Technology can do a lot of things that are good for business.
But when the company culture is all about people and their environment, does technology really play a role?
In the past, maybe not – or at least not a significant role.
It’s different today.
Because technology plays a much bigger role in every business.
Almost every business function has some element of technology at its core, and many decisions are now based on data gleaned from software and technology products.
And with the way we work being almost unrecognizable from a few years ago, technology will play an even more prominent role in company culture now and in the future.
In this article, business mobile phone provider Communications Plus makes a case for why better technology will improve company culture.
Technology improves collaboration
Collaboration has become a much bigger focus today, with employees working from many locations – sometimes in different countries.
While businesses try to remain flexible in how employees work, it makes it harder to collaborate on projects when they’re not in the same place.
Cloud technology helps.
Using cloud platforms, employees can work on the same projects and documents simultaneously, from anywhere.
This can significantly improve collaboration and productivity because your team doesn’t have to wait for one person to make changes before the next person can start working on the project.
With cloud-based technology, you can promote collaboration while allowing teams to work from anywhere.
Technology can remove boring tasks
Every job has those tasks that are highly repetitive and, frankly, boring.
Tasks like data entry or even dealing with the same enquiries can take up a lot of time but aren’t challenging and won’t exactly inspire employees to do better work.
If your employees are bombarded with these repetitive tasks, they’ll not be inspired and will likely become unmotivated working for you.
This doesn’t just kill morale. It can reduce productivity.
Automated technology can take many of these repetitive tasks off the plate of your employees, freeing them up for more challenging and exciting tasks.
With your team doing more interesting work, they’ll be happier and more motivated.
This is important because employees who feel more engaged in their work are less likely to leave.
Technology makes communication easier
When communication fails, everything fails.
Things get missed, tasks aren’t completed correctly, and things turn chaotic.
Communication was more straightforward when everyone was working from one place.
You could just walk up to someone’s desk or office down the corridor and ask them something.
Communication gets more challenging when people are spread out and working from more varied places.
But technology fixes this problem.
It could be something as simple as everyone having a dedicated business mobile phone.
Or use tools like Slack or Zoom.
So many communication tools are available for businesses that make it much easier to keep in touch and even replace those water cooler conversations to ensure your teams can remain close and in contact regardless of where they work.
Technology enables more flexible working
If anything good has come out of the last few years, it’s that work has become more flexible, and people can more easily fit it around their home lives.
This is only possible because of technology.
Business broadband, 4G (and even 5G), allows employees to log in to work no matter where they are.
This removes the stress of fighting the traffic to get into the office for 9am every morning and means employees can be more flexible with how and where they work.
HR technology helps you stay on top of employee engagement
Ultimately, company culture can only be driven from within the company, and the management and HR will set the tone for the business.
With new technology making it easier for HR departments to assess employee happiness, assess productivity, and make changes quickly to improve culture, businesses can have a much easier time motivating employees.
Using technology as a tool for culture
It would be wrong to suggest that technology alone is a silver bullet for improving a company’s culture.
Of course, it’s not.
But it can help build the platform from which a business can create its culture.
Whether it’s improving collaboration and making work more enjoyable, making it easier for employees to talk to each other and stay in touch during the day, or assessing employee happiness and engagement from within the business, technology plays a crucial role.
The key is to figure out which technology you need and then work on creating a culture that makes employees happy to come to work every day.
