How Evolving Tech Has Reshaped The Way Businesses Operate
The business world remained more or less the same for nearly a century after the Industrial Revolution, however, due to the significant technological advancements in the past decade or so, it's safe to say that businesses are now evolving at a much faster pace than ever witnessed before.
Technology has been developing, mutating, and adapting at an exponential rate and businesses have no option but to get on board or be left behind in the competition. According to a report by Gartner, 91% of businesses are engaged in some form of digital initiative, and 87% of senior business leaders say digitalization is a priority. Foundry, an IDG company, has stated that 89% of all companies have already adopted a digital-first business strategy or are planning to do so.
From communication to tracking goal completion, technology has altered the ways most business operations are carried out leading to higher efficiency; improved performance, employee productivity, motivation, and work effectiveness; reduced business expenditure etc. Due to all these advantages, most businesses today are investing in automation and digital transformation.
Let’s explore some of the significant ways technology has reshaped the modern workplace:
●Increased collaboration
The World Health Organization officially declared Covid-19 a pandemic on March 11. Within a few weeks, a major chunk of the global workforce had switched to working remotely to flatten the curve of the health crisis. This created a requirement for tools that facilitated collaboration and coordination in a remote working work environment and thereby tools such as Zoom, Microsoft teams, Slack, etc became a must for every business.
Because of such tools, it is now possible to connect with any employee, leader, or colleague anytime and anywhere with just a click of a mouse. This has led to a dramatic increase in collaboration in most workplaces, further resulting in high level of communication flexibility, and improved teamwork. Apart from this, we now actively use tools, such as Google Drive and One Drive, where files can be uploaded and edited by multiple people at the same time and clients can be updated on the progress of their project within seconds from any part of the world.
Integration of Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has proliferated in every business process in every industry. It has become imperative for businesses to harness the power of big data, powerful analytics, and AI technologies to maintain a competitive edge over their rivals. AI and analytics can be applied to various operations in a business, including streamlining job processes aggregating business data; enabling better customer service and support target marketing and generating more leads; streamlining the supply chain and shortening the delivery cycle; making the business more secure by enhancing cybersecurity and several others. AI not only makes these processes more efficient but also reduces business costs. And by analysing vast stores of structured and unstructured data, organisations can gain deep insights into the customers and overall business operations to deliver better results.
Decreased cost and increased productivity
The ultimate goal of every business, regardless of the industry, is improved profitability. Technology today is helping businesses derive higher productivity and better results while reducing expenses simultaneously.For example, every organisation has certain tasks that require dedicated talent to look over adding to the company's expenses. Several clerical tasks can be easily automated, which would lead to lower costs and increased employee satisfaction as they would then be able to optimise their time by utilising it on more important things such as strategy and decision making.
Online marketplaces
Technology has provided sellers with access to larger audiences on online marketplaces, which helps retain already engaged audiences while at the same time expanding their reach globally. We now also have the Metaverse that, as defined by Meta, is a set of digital spaces that one can move seamlessly between. Like the internet, the metaverse will help us connect with people when we aren’t physically in the same place and get us even closer to that feeling of being together in person. Metaverse presents businesses with the opportunity to level up their customer engagement, experience, and retention. Retail is one of the first industries jumping on this train. Certain retail and luxury goods brands have already launched their projects in the metaverse environment. For example, Nike allowed users to try virtual products when playing games in Nikeland, which is a micro metaverse space built on the Roblox platform.
Heightened level of security
Technology plays an important role in securing the systems at a workplace. As seen in the recent past, cybersecurity threats have been on a rise and affect every business across the board. To overcome this, strong cybersecurity systems are required to protect organisations against possible attacks on critical infrastructure, the software supply chain, governments, large enterprises, and small-to-medium businesses. Tools such as security software protect sensitive information from malicious hacking attacks and ensure that it is accessible only to the right people. Adopting proper cybersecurity measures in the workplace helps in keeping critical information safe.
Redefined future of the workplace
The last few years of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapidly evolving technology have made “business as usual” a thing of the past. What the pandemic has done is change the ways businesses operate and accelerated the adoption of the latest technology in everyday business operations. As radical shifts in business operations continue, the future of the workplace is undoubtedly being redefined.
Technology has been developing, mutating, and adapting at an exponential rate and businesses have no option but to get on board or be left behind in the competition. According to a report by Gartner, 91% of businesses are engaged in some form of digital initiative, and 87% of senior business leaders say digitalization is a priority. Foundry, an IDG company, has stated that 89% of all companies have already adopted a digital-first business strategy or are planning to do so.
From communication to tracking goal completion, technology has altered the ways most business operations are carried out leading to higher efficiency; improved performance, employee productivity, motivation, and work effectiveness; reduced business expenditure etc. Due to all these advantages, most businesses today are investing in automation and digital transformation.
Let’s explore some of the significant ways technology has reshaped the modern workplace:
●Increased collaboration
The World Health Organization officially declared Covid-19 a pandemic on March 11. Within a few weeks, a major chunk of the global workforce had switched to working remotely to flatten the curve of the health crisis. This created a requirement for tools that facilitated collaboration and coordination in a remote working work environment and thereby tools such as Zoom, Microsoft teams, Slack, etc became a must for every business.
Because of such tools, it is now possible to connect with any employee, leader, or colleague anytime and anywhere with just a click of a mouse. This has led to a dramatic increase in collaboration in most workplaces, further resulting in high level of communication flexibility, and improved teamwork. Apart from this, we now actively use tools, such as Google Drive and One Drive, where files can be uploaded and edited by multiple people at the same time and clients can be updated on the progress of their project within seconds from any part of the world.
The ultimate goal of every business, regardless of the industry, is improved profitability. Technology today is helping businesses derive higher productivity and better results while reducing expenses simultaneously
Integration of Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has proliferated in every business process in every industry. It has become imperative for businesses to harness the power of big data, powerful analytics, and AI technologies to maintain a competitive edge over their rivals. AI and analytics can be applied to various operations in a business, including streamlining job processes aggregating business data; enabling better customer service and support target marketing and generating more leads; streamlining the supply chain and shortening the delivery cycle; making the business more secure by enhancing cybersecurity and several others. AI not only makes these processes more efficient but also reduces business costs. And by analysing vast stores of structured and unstructured data, organisations can gain deep insights into the customers and overall business operations to deliver better results.
Decreased cost and increased productivity
The ultimate goal of every business, regardless of the industry, is improved profitability. Technology today is helping businesses derive higher productivity and better results while reducing expenses simultaneously.For example, every organisation has certain tasks that require dedicated talent to look over adding to the company's expenses. Several clerical tasks can be easily automated, which would lead to lower costs and increased employee satisfaction as they would then be able to optimise their time by utilising it on more important things such as strategy and decision making.
Online marketplaces
Technology has provided sellers with access to larger audiences on online marketplaces, which helps retain already engaged audiences while at the same time expanding their reach globally. We now also have the Metaverse that, as defined by Meta, is a set of digital spaces that one can move seamlessly between. Like the internet, the metaverse will help us connect with people when we aren’t physically in the same place and get us even closer to that feeling of being together in person. Metaverse presents businesses with the opportunity to level up their customer engagement, experience, and retention. Retail is one of the first industries jumping on this train. Certain retail and luxury goods brands have already launched their projects in the metaverse environment. For example, Nike allowed users to try virtual products when playing games in Nikeland, which is a micro metaverse space built on the Roblox platform.
Heightened level of security
Technology plays an important role in securing the systems at a workplace. As seen in the recent past, cybersecurity threats have been on a rise and affect every business across the board. To overcome this, strong cybersecurity systems are required to protect organisations against possible attacks on critical infrastructure, the software supply chain, governments, large enterprises, and small-to-medium businesses. Tools such as security software protect sensitive information from malicious hacking attacks and ensure that it is accessible only to the right people. Adopting proper cybersecurity measures in the workplace helps in keeping critical information safe.
Redefined future of the workplace
The last few years of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapidly evolving technology have made “business as usual” a thing of the past. What the pandemic has done is change the ways businesses operate and accelerated the adoption of the latest technology in everyday business operations. As radical shifts in business operations continue, the future of the workplace is undoubtedly being redefined.
