The Importance of Modern Technology in the Workplace May 1, 2020 Table of Contents 

An innovative company that is on the cutting edge of technology can empower its remote workers, take advantage of the cost-saving benefits of bringing your device (BYOD) policies, and connect its employees regardless of how and where they work. It can increase profit margins by offering products or services of higher quality, improving user experience and customer service, reducing waste, and increasing productivity. Overall, employers gain a competitive advantage when technology is used effectively.

Any chance to advance in a highly crowded and competitive business environment is worth seizing. Your business is likely already trailing behind the competition if you need to utilize technology's advantages. It is vital to understand that innovation in the work environment has become fundamental for business achievement.

A History of Technological Developments in the Workplace Let us look back to see how we got here to see how technology has significantly impacted the Workplace today.

1960s. Innovation could have been more present in the working environment. Although the computer chip known as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) was created in 1967, it would not significantly impact businesses until many years later. Even though more and more households now had access to televisions trade school programs and phones, this remained a challenge for businesses. Organizations could have been more constrained in their business opportunities due to a need for more infrastructure and tools for communication.

1970s. Most large corporations were too focused on revenue to try out new tools, so the impact of technology in the Workplace remained stagnant even after email was introduced in 1971. However, the daisy-wheel printer, the floppy disk, and Pong—the first video game—were just a few examples of the burgeoning technological advancements of this decade. In 1973, Xerox developed Ethernet, the world's most widely used local area networking (LAN) technology. This was the greatest invention of all time.

1980s. Technology in the Workplace finally began gaining traction with the rise of technology giants like IBM, Microsoft, Apple, and AT&T. The laptop was invented in 1981, and the Motorola DynaTAC 800x, the first cell phone ever made, was released in 1983. Thanks to these new communication tools, organizations could finally expand their business opportunities beyond their local area.

1990s. By the time the 1990s arrived, technology was practically ubiquitous, thanks to the launch of the World Wide Web in 1989. The internet allows businesses to showcase their goods and services and maintain customer relationships. They were also able to locate and communicate with additional distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers that they would not have been able to before because of geographic restrictions. When Google was created in 1998, this was made even simpler.

2000s. Google is now utilized daily by both consumers and businesses worldwide.

The Apple iPod and iPhone were developed, and social media platforms like Myspace and Facebook emerged. These innovations sparked the era of accessing everything and anyone online. Customers could now locate and contact businesses that offered solutions to their issues, even if they were far away. At the same time, businesses could conduct customer research to better market to them and develop products that meet their deeper needs.

2010s. We are all up to date! Welcome to the modern era, when technology is fully integrated into nearly every aspect of consumers' and businesses' lives. Because new technologies are developing at such a rapid rate, workplace trends and business best practices are constantly shifting.

Five Uses for Technology in the Workplace There are many uses for technology in the Workplace that can make your company more modern, mobile, and successful. Here are five significant ones!

1) The capacity to automate repetitive procedures and make them more efficient.

According to a McKinsey report, over 40% of workers spend at least 25% of their workweek doing manual, repetitive tasks like sending emails and entering data. Utilizing automated technology in the Workplace automates these time-consuming procedures, allowing your employees to concentrate on higher-return business endeavours like acquiring new clients or providing better customer service. Additionally, automated procedures are more accurate. Using software to automatically collect, upload, or sync data into a system of record, for instance, lowers the likelihood that an employee will enter the wrong number by accident, which could skew the entire data set.

2) Lower overhead expenses with BYOD devices and remote work.

By allowing employees to work from home and use their own information technology jobs devices, businesses of all sizes can see significant savings in operating costs. It makes sense because businesses require less space, supplies, and utilities when fewer employees are working in the office. In addition, you will not have to buy expensive new hardware every time you hire a new employee because of BYOD device policies. American Express, for instance, asserts that its remote work program has increased productivity and reduced annual real estate costs by $10 to $15 million. According to a Cisco study, between hardware costs, data plans, and the value of time saved, an employee who uses their device saves businesses an estimated $3,150 per year.

3) Increased contentment and productivity among employees.

Employees will be more productive, engaged, and happier if you give them access to the technologies and tools they need to do their jobs and let them use them in the best way for them. Highly engaged business units have reduced absenteeism by 41%, increased productivity by 17%, improved customer ratings by 10%, and increased sales by 20%. Your company makes more money and has higher profit margins when its employees produce higher quality and quantity work. Content employees save you money on turnover costs because they are likelier to stay with your company than work for the competition.

4) The capacity to provide better customer service.

Thanks to workplace technology, businesses can now better market to their customers and provide faster and more personalized customer service. There are nearly innumerable ways that technology can improve your user experience. These include using data to determine where to place targeted ads, participating in social listening to learn about your customers' issues, providing immediate service through live chatbots or automated emails, and more. This can help your brand stand out and increase revenue and customer loyalty.

5) The chance to recruit talent from outside the region.

By opening up a more comprehensive range of candidates, remote work policies can assist businesses in overcoming talent barriers. Before the rise of remote work, employers were limited to hiring candidates who were either already in their local area or willing to relocate for the position. However, this typically required them to reimburse their relocation costs, which could significantly raise the cost of a new employee. With attractive remote work policies, businesses can hire the best talent and specialists from anywhere.

Adverse Effects of Technology in the Workplace Although technology has many advantages for the Workplace, you should be aware of its potential drawbacks so that you can address them in your modern Workplace. The four significant side effects of technology's impact on the Workplace are as follows:

1) Employees' inability to "unplug" after work.

Employees' productivity, contentment, and mental well-being depend on a healthy work-life balance. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for workers to disconnect from their devices after hours because they are so "plugged in" throughout the day. This is especially true if they receive an email from their boss late at night or can see the notifications on their screen from across the room as they try to unwind. This is especially difficult for remote workers, who frequently believe that in order to demonstrate that they are actually working, they must always be accessible. In fact, according to Buffer's 2019 State of Remote Work report, 22% of remote workers say that unplugging after work is their biggest challenge.

2) Higher dejection rates for far-off workers.

According to the Buffer report, 19% of remote workers say that working from home causes them the most loneliness. Communication with other team members needs to be improved, according to 17%. Your remote workers will likely begin looking for a new job if they are dissatisfied and need help communicating effectively with their coworkers. Give your remote workers the tools they need to do their jobs and build and maintain meaningful relationships with their coworkers to combat these problems and save money on employee turnover.

3) Threats to cybersecurity and data breaches

Security is a challenge for nearly every modern office in "the Age of Mobility." Multiple platforms and devices are now being used simultaneously by businesses to manage a variety of business functions. As a result, the company may be at risk from cyberattacks if employees have access to all this interconnected data. For instance, if a hacker gained access to one employee's user account for a particular piece of software, they would probably be able to obtain information from the other apps it is integrated with. To combat this, ensure that your employees use strong passwords and two-factor trade school programs authentication for their accounts, and establish administrative controls to restrict access to confidential data to only those who absolutely need it.

4) Lines of privacy can be crossed.

Whether employers should be permitted to monitor their employees' personal social media accounts is constantly up for discussion. Please ask them to remove anything inappropriate from their profile if it was posted in their spare time. Some businesses have adopted formal social media policies due to this ambiguity. In contrast, others have taken a more cautious stance and stated, "We are only going to address social media use in the workplace if it starts to affect productivity and performance." Unfortunately, there is no clear solution to this problem; it is up to each organization to decide how they want to deal with it (as long as they adhere to all privacy laws).

Three Examples of Technology in the Modern Workplace Numerous businesses are at the forefront of workplace technology. Three organizations have devised creative ways to use technology to help their employees succeed.

First, HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies provides services like remote infrastructure management and IT consulting. They practice "intrapreneurship," which means giving their frontline employees the authority to turn their ideas into actual value for their customers. HCL has set up internal platforms where employees can work together to come up with and develop new ideas to make this possible. For instance, their Worth Entrance is a spot to post client-driven thoughts, which empowers the board to survey them. They eventually implemented it as a result of this. In addition, employees can submit patent-worthy concepts to another platform called Intellectual Property Monetization (IPM), which identifies feasible opportunities and encourages product design thinking. HCL has successfully and excitingly aligned its technology use with its core values.

Second, Salesforce

Einstein, a CRM solution from Salesforce, a cloud-based software company, uses machine learning to build comprehensive customer profiles based on data, identify crucial sales touchpoints, and uncover additional sales opportunities. The objective is to simplify management, the sales team and customer service representatives' lives. The platform assists salespeople in locating areas where they can generate additional revenue, customer service representatives better comprehending the client's requirements, and managers in gaining a deeper comprehension of the department's overall operations. 

Three) Unilever

Microsoft technology connects the nearly 155,000 employees of Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company specializing in nutrition, hygiene, and personal care products. They make use of collaboration tools like Teams and Yammer, as well as Microsoft 365, a bundle of services that includes Windows 10 and productivity applications like Word, PowerPoint, and SharePoint. With the help of these tools, remote employees can effectively communicate with one another and exchange ideas and information. The management of Unilever asserts that this collection of tools has significantly improved workplace collaboration and productivity.

The Impact of Technology on the Workplace In general, the technology significantly impacts the Workplace. Now, software, an application, or a platform can help almost any business project. These projects can help remote employees work together, make customers happier, build a more robust company culture, increase revenue, or eliminate inefficiencies that waste time and money.

Your business could quickly stagnate or, even worse, fall behind the competition if you do not use technology to its full potential. This can be extremely harmful in a world where businesses rapidly adopt cutting-edge business tools and invest in new workplace technologies.

Your rivals, who have prioritized staying ahead of the curve, could gain a significant advantage over you by ignoring future workplace trends and putting off implementing technology in the Workplace. This can adversely influence the working environment spirit, decline income, and give your image an unfortunate standing among information technology jobs customers.

So, do you want employees who can work more effectively and produce more work of a higher quality? Is it said that you hope to develop further commitment and occupation fulfilment to diminish turnover expenses and keep your top ability working for you? Is increasing revenue and expanding your business a significant objective for your business? Having access to the right is necessary if you want to achieve these goals. Are you prepared to begin?