20 June 2018 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
Technologies that empower workers to do their jobs more effectively will be "crucial" in the battle for greater productivity and employee satisfaction, according to a new report.
The paper, Empowering the Employee: How Technology Will Play its Part in Creating a More Efficient Workforce in the Services Sector, by workforce management software and services company Kronos, states that organisations operating within the services sector are currently facing a series of challenges, with some being longstanding and familiar, and others brought by more recent geopolitical and technological developments.
Key issues such as Brexit, skills shortages and consistently sluggish productivity are squeezing profitability and contributing to an atmosphere of uncertainty for facilities management providers and health care organisations.
However, a greater focus on the deployment of technology in the workplace would offer these businesses the opportunity to completely reshape their working practices and revolutionise key operations.
Yet despite these evident challenges, the services sector has not yet fully embraced these technologies, meaning many have not yet taken full advantage of the power of comprehensive digital transformation.
New technologies such as robotics and autonomous vehicles may be coming to the fore, but organisations also need to do more to acknowledge the availability of other solutions that are designed to help maximise the output of human workers, such as workforce management tools.
Gavin England, EMEA industry marketing manager at Kronos, said: "The services industry is up against it when it comes to delivering in the face of current market pressures. Skills shortages mean that businesses are struggling to efficiently move goods and fulfil orders, and the potential impact of Brexit means that there needs to be a major focus on improving operational efficiencies and streamlining core processes, while keeping staff morale high. The pressure to increase bottom-line profitability in the face of such challenges is very real, and one of the most effective ways that this can be done is by empowering managers and employees to do their jobs more effectively with the resources they currently have."
By placing greater emphasis on the adoption of the most innovative workforce management technologies, England believes that productivity woes can be tackled, and businesses operating in the services sector can offset the impact of factors that are beyond their control.