A government scheme called Building Digital UK (BDUK) is investing £5 billion to make sure that homes and businesses in hard-to-reach areas have equal access to fast gigabit-capable broadband. This means we’re set to see even more companies taking steps to improve the connectivity with their supply chain and customers.
In this article, we’ll go through some of the changes in collaborative technology that businesses are seeing, as well as the benefits and how important it is to stay connected.
The changing tides of connectivity
Statistics from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data found that prior to March 2020, working from home was rare, and only 5.7% of British people did so. However, by April 2020, that had risen to 43.1%. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that 85% of employees currently homeworking wanted a hybrid version of employment, where working from home and the office are mixed.
This increase in full businesses having to adjust to working from home forced a fast embracing of technology to keep employees and partners connected. This meant investing in collaborative technologies for sharing work and maintaining communication, thus cloud technology was the answer.
Not only did the introduction of these tools help in difficult times, but they also showed how communication played such an important role in business practices. This will play a part in the digital future of many businesses, with Forbes finding that 60% of executives believe connected technologies will be crucial in the future growth of their company.
What are the benefits?
The impact these collaborative technologies have had on workplaces can be seen through the spike in productivity, which scales up by 30% with their use.
Implementing this technology that connects employees across all platforms within your business helps make sure that goals and objectives are shared between staff. Having a clear-cut goal and communication across departments helps to streamline the work that may crossover and produce the results you want as a company.
It also helps the social aspect of a business. Keeping communication and connectivity front and centre integrates employees with a wider community, making them feel less isolated overall. Even keeping people connected within office spaces through digital signage with updates on the goings-on of the company can boost morale and help people feel part of it all.
Changes in consumer habits are also benefitted significantly by connective technologies. With social media and instant messaging becoming a part of the fabric of day-to-day life, consumers have become used to lightning-fast responses. Keeping your company connected in this way helps maintain customer happiness and encourages them to become repeat buyers.
The importance of communication
Technology is constantly evolving. It can be hard to keep up with but making sure you are up to date is crucial to consistent business development. Building a roadmap can help keep your goals and expectations on the future of technology’s place in keeping your business connected. It will also help to stay prepared for any future digitisation or software that could assist in your business’ growth.
Efficiency is another area where technology becomes important. When systems are introduced to help streamline business processes, most of them can be optimised to work in tandem with other systems you may also have in place. Having the option for all of your day-to-day software to be connected can help make your days feel much smoother thanks to automation.
The importance of connectivity for customer service cannot be stressed enough. The speed with which customers are interacted with can make or break their loyalty.
Businesses thrive on communication, and after the past few years, all industries have done their best to find their sweet spot for connectivity within technology. This came in the form of introducing cloud-based collaborative software that allowed work to be shared through the internet and keep employees and departments in contact with each other through instant messaging and remote calling. The ability to work from wherever they choose not only increases productivity but helps employees feel valued and part of the bigger picture of the company. Making sure that both staff and consumers feel valued and listened to is an important way of ensuring your growth, as well as preparing for the future evolutions that will occur within tech spaces for businesses.
