By Christopher Haymon of https://www.adultingdigest.com/
Technology has become integral to how people do business and is used in every area, from customer service to human resources. If you’re a business owner or manager, you can use technology and data to streamline processes, saving time and money. However, be sensitive to the fact that your employees may feel threatened by the digital revolution, and worry that they are less essential than before. This can result in a lack of engagement and motivation. Read on to find out how you can support digital transformation while allaying your workers’ fears.
Be strategic about what technology you adopt
When adopting technology for your company, you want to make sure you’re investing wisely. Don’t just get gimmicks because they’re cutting-edge or cool. Cox Blue provides a guide to selecting the right tools for your business, from focusing on your pain points to asking your team for their opinions. The aim is to only purchase software and hardware that can make a positive impact. This will save you money and help prevent employees from getting frustrated by tech overload.
Highlight how technology benefits your team
Technology can help your business as a whole in many ways. For example, it can save you money with automation and artificial intelligence tools. If you want your workers to happily adopt such tech, you need to emphasize how it serves them too. For instance, if you implement a social media automation tool for posting, your social media team may feel irrelevant. Reframe their mindset by explaining that the automation tool is for mundane, repetitive tasks and frees up their time to focus on the creative aspect of their jobs.
Provide the necessary training for workers to adopt new technologies
If you want your workers to get on board with new technologies, you need to take the time to train them. Towards this end, set up hands-on training sessions led by a competent leader who already knows the tool in question. Other best practices for implementing new tech include setting realistic deadlines and rollout calendars, providing incentives for using new tools, and selecting an appropriate training format. With proper training, you ensure that employees aren’t intimidated by new gizmos.
Optimize business processes to help streamline adoption
You can further help encourage buy-in for new technologies by optimizing your business operations accordingly. Process mining can help. This technique uses data to analyze and improve workflows in a way that benefits your entire business. Tools for process mining can boost worker satisfaction and improve efficiency. In the big picture, this can result in more sales, the discovery of fresh opportunities, and better-managed risk. Start by determining data sources, creating a timeline, and identifying relevant stakeholders.
Solicit feedback from your workers on where improvement is possible
If you implement new technologies, you want to make sure that they’re being accepted by your team. This requires consulting your team directly to see how they’re doing with the operational changes you’ve made. According to BetterUp, you can solicit feedback in many ways, from team meetings to surveys. These feedback sessions can also unveil areas that need improvement. For example, if your team feels they could use more tech support and I.T. staffing, a provider like Top Gear Technologies can help.
Get proactive about encouraging social interaction and open communication
One danger of technology in the workplace is that it can reduce human interaction. When people simply rely on chat apps like Slack to communicate, for example, there is a lack of personal face-to-face connection. To overcome this, proactively encourage socializing and communication. Towards this end, make sure to acknowledge the importance of your employees’ views, request their input regularly, and listen to them actively.
When implemented correctly, technology can help your company thrive. That said, it’s important that your teams are on board. This guide takes you through the process of embracing digital transformation.
Want more tips on successfully integrating technology into your business? Visit the blog.
