Work smarter thanks to digitised processes – Three tips
According to new research from McKinsey, productivity throughout the world has been declining steadily since the 1960s, and we have never been less productive than today. Perhaps it’s social media that’s attracting our attention, or maybe it's the temptation to do the weekly shopping online – or something else altogether. Fortunately, whatever the cause, there is hope. McKinsey believes that there is a lot of potential for our total productivity to increase via digitisation. Here we offer three tips on how digitised processes can improve your own and your company's productivity, and on how you can have the most efficient digitisation journey possible.
1. Continuing education as a strategy
We constantly hear how AI and robots are going to take over countless jobs. However, while many jobs are already disappearing, new jobs are also being created, so it’s not at all clear how AI and robots will really change our economy in the future.
But there are things companies can do to prepare for the shift the new technology will bring. While those commonly known as "digital natives" or "digitally fluent” – in other words the generation now between the ages of 18 and 35 – often have the skills the more advanced digitised jobs require, it’s sensible to also include the rest of your workforce in these changes.
You may think your company would do better to hire new talent and invest in their skills, but everyone else thinks that too, which has led to competition for this new workforce being very tough. It also often costs much more to employ a new person than it does to train an existing employee, because the latter already have good knowledge of your systems and ways of working.
During the digitisation process, your company needs a strategy to get the most out of these streamlined processes. Invest in a strategy where you use existing staff and you will see exactly how productivity increases.
“Digital transformation
affects all companies, whether
or not they jump on the train”
2. Let digitisation spread throughout the organisation
It’s important that digitisation applies to everyone. We often see how business leaders speak warmly about digitised processes, but still use post-it notes and paper calendars themselves instead of the tools digitisation has given them. And we understand why. It’s easy to get stuck with old habits and it takes a lot of effort to learn new ways of working. This is precisely the reason why successful digitisation offers a competitive advantage: not everyone can do it effectively.
Digital transformation affects all companies, whether or not they jump on the train. True digitisation only occurs when all parts of the business are moving in the same direction, which means that it’s important for everyone to be on the same page when it comes to digitisation. It isn’t easy to get everyone working together with digitisation, but there’s a lot of research on change work that’s well worth studying.
3. A smart digitisation strategy
It’s important that you have an overall strategy for your digitisation. Any changes, any additional training and all the work you put into your digitisation process must be done on the basis of a clear strategy.
According to the McKinsey report, twice as many of the best performing companies had a clear link between their general strategy and their digital strategy. It also turned out that those who performed best had made changes to their general strategy after or during the adoption of digitisation.
Having a bold strategy often turns out to be what makes a company stand out, and there's no better opportunity to embrace this way of thinking than when you embark upon your journey into digital change. Contact us at Nordlo and we'll be happy to talk more about your digitisation strategy.