Whether it’s how you shop for presents during the holidays, communicate with friends, or how work, technology has transformed every aspect of our jobs and lives.
For example, in healthcare, there have been breakthroughs in research, treatments, and communications, giving doctors, nurses, and other care providers new tools to use to improve their quality of care or even target staffing issues.
Meanwhile, in offices, technology is used to enhance productivity and communication. Here are a few of the ways software development technology is enhancing jobs.
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Access to Information
Anyone, anywhere, can learn a new skill or educate themselves about a topic online. When you’re feeling unwell, you may look your symptoms up online to help you determine whether you’re suffering from the common cold or something more sinister.
Meanwhile, if you don’t know how to do something at work, you might Google it for instructions on how to accomplish a task without asking for help. Nowadays, more and more industry professionals are doing away with going to college to pick up new skills and instead are opting for many of the digital education tools available online.
From Linkedin Learning to Masterclass, Skillshare, and more, there are tons of online learning platforms that can help employees gain new skills to go after the jobs they want. These online learning platforms work to make technical skills more readily available to all walks of life and aim to work alongside people’s busy schedules so that they can learn at their own pace.
Access to information enhances jobs in many different ways; not only can you learn new things quickly, but you can improve the way you work by becoming more knowledgeable about different topics without going back to school. Many employers are taking note of their employee’s desire to learn and grow, and even offer programs for free to their employees.
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Telecommunications
When you’re sick, you can communicate with a doctor using video chat rather than going to their facility in person.
Telecommunications has improved many people’s work environments by allowing for more remote teams. It also enables companies to find top talent throughout the world by letting individuals meet online instead of in person. However, telecommunications doesn’t just stop there.
As the pandemic went on, it became more difficult for specialized doctors to see their patients while ensuring the safety of medical staff. Now, people can find doctors all over the world with the help of their computers. Doctors and nurses can meet with patients from the comfort of their homes virtually and maintain care for their patients.
In addition, as more teams went remote, the use of communication tools allowed employees to collaborate anywhere in the world, enhancing projects and productivity and proving to the world that employees can maintain quality and quantity, even while not in the office.
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Improved Organization
Technology can improve the organization within a business. For example, with project management software, you can build, delegate, and review different tasks and milestones throughout a project.
Both employees and managers can benefit from improved organization, helping employees know which tasks they should get completed and when. Meanwhile, managers can easily supervise different tasks and activities in the workplace, enhancing accountability and efficiency.
Project management software allows employees and managers to stay on track with their timelines for projects, but can also help you track which projects could use the help of automation. If certain tasks for clients or the business are taking too long, this could mean your company is losing out on profits. By utilizing automation on those projects, you allow your employees to get some time back to work on other business tasks. Improved organization can help you make better business decisions.
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Increased Productivity
Technology can make business operations more productive, allowing employees and managers to accomplish more in a single workday.
With tons of software available to automate manual processes, technology makes jobs easier, allowing employees to focus on more important business initiatives and less on manual data entry.
By automating certain business processes, you allow your employees to get some of that menial time back, promoting productivity and innovation. In addition, technology to support productivity can, in turn, save your business money and resources, by spending less money on the time used to do tasks that don’t inherently promote your business growth but are still necessary.
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Cost Management
Technology can help companies understand their costs and manage them better to improve profitability.
With innovations in technology and software, businesses can now understand their financial health, allowing individuals working in bookkeeping and finances to track and manage income and expenses while getting a better understanding of the different costs associated with the business.
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Improved Collaboration
Technology improves team collaboration, making it easier to work together to complete tasks.
With collaboration tools, including Google Docs, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more, employees can easily collaborate on projects, enhancing productivity by improving communication. In addition, increased collaboration brings more flexibility into employees’ work schedules by allowing them to connect no matter where they are.
Improved collaboration through technology helps projects get completed faster, allowing teams to focus on more tasks and complete more projects.
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Reduces Security Breaches
Technology comes with risk. For example, e-commerce companies that collect credit card and personal information from customers are at risk of being hacked and could face serious consequences if client information is compromised.
However, technology can also reduce the risk of security breaches, allowing employees to further protect company and customer data. In addition, proper security measures in the workplace keep all your important information safe, making it easier to help employees make better decisions online.
Many tech companies have set out on a mission to provide companies with the latest in security technology. From firewalls to encryption and VPNs, there are a ton of security options available for companies to utilize.
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Enables Remote Opportunities
We’ve already referred to the fact that technology makes it easier for individuals to work anywhere at any time.
Thanks to collaboration and communication tools, employees no longer need to work in the office. With instant and remote access to important business documents, employees can get hired by video chat and communicate with other team members via communication tools like Slack or video conferencing with Zoom.
Remote work opportunities also reduce the number of days employees take off sick because they have a better work-life balance that reduces stress that can lead to illness. Employees also report being happier and more productive working from home, so technology may be the catalyst that results in a better work environment that caters to the needs of remote workers.
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Automated Time Tracking
We mentioned earlier how automation can help minimize time spent on menial but necessary tasks in your business. Asking your employees to track their projects to measure productivity can actually reduce productivity because it’s a manual process. Employees may have to use spreadsheets to track their time.
For example, in a marketing agency, employees may be asked to go through their timesheets at the end of the day to track the time they spent on different clients.
Unfortunately, depending on how your time-tracking efforts are set up, this could result in much time at the end of the day being wasted by tracking time instead of actually doing the work.
Additionally, employees using time cards to clock in to manually log hours means missing out on productivity, wasting at least a few minutes every day clocking in instead of getting right to work. Instead, you can use automated time tracking to increase productivity and eliminate the need for wasted time clocking in.
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Self-Service HR Operations
Employees are smart and can take care of many of their own HR functions to reduce the stress on the HR department.
For example, instead of having employees get forms from hiring managers, they can access everything they need, including pay stubs, tax documents, and employee information, from digital tools.
You can also customize these self-service platforms, allowing employees to take care of many HR functions on their own.
While in the past, companies needed huge HR teams all specializing in different human resources processes, with the help of technology, businesses can run successfully with smaller human resources teams. By automating tasks like payroll, attendance, PTO, and more, you give your HR team time back to spend strategizing for future internal projects like employee benefits or fitness stipends.
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Improves Employee Engagement
Employee engagement can help workers become more productive and loyal to the company. Engagement can increase happiness among employees and help them understand how their contributions affect the greater business goals.
Technology can improve employee engagement through the use of tools that allow employees to take surveys and open the lines of communication between staff and managers.
Some way technology can go about enhancing employee engagement is by promoting culture within the company. You can have your teams give peer feedback, shoutouts to earn bonuses, set up events such as employee lunches, or give employee gifts with the click of a few buttons.
Engagement technology can help save your company money by reducing turnover and improving employee productivity because your employees are happy to be with your company.
Technology at Work
Technology’s main benefit to jobs is enhancing productivity, increasing employee happiness, and allowing them to focus on more engaging tasks. When considering which technology to use at your workplace, consider your priorities and try to get everyone involved in the decision-making process.
