connectors for hundreds of apps, meaning everything is in one place, plus, users can choose amongst plug-and-play templates allowing them to find a workflow that works for them. The best part of this is that many tools are going no-code, meaning they’re entirely accessible to non-technical users.
Collaboration can be fuss-free
There are dozens of collaborative tools available now that can cater to every type of organisation and project. Looking for a great whiteboard app for brainstorming and idea sharing? Try Miro. Looking for something highly customisable with plenty of tools? Slack might be your go-to. Looking for a project management app that includes billing and invoicing for clients? How about Teamwork?
Introducing a new collaboration tool into your business instead of email can be daunting, there’s definitely a chance it will fall flat. It’s important that you achieve buy-in from your leaders and your employees before expecting people to change their entire work process. Once your collaboration tool is in place, productivity will follow quickly.
All decisions can be data-driven
You should already be using data to make business decisions, however, if done cautiously, technology can play a huge part in this. There are plenty of tools, beyond Microsoft Excel, available to help you collect, clean, analyse and visualise data. Tableau, for example, can be used to create interactive data dashboards, with no need for any coding know-how. It can handle large data sets and has a very usable interface.
Harness Coaching to Accelerate Your Digital Transformation
Coaching can be instrumental in adopting a digital transformation by providing personalised guidance and facilitating necessary mindset shifts for your workforce. It can also nurture the skills required to adapt to these new technologies. Coaches support leaders and teams in overcoming resistance to change, setting clear goals and developing strategies that align with business objectives.