Solving the productivity puzzle: Leveraging technology

When should your business leverage technology?

Productivity simply means achieving more with the same resources — however, there are times when leveraging new technology can help your employees achieve more and boost the productivity of your business.

Your employees may be spending too much time on repetitive tasks or struggling to communicate and collaborate effectively with your existing software. Customer satisfaction may be declining due to slow response times, or your business might struggle to make informed decisions due to a lack of data. Technology can help your business solve these specific challenges — however, this technology needs to be the right fit for your organization.

How to identify the right technology

Your business needs to take a deliberate and strategic approach toward leveraging technology to achieve positive results. These steps can help you get started:

Identify your business goals

It is important to remember that the most recent or popular software may not be the right fit for your business. Instead, it is important to step back and ask yourself what solution best suits your organization’s needs and aligns with its business goals. 

If you are struggling with a labour shortage, you may not have enough staff to effectively manage your customer base. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool can help you store customer data in one place and automate follow-up emails and appointment scheduling to free up more time for your team to focus on your strategic goals.

Once you have identified the problems that you need to solve, you can assess the technology available in the marketplace to select the best fit for your business. To continue the example above, you might review different CRM solutions to consider how each solution would support your goals and integrate with the technology and workflows already present within your organization.

Gain feedback from stakeholders

It is important to gather feedback from the stakeholders in your business who will use this technology. What works for one area of your organization may not suit the needs of another — and your employees, managers, and customers can provide real-world insights on the features they need to support productivity. Additionally, they can help pinpoint potential integration issues with the existing systems in your business.

Consider a business that planned to leverage a new AI-driven project management software to streamline tasks, automate reporting, and increase collaboration. The business held focus groups with its employees, who identified two challenges: the software was incompatible with the mobile devices used by field technicians and the automated reporting function lacked key financial metrics for client billing.

Gathering feedback from key stakeholders is crucial to avoid costly mistakes from leveraging technology that does not fit the needs of your organization. Additionally, it can help overcome resistance to change by making employees feel included in the decision-making process.

Get external advice

Your business may not have the right knowledge or skills to determine which solution is the best fit for its needs. An external advisor has the expertise, unbiased insights, and knowledge of industry best practices to help ensure your organization chooses technology that aligns with its goals, budget, and existing infrastructure.

They can help assess each solution to identify which are the best fit for your business challenges — and ask vendors the right questions. An advisor also has the experience to identify any integration issues, compliance requirements, or security risks associated with the new technology. They can also help organize stakeholder focus groups and build a strategy to help you successfully roll out the technology within your organization.

Implement your solution

Develop an implementation plan after you have identified your business needs and goals, consulted your stakeholders, and received guidance from an external advisor. This involves establishing a timeline, milestones, and responsibilities for the rollout within your organization.

You may choose a pilot test approach where you implement the technology in a test group before you roll it out to the entire organization — or you may opt for a full organizational deployment. Ensure that you provide training to help your employees use the new technology. Additionally, it is crucial to continuously monitor performance by tracking key metrics and gather ongoing feedback to help optimize the technology. An advisor can also support you through this process to ensure a successful rollout.

Take the next steps

Prioritizing your people, embracing change, and leveraging technology are the three key pillars that contribute to the overall productivity of your organization. Putting these pieces together is essential to solve the productivity puzzle and achieve successful results.

For more information, contact a member of MNP’s Consulting team. We have the experience to help you address challenges, seize new opportunities, and redefine your business to ensure its long-term success.