By Rakeeb Rafeek
As CXOs or IT leaders, if you are looking to take one high-impact step this year, adopting the right workplace technology stack should be that step. The challenge, however, is in finding the ‘right’ stack for your organisation. People either fall into the trap of going with the ‘safe’ option that’s been around for decades (and hence brings major bloat along), or with the ‘cool’ thing in town that’s ridiculously expensive for the value it offers.
The right workplace technology stack, on the other hand, will leapfrog your organisation’s efficiency, collaboration, and culture—thereby enabling a more human-centric way of working. Let me explain this through scenarios.
- Provides flexibility
Kavya, a project manager, is working remotely from a different time zone than her team for a month. With the right Unified Communication as a Service Suite (UCaaS), she can still meet people through virtual meetings, share ideas, and collaborate on documents in real time. She can also stay connected with her mentees and look into their grievances daily.
The internal communications tool ideally comes with chat features to enable easier conversations and integrated file sharing to ensure everyone has access to the latest project updates. This means that Kavya can still manage her team while attending a family member’s medical treatment in a different country.
2. Brings in discipline
Pankaj oversees multiple major construction projects in Chennai simultaneously for his new company. Each of these projects is in different parts of Chennai and needs a varied workforce. Amidst legal delays, optimising the time of his staff is quite a task, especially for a new company with only a few projects and resources in hand.
With the help of a project management software, he can efficiently allocate resources based on project priorities and deadlines. He can accommodate expected delays owing to rains or other issues. The software additionally provides insights into each team member’s workload, allowing Pankaj to distribute tasks evenly and prevent burnout. Such software would also bring job costing calculations by comparing the committed cost against the actual cost.
3. Gives recognition to employees
Harish, a copywriter, just finished executing a crucial ad campaign for AltCan, writing a compelling tagline that elevated the overall campaign. While some of his colleagues did appreciate him in person, a peer-to-peer recognition software, which comes as part of the employee experience stack, can enable others to publicly recognise him with personalised messages, a virtual “kudos”, or a “copywriting guru” badge—helping him create a lasting impression in the company.
The ability to tailor recognition to individual strengths will make employees feel valued for their unique skills, fostering a sense of being appreciated and job satisfaction.
4. Promotes learning
Hyfa, a fresh graduate, joined a sales team at a technology company. Initially tasked with cold calling potential clients, she struggled with effective communication and understanding complex product features.
Hyfa’s company hosted a variety of courses, documentation, and knowledge base on its learning management software embedded into the workplace tech stack. This included the best practices, previous experiments, and anecdotes from senior employees who had faced a similar struggle when they started off.
Now, as Hyfa engages in sales conversations, she’s putting into use actionable, contextual information from her own company’s past scenarios (and not random information from the internet!).
5. Automates mundanity
Sheryl is an HR manager in a growing tech startup. She has to distribute physical paperwork to new hires and also send numerous email attachments for them to fill out and return. She has to arrange meetings, training sessions, and introductions manually, taking into account the availability of various team members.
With a content management system that’s integrated into the employee onboarding stack, all of these can be done in a few clicks. Employees can be sent digital forms that are to be filled and submitted online. Further, an automated scheduling module can consider the availability of both the new employee and relevant team members. The new system not only reduces administrative burdens but also contributes to a more seamless and error-free onboarding experience for new hires.
Like I mentioned at the outset, the real challenge for CXOs is to find a solution that combines all of the above, but without any legacy bloat or a mammoth price tag.
(The author is Rakeeb Rafeek, Head of Product Strategy at Zoho Workplace, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
