Technology is at the base of the modern workplace. If companies and organizations aren’t always on the lookout to leverage technology to improve culture, workflows, customer experiences, and basic efficiencies they will continue to struggle.
The importance of technology has only grown over the last several years. According to a McKinsey Global Survey of executives, 93% of companies surveyed said they had to shift to remote work, 62% said they had to deal with increasing customer demand for online purchases and services, and 34% said there was an increase in migration of their company’s assets to the cloud.
Even within the Fierce organization, we have made technology a priority. We are always looking for ways to interact more efficiently with clients but also provide employees with the necessary tools to innovate and do their jobs effectively.
Surveying the landscape of successful organizations and how they use technology, we have identified at least five reasons technology is important in your workplace.
1. Competitiveness
Innovation in technology has the ability to set you apart from your competitors. Not only in developing new customer-facing technology or selling technology innovations but by using the most innovative resources to empower your employees, create efficiency, and increase customer engagement.
We all feel this shift as the customer need for instantaneous demand grows, but this also trickles into the demands employees expect from their companies.
2. Communication and collaboration
Over the last several years most organizations were forced into embracing new technology in order to function in a hybrid workplace. The upside of all these changes is many companies began to discover new task management and collaboration tools.
Companies that embedded these technological innovations previous to the pandemic had a decidedly competitive advantage over companies that were forced into the process.
3. Security
Most organizations not only have sensitive customer information but also employee data that is important to protect. With the rise of cybercrime, cyber security is more important than ever.
Criminals have expanded their reach and sophistication. Not only have we had to adapt with better firewalls and protection, but have had to train our people on being diligent and understanding methods of prevention.
4. Productivity
Innovative technology allows all of us to streamline processes that often took hours or weeks longer than it does today. Think of life before the Excel spreadsheet. Paper ledgers and calculations were required to manage the data that all organizations rely on today. Having the ability to manage data, draw conclusions, and then implement new strategies in the marketplace creates efficiencies that we’re never imagined before.
The ability to reach new customers and customize products and services to very specific needs is one of the hallmarks of innovative technology. Customer interaction has improved by the ability to serve customers quicker allowing companies to scale faster than ever before.
5. Compliance
Compliance feels like a necessary evil for most people in the workplace. However, it allows us as organizations to do the right thing for customers, our employees, and even our communities. Unfortunately keeping track of regulatory changes as well as internal processes and procedures can be burdensome. Technology has made compliance much easier to maintain in an organization.
It allows us to create a more fair workplace but also manage the core values of our organizations.
How has Fierce embraced modern technology?
For years Fierce has used technology to create better customer interaction and also tailor our content to the specific needs of organizations that lean on us for leadership and development. It’s no secret we believe strongly in the communication and leadership tools we have created. However, the way our methodology and tools get transmitted and adapted to customers can become stale if we don’t continually find new ways to adapt to new situations.
We made great strides in using virtual tools to communicate as well as helping customers role-play new skills through metaverse-like technology.
Recently we have launched a revolutionary new piece of technology called Pulse, born out of the need to accelerate workplace resilience.
With the rising rate of stress in the workplace prompted by all the work culture changes over the last several years, resilience has waned and burnout, resignation, and toxic cultures continue to grow.
The problem seemed insurmountable. We need faster ways to instill Fierce principles to combat toxic culture.
Leaning heavily on all the advancements and biometric data and tracking along with sophisticated AI our researchers and developers have discovered insights into the markers of stress.
Our researchers and developers knew if we could identify those hidden markers of stress before they began to wreak havoc we’d have a fighting chance. We identified several bio-markers indicating stress. Using wearable technology like the Fitbit or Apple Watch, our researchers could pinpoint moments of stress during the workday. Developers used AI to connect those events to users’ calendars and tailor actionable steps and training to mitigate stress and instill new skills.
A Final Caution about Technology
Ultimately, we should all see technology as a tool for deep relationships with customers and employees. Technology can easily become a distraction or a taskmaster unless human relationships aren’t at the center of decision-making around innovation.
How has your organization deepened its mission by embracing technological changes?
