6 Ways Personal Technology is Better Than Office Technology

Enterprise software is the stone age behemoth at the centre of corporate inefficiency that is responsible for killing employee morale, thousands of hours of lost productivity, and in some cases even the decline of the business. One commentator explained it this way:

“Enterprise technology has turned into an unmanageable T-Rex drugged with opium and chained with duct tape.”

There’s no easy way to say this: outdated technology is bad for business. People hate using technology that lags behind what they use in their personal lives. The way we use technology is constantly changing, so isn’t it time for workplaces to adapt?

A recent workplace study of 100,000 employees found that 64% are unhappy with the way their company supports mobile device integration. People are using mobile devices in their personal lives more than ever before, including for communication, commerce, travel, photography, and social networking. The fact that companies are not seamlessly integrating mobile devices into their IT infrastructure is just one of a dozen pain points that people have with the technology they use at work.

Consider these six areas where office technology lags behind how people use it at home:

1. Search

Google has been a godsend for everyone from high school students to Fortune 500 CEOs for 20 years. Having the answer to any question right at our fingertips has become so commonplace that psychologists wonder if it has damaged our memory.

Millennials, who are quickly becoming a dominant part of the workforce, place a premium on access to information — whether that means on the office desktop or their iPhone. A PwC study found that 78 percent of millennials said access to technology they like makes them more efficient at work.

That easy access to information exists everywhere — except for your office. Information in corporate settings almost seems designed to avoid being discovered, which costs time and money. Want to know what the procedure is for billing a client? You’ll probably have to go and find someone in accounting, even though the process should be simply described and searchable within the company’s digital consciousness.

2. Calendars

Need to schedule a meeting with your always-busy, jet-setting CEO? Is your VP of Sales always out with clients? Setting up a meeting with difficult-to-reach individuals used to be an impossible hassle. Now, apps (even those as common as Google Calendars) make it easy to see free spots in everyone’s schedule and easily propose a workable meeting time. AI technology can also scan your email and set up a meeting based on context.

Still, most businesses have yet to embrace intelligent calendars and rely on time-consuming forwards and backwards exchanges, slowing everything down and taking valuable energy.

3. Virtual assistants

Siri isn’t the only digital assistant in your pocket. AI-enabled assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana can answer your questions, help you keep a schedule, and set up calls — or even just play music that helps you focus. While only a small percentage of people have a human assistant, digital assistants are on the rise as people embrace automation to become more efficient.

A Gallup poll found that two thirds of working adults feel they don’t have enough time in the workday to complete all their tasks. A virtual assistant can be used to check in with staff, dictate via voice commands, or set vital reminders.

We use this technology to call an Uber or set up an impromptu dance party in our living room. This emerging technology can do a lot of good in the office, where automation is becoming the standard for successful companies.

4. Booking travel

Travel can be completely managed from a smartphone: booking flights, hotels, restaurant reservations, airport pickups, all of it. In fact, any small business person can link their travel applications to their business finance accounts to track expenses and save receipts digitally. That is the standard set by technology that is available to the public.

None of that flexibility or intuitive structure exists in the corporate world. An employee who needs to schedule a business trip has to get approvals, fill out paperwork, and meticulously keep track of paper and digital receipts so they can be scanned by a copier, stapled, and submitted upon return.

Companies lose valuable people because working in systems like that is drudgery. Outdated technology can suck the enthusiasm out of the most motivated team member.

5. Communication

We live in a world of dreaded endless email chains, where one person forgets to hit “reply all,” setting the whole conversation out of order.

In large companies, we still live in a world of endless meetings. Fuze estimates that more than $37 billion per year are spent in unproductive meetings. People can spend up to 4 hours per week in status update meetings.

Startups are showing a better way — agile, team-based working. If you employ millennials (or are looking to hire them), digital communication is what they demand. A Dell/Intel workplace study shows that 62 percent of millennials feel that technology will render face-to-face meetings obsolete.

Offices are communicating faster than ever, thanks to messaging platforms. Instead of trying to find the 15 minutes that 5 people have available for a meeting, a group chat will cut through the chaff.

6. Multi-tasking

It’s OK to admit that we have lives outside of work. Children get sick, cars break down and, sometimes, you just need to run a quick errand. Instead of disturbing the work day by being out-of-office and out-of-mind, apps allow people to be productive wherever they are. Mobile technologies let people take care of emergencies big or small while still staying connected.

According to Staples, employees cited poor technology as the most limiting factor to productivity.

Enabling access to apps that coordinate in harmony allows for a seamless workflow. The standard set by technology available at home is now attainable by companies and the benefits are substantial. Empowering people to be effective while maintaining a healthy work/life balance is crucial, particularly with the influx of millennial workers.

It’s time for change

If companies don’t give workers the tools that make them most efficient, people will go out of their way to use what works best for them. The world is changing and people are increasingly tech-savvy. Instead of sticking with what worked in the past, workplaces that survive will be those who re-assess and invest in technology fit for the current age.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” Albert Einstein

We’re Blink, and we’re building the intelligent interface to work. Blink connects to your existing applications and applies modern intelligence to cut through the noise, automate tasks and help you accomplish more.