The technology that we work with is, in most cases, an absolute boon. It helps us work more efficiently, completing processes much more quickly and accurately than our feeble human brains would allow. However, the idea that more tech is always better is, in the best-case scenario, a little hopeful. There are challenges that come with the implementation of tech that can result in a lot of time being wasted. Here, we’re going to look at how you can address those challenges.
Uncrossing those lines
With email and instant messages being used to ubiquitously, it may seem outlandish to suggest that the more tech we have in the workplace, the more barriers we can add to communication. Simply put, we spend so much time at our screens that we spend less time communicating face-to-face, which can damage the team’s ability to collaborate when needed. Besides making sure the team has the opportunity to have face-to-face contact through team meetings and the like, the solution is also tech-related. Slack team communication software and project management software can help people find a much more measurable online space to communicate and keep track of different conversations across the team. The answer is to create structured methods of communication so that when someone needs to reach out, to ask a question or request resources, there’s an easy method laid out for them.
Growing pains in a paperless age
The idea of a paperless office is one that’s hard to say no to. After all, if you don’t use papers, printers, or resources for those printers like toner and ink, you can save both money and space. Everyone expects some essential records and the like to be printed, but the rest can be stored as data. However, if you don’t plan accordingly for it, the amount of data you business gathers can become a real concern. For one, the more data you fill standard hard drives with, the worse those hard drives become, leading to a risk of corruption. If you don’t have plans to back up that data, then you can lose it all in a moment. For that reason, if you’re going paperless, make sure you’re relying on more effective digital storage methods, such as Cloud servers, and ensure that you have backups.
Tech and distraction
The internet, email, and social media make it much easier for all of us to stay connected. Communicating with other professionals, digital marketing, and providing support are all made much easier. However, it’s far from uncommon for employees to become too enthusiastic about checking it to the point that their online habits become distractions taking them away from their work. There are website control apps you can use to limit when and how often your team can access certain sites, but teaching effective time management methods will end being much more healthy for the team rather than simply blocking them off. For instance, setting an hour a day to check your email will help you keep on top of your inbox without having to go back to it constantly.
The disaster of poor data management
As mentioned, we’re all becoming a lot more reliant on data, and starting to use more of it. However, how we manage, access, sort, and retrieve that data is just as important as how we secure it. For instance, the software we use, such as Oracle Fusion, can eventually make things more complex and slow as the software ages and becomes less suited to the modern working environment. Rather than staying on legacy software systems, it’s important to look at the options such as an Oracle forms migration. The more your business begins to rely on data, the more you should consider hiring modern data management teams who can ensure it’s formatted and organized in the most effective and efficient ways possible so that your team doesn’t spend more and more of their time trying to find the data they need.
The everyday hiccups of tech problems
Every IT setup, no matter how simple or complicated, is going to run into issues at some point or another. From crashes, software problems, and hardware failures, these can present a range of little and large problems, leading to downtime, expense, and a lot of inefficiency. The only effective way to deal with these problems is to invest in proactive and thorough maintenance. A managed IT services provider can ensure that not only are you less likely to suffer from those everyday tech problems but that you have someone who is able to respond as soon as you report any new ones. Of course, as mentioned, legacy software and older hardware are likely to result in more problems, too, so to cut down on downtime, you should make sure that you’re staying as up-to-date as possible and switching to new platforms when you need to.
The growing pains of a tech-literate workforce
One of the most common issues with introducing any new tech to the workplace is the struggle of on-boarding. Some people are always going to be much less able to adapt to new software and hardware than their colleagues. Back to the example we used above; you may need to identify those who could use Oracle forms training to make sure that they’re better equipped for the tools that you might be introducing future. Take the time to identify the general IT competency of your team to get a better understanding of how much more training they may need when it comes time to update your hardware or software. Besides finding those who could use more help, you can also find the team members who can serve as “ambassadors” helping their colleagues get used to new tools.
Without the right planning, it’s easy for the tech that’s supposed to help you to end up taking much more of your time instead. The tips above can show how you can avoid that from being the case.
