Irrespective of the size of the company, investing in good technology goes a long way in the development of the company. With the global health crisis, people are working twice as hard to keep up with the workload. However, the bigger picture as seen by the company holder is the work to be done without any issue even with half the workforce. This is humanely impossible and unfair. Overworked employees have a higher chance of being exposed to errors than employees who are happy and satisfied with their work pressure. These errors lead to unhappy customers which results in a financial loss for the company in a way or the other. This is not just limited to small businesses but also big companies. The labor market is a completely changed one after the emergence of the global health crisis. However, we are anyway still recovering from it. It is an ongoing process and the transformation also must be changing shape in the future.
Key factors of adopting new technology:
- Smart work, not hard work: Of course, hard work is recognized and appreciated and it goes a long way but smart work gives one the time and space to accommodate more work and complete the task efficiently. Let us assume you are asked to count the number of sheets in a rim, you count them one by and one and then conclude that it is 49 but then it should have been 50. So you count again. Now, you have invested just double time in a single task and with just little result. To make this more efficient, let us buy a machine that counts the papers. So, the machine counts these papers in 20 seconds while it took you 5 minutes, let us also not forget the accuracy part. It is completely worth investing in the product. Hence, product replaces people at times, and investing in technology can result in greatness.
- Continuous Learnings: The benefit of adopting new-age technology is also the continual growth opportunities. With the world completely moving online we get the platform to look at the strategies that are adopted by the people around us, get inspired, and enroll ourselves in the learning process. When a company plans on growing their businesses they think of this bigger picture with their people that are their employees. The company will only grow if the employees grow. Implementing a new technology each time does not stop at the affordability of the company but also the willingness of the employees to learn this new technology to make it applicable to the new ways.
- Finances: Applying new technology also has got huge financial implications on the business and the company. We adopt new technology hoping it will save us time or money, or in the best case scenario both. However, if it does not show any anticipated results then the money spent on the technology could be named as a bad expense and hence a financial loss.
- Risks: Adopting new technology does not always result in success, it also has got some demerits at times. Moving the whole business online or across a new network that might not be fully protected from loopholes can cost your company the risk of giving away access to Data Privacy.
We have looked at the key factors of adopting new technology at our startups or company. However, let us look at the top three technology investments:
1. Moving the Business to Cloud
It is completely your decision if you want to move your business to the cloud, but moving your business to the cloud gives you mobility, agility, and comfortability. As and when your business grows you will need bigger and bigger space and with the cloud, you always have the bigger space. It is difficult to move to the cloud (but not impossible) and hence it is wiser to move to it as soon as the company starts. It can prevent data loss in case of an unforeseen disaster. It is not limited to one person and hence in case of the absence of this particular person as well the functionality never stops.
Moving to the cloud means you have constant access to the updates in the software and you can always extend your space for storage. Think about it this way, every data that was created a year back has multiplied four times or more and so the same amount of stargaze capacity will never fulfill the needs. Investing in technology and moving to the cloud can be one of the best tech investments.
2. Mobility and agility
With the sudden stop, we witnessed last year we need to be prepared for any such incident even in the future. The best outcome of this was the agility that came out in the open of all the companies who did not even know it existed in them. Most of the companies have adopted this new way of working. Upgrading the workplaces with laptops instead of desktops and for everyone to carry it home is one of the important steps that need to be taken. Beyond hardware, remote companies should consider how a global mobility solution can streamline remote communications, travel, and task management. Working from home if required is the aim of the agility that we are looking for when it comes to technology investments that we are willing to make in return for amazing results.
3. Adopting Automation
Automation can do many things these days and it could prove to be one of the best investments in your company. Training your employees in automation will make the work model very efficient and can help you cut down on headcounts. Let us say you hire an employee who knows automation and this person is trying to create an automation model to assist and offer customer services to five people at the same time while the actual customer service agent can only deal with one customer at a time. So, automation is making us cut down on five people at the cost of one employee who knows the art. Giving learning opportunities to your employees to adopt and accept the changing world outside without threatening their present comfort is the healthiest way to walk towards a better tomorrow without being ungrateful to our yesterdays.
Investing in technology, for both small and already established businesses, can be the turning point of any company. The world is changing in the blink of an eye and not keeping up with the changes will only mean that we are failing. Accepting the changes and working around them is the greatest challenge and even a greater start.
