In the early days of the pandemic, a clear divide emerged between businesses that had already embraced digital technologies and those that hadn’t. The former were able to shift to remote working with minimal disruption, for example, while the latter scrambled to keep the lights on. Neither group was left in any doubt about the importance of technology for business continuity.
Some late adopters of workplace tech have since invested in tools that have improved their agility and efficiency and helped them to implement hybrid working. But if you’re still looking to transform your business, here are five ways that tech can help:
1 Improved collaboration
It’s fair to say that without collaboration software, effective remote and hybrid working would be almost impossible for most businesses. That’s because collaboration tools enable employees to be just as productive and efficient when working from home as they are in the office – something many businesses discovered during the pandemic.
With the right collaboration suite in place, it’s easy for people to work together on documents, share files easily and jump into a video meeting regardless of their location. Teams can chat informally too, which helps to reduce disruptive back-and-forth emails.
Businesses can also use collaboration tools to keep in touch with existing clients, connect with potential prospects and broaden their hiring horizons. Most tools are designed to be user-friendly, so there’s a minimal learning curve. And many are relatively affordable to implement, which means even the smallest businesses can take advantage of them.
2 Smarter expense management
Covid-related travel restrictions suspended business travel almost overnight, ushering in a new era of expenses focused on PPE supplies and essential home office equipment. But many workers faced uncertainty about what was an allowable expense, leading to accidental policy violations. In fact, research by SAP Concur found that the proportion of expenses categorised as “Other” increased by 58% from 2019 to 2020.
Thankfully, technology can help businesses to address this issue. Tools such as SAP Concur solutions empower employees to spend within their company policy – cloud-based expense software lets employees capture receipts and submit claims in real-time, making life easier for them, helping them stay within policy, and giving finance the visibility they need. Automation helps speed up review, processing, payment, and auditing of expense claims.
3 Closer customer relationships
Customer relationship management (CRM) software enables businesses to compile and organise data on their customers, helping them to strengthen relationships and design tailored marketing campaigns. They also do away with the need for customers to repeat important information every time they interact with the business.
In the era of customer centricity, it’s frankly hard to stay ahead of competitors without such tools. If you don’t know your customers’ preferences and how they prefer to engage with your business, you risk alienating or annoying them. And at that point you may find they switch to a competitor who better understands their needs.
CRM systems also ensure that every interaction with a customer is recorded and stored in one place. And because they are predominantly cloud-based, they can easily be accessed from anywhere in the world.
4 Greater flexibility
Cloud computing enables businesses to scale resources and meet increased demands without the worry of running up against the limits of server or computing resources. Moving to the cloud also means IT teams no longer need to focus on routine server and system maintenance tasks, and can instead focus on more strategic and innovative work.
Cost savings are another big benefit, as businesses no longer need to pay for the infrastructure needed to support in-house servers. Further benefits include access to cloud providers’ cutting-edge security technologies. And the cloud’s ability to make company data more accessible to employees can transform the way a business operates.
“Unburdened by on-premise infrastructure, businesses can seamlessly move data across their business and share with employees, customers and partners regardless of time or location,” says Dan Davies, CTO at Maintel, a provider of cloud and managed communications services.
5 Intelligent workflows
The right workflow tool can make all the difference to a business’s productivity – particularly when teams are based in different locations. Alina Cincan, managing director of Inbox Translation, a London-based translation agency, uses such software for “all kinds of collaborative projects” and “cannot imagine a geographically dispersed team working on the same projects without such a tool”.
She says it has enabled the business to work on everything from website updates to translation project management and training, and describes such tools as a great way to keep on top of tasks.
“Having a function like assigning tasks to specific people is really handy as it organises the whole process, making it clear who does what and by when,” she says. “Team members are notified when the project is moving forward, so everyone is kept on the same page, leaving more time for actual work and simplifying things.”
SAP Concur solutions help automate finance processes to free up time for staff, provide insights into spending and future-proof your business
