According to the Independent newspaper, more than 58% of workers have reported that they have been more productive since working from home over the past year, which is music to many managing directors’ ears. A more productive workforce is a happier, more efficient workforce which is accompanied by a boost in general morale, and a positive workplace culture.
However, it shouldn’t take a global pandemic and an international change in working practices to demonstrate this. As more people are returning to the office and will continue with a hybrid system of working both in the office and at home, or more traditional office-based system productivity should be at the top of your agenda.
Often, inefficiency and poor productivity are not down to an inefficient workforce but rather the systems and processes that are not fit for purpose and in fact lead to inefficiency. There are a number of processes that you can assess to see if improvements can be made.
- Old systems – If your information systems are old, poorly maintained, or at capacity, simple functions can take staff members longer to complete – whether that is waiting for clunky software to complete a task, or taking time to log in in the morning it all affects productivity and wasted man hours.
- Centralisation – Processes need to be centralised, so all staff are working from the accurate and up-to-date information. Searching for the latest versions of documents or referring to out of date information wastes time and leads to errors Having all staff working from the same systems will increase productivity.
- Mismatch between task and technology – It’s important to concentrate on the business needs and not the technology. By trying to make your employees carry out tasks with the wrong tools is obviously going to affect efficiency and ultimately the success of your business model.
- Legacy processes – Many longstanding businesses do things in a very specific way and have done for years, even though the business may have changed and developed. Doing something because, “that’s the way we have always done it,” may not be the most efficient means of working.
- Merged technology – Perhaps you have legacy and new systems patched together to perform the business tasks required but it doesn’t quite do what you want it to do, but it’s close enough. Muddling along with business activity is not the most productive or cost-effective means of working.
- Remote working – With some team members being remote and some in the office it is more important than ever to ensure that there are centralised processes, cloud-based solutions and appropriate technology. Staff productivity when working remotely can be reduced if they are struggling with information systems not designed for this.
Essentially, if you want to see an increase in productivity and efficiency across all your teams you need to fully assess the processes and systems in place and how well these align with the business goals.
Here at Brandon Cross we understand business and we understand information systems. We know that if the technology doesn’t enable your staff to do their jobs with ease, they will become disgruntled and their motivation will drop, meaning your business will never reach maximum profitability.
Through a thorough assessment of your processes as well as understanding where your business challenges lie, we will be able to work with you and your systems to produce information processes that serve your staff and your business. This could be through re-aligning the systems you already have in place, introducing new systems or creating bespoke processes which will give your business the competitive edge. So, why not speak to us today and make your business challenges our challenge.