Research study conducted by harmon.ie.
Case Study by Alberto Jimenez (Zyndicate).
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Productivity (the amount of work that can be done in the time available) is essential for any worker in a diverse business community and atmosphere. And in order to become more productive and efficient, most companies provide to their employees, usually through apps and software. Employees use these resources daily, using both what is provided by an IT department, but also their own personal choices of a variety of other programs. Because of this, most workers use multiple platforms daily, all of which provide them with data and information, to keep them connected to their work. Each application with its own purpose and utility, together they form a variety of combinations unique to each user, but not always efficient. To be more productive in the workplace, efficiency must be taken into account. For this reason harmon.ie conducted a survey on 900 professional workers and how they managed their applications, and more importantly the information they receive. Their concern lies in the overload of individuals, as they are required to move around multiple apps in order to complete their daily work. The findings from the survey showed a concerning amount of bad management of applications and wasted time and effort on simply finding out how to do something.
Many different applications, with the same function but slightly different features are available to companies. In most cases, an internal department manages the accounts of a selected and specific service. And still, the market continues growing and each platform updates multiple times a year. As it was between 2016 and 2017, the usage of these productivity apps for workspaces grew about 125%, and as described by “The False Promise of the App Economy,” (the independent survey mentioned previously), each one requires a specific username and password that are either all nearly identical therefore not secure or nearly impossible to be memorized by every single worker. Plus, the amount of apps that have to be downloaded onto devices is usually an unnecessary waste. Then, each one provides its own information, which might be regarding: communications, reminders, files, notes, presentations, etc. And, at that point, everything is saved, but essentially lost and unfindable after it has been used or completed. With the regular worker using about 9 apps daily, many claim it is hard to keep up and when they change services, they are required to complete training to be able to understand the interface. The distractions created by having to swap from one program to another not only makes it less efficient, it also wastes time that could be saved by making everything simpler and using what each individual already understands. The survey queried a sample population, consisting of 65% men and 4% women, coming from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, and India. Therefore, it provides a vast analysis from completely different workspaces and environments that together help answer their purpose question: “Do all these apps help productivity, or are they actually a hindrance?”
With constant modernization, it is difficult to stay up to date with how everything changes around us. For this reason, about 70% of the employees stated that to them it doesn’t matter what application they use as long as they can get their jobs done. Although having this flexibility is a good trait for a worker, in this case, finding the right option could help significantly decrease stress and increase productivity. There are many different versions of apps, but all of them have something that makes them unique. Finding the right option for a business, even though it might be more expensive, might be worth it. But, the simplicity and the amount of applications needed is also important to be considered. Out of the 900 responses, almost three out of four regularly use over five programs, while the rest use 15 or more simultaneously. Using this many apps to get work done might be effective for some, but of this population sample, almost half revealed that they change between platforms should be unnecessary to get their basic work completed. Even though most IT departments aren’t the ones recommending their workers to use these ineffective combinations, out of the averaged 9.39 apps used individually, lots of communication happens through unofficial channels, such as Whatsapp or Dropbox. Also, everyone chooses where to take notes and where to work on their projects. While working on something, workers can’t focus on it long enough to complete it without distractions, since they have to respond to other things coming from different media. For example, about 50% of the people who responded expressed that on average, they check their email about five times per hour, plus different communications from coworkers through messaging apps. Less than half declared that they could complete their work by using only one window at a time. This constant change in sources and the amount of information the worker receives just leads to everything getting lost once it has fulfilled its function. In fact, 40% of the respondents disclosed that they would need lots of time to do so, even after having received training on their company’s data management application.
After receiving all this feedback, it was possible to determine what it is that workers need: as confirmed by 67%, a way to do all these tasks using the same window would ease the ability to focus while working. This shows us vital information on what it is that people need, and what a company needs to supply. Doing this not only helps maintain employee morale, it also helps with an essential aspect of companies, productivity. This is what the focus should be changing and what must be done to stop the ineffective information overload. Harmon.ie also suggests what is known as topic computing. It focuses on creating a system that organizes data by topics and categories, like services, by using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to make something easier to understand for the user. It makes an experience that focuses less on document type or application in which it was created but by relevance to a topic.
To finalize, I, as someone who would appreciate something like what is described above, do feel the usefulness of finding a way to combine what we use into something more simple. Every day new applications are made, but in these times what we need isn’t more options, we need a better one. Many companies focus their research and budget into doing things that simplify the experience of working, and that is the future of making a workplace be productive. People all around the world, including the population that was surveyed, can use this to enjoy the time they spend working more and lowering the frustration of having to find out how to use something to be able to do what you need or want to do. There is a reachable specific solution to this problem, and it is up to those who believe they can solve it to do so.
