Is your Workplace Solution Really Solving your Problem?
Workplace management solutions remain more popular among larger firms. 95% of large firms (>$1B revenue) reported having dedicated solutions, either in specific departments or across the entire organization. In contrast, only 75% of small firms (<$100M in revenue) had dedicated solutions.
The value contributed by such solutions is constantly snowballing. In 2016, they delivered a 33% improvement in projects delivered under budget, a 27% improvement in customer satisfaction, a 25% increase in productivity, and a 25% reduction in failed projects. Altogether, it led to $175k cost savings per project.
These stats strengthen the argument for the importance of these tools in an organization. A PwC study of over 10,640 projects found that a tiny, tiny portion of companies — 2.5% — completed 100% of their projects successfully. The rest either failed to meet some of their original targets or missed the original budget or deadlines. These failures extract a heavy cost — failed IT projects alone cost the United States $50-$150B in lost revenue and productivity.
Investing in proven tools and methodologies pay off. According to CIO, organizations that use proven practices waste 28x less money than their more haphazard counterparts.
APPLICATION OVERLOAD!!!
Businesses today rely on countless apps and software for day-to-day operations. However, too many of these programs can do more harm than good. App overload brings confusion among employees, and a recent study shows that this costs more than companies realize.
A new study conducted by CITE Research shows that a surplus of apps is causing a great deal of confusion in the workplace. Among the 2,000 workers from the US, UK, and Australia surveyed, 69% wasted as much as 32 days a year navigating between apps — that’s an hour of productivity lost every single day. Monetarily speaking, in an organization with 100 employees averaging pay of $40k, up to $300k is wasted on lost productivity.
The same research — entitled From Work Chaos to Zen: How Application Overload Redefines the Digital Workplace — reveals the biggest problem is with communication apps and channels. On average, a single worker juggles four communication apps every day, which is pretty much like holding four conversations at one time. It’s even worse for 20% of the respondents who said they use six or more.
Furthermore, the average worker flips between apps as frequently as 10 times per hour, which means more time wasted. 56% of respondents felt that searching for information stored across different apps was disruptive while 31% said it caused them to lose their line of reasoning. It’s tempting to see each individual app as a problem-solver, but when looking at the bigger picture, it could be causing problems.
Clearly, app overload has an adverse effect on productivity, and the gap between executive perception and employee perception doesn’t help. Before signing up for yet another app, give your workflow a second look and consider the impacts of disruptive activities and employee preferences.
HOW TO COMBAT THIS?
In the CITE Research study, workers agree that having only one communication app would clear up all the confusion. Regardless of what the best solution is, it’s probably more affordable than most small business owners realize. A managed IT services provider like us can provide guidance that puts you on track for long-term success.
In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins, talks about the concept of the Hedgehog in relation to businesses. The origin of the concept is the Greek parable of the hedgehog and the fox, which shows that the winner is not always the biggest and strongest, but the one with a winning formula.
The story is about how the smart and agile fox decides to eat the hedgehog.
Day after day the fox uses his superior skills to sneak up on the hedgehog with the same result. Just when it looks like the fox is going to get him, the hedgehog rolls up into a little ball with his needles pointing straight out.
It doesn’t matter how much better the fox is at everything else, it can’t beat the hedgehog in this contest.
It is with the hedgehog strategy that the small, less-resourced company or individual can outperform the bigger competitor. It doesn’t matter if a company has less resources, having the correct resources will always one-up having multitudinous resources.
The hedgehog realized what is the ONE advantage he has over his opponent and used to his advantage? Although, before that understanding of the problem one needs to tackle is more important than going into attack mode. Understanding Your Problem Is Half the Solution (Actually the Most Important Half).
“ Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes of finding the solution.” — Albert Einstein.
What is working for other organizations might not be the way to go for you. After a careful assessment of the issues and what might be needful to get rid of chronic app fatigue, it is time to simplify the clutter.
Originally Published on www.crrux.com
