Boosting recruitment sector productivity with the cloud
The recruitment sector is one of the most cost-conscious areas in business: staying profitable in this highly competitive market means always spending cash wisely and keeping an extremely close eye on operations. So it’s no wonder that for leading recruitment firms, staff productivity is under constant scrutiny. Clearly you will be doing everything possible to encourage your people to be focused, diligent and energetic in their work - but is there more you could do as a business leader to help them achieve better results from their working day?
If you haven’t done so already, migrating your IT infrastructure to the cloud can make a tangible difference to business productivity levels. This is not simply an IT decision which only impacts your operations behind the scenes. It’s an important step that will offer excellent frontline and bottom line benefits too. Here’s why.
More effective, more collaborative
The cloud makes it much easier for your staff to be more connected, no matter when and where they choose to work or interact with colleagues or clients. A recent report from Deloitte shows that putting in place more effective connectivity tools increases collaborative working practices and
encourages greater productivity; all of this also clearly aligns with the millennial approach and preferences in working style.
Consider your team profile: are your most capable staff supported in their efforts to work together with colleagues? Is it easy to exchange ideas, to work across functions and teams, to share best practice? And what difference could this shift in work culture make to your bottom line?
More responsive
When your staff are under pressure from clients and are striving to meet productivity targets, the last thing they need is to be hampered in their efforts by technology issues.
An overstretched IT team trying to maintain constant connectivity whilst also responding quickly to software issues from within may find it hard to compete with the enterprise level responsiveness and robust support offered by reputable cloud providers.
There is only so much your in-house team can manage at one time. Moving to the cloud will significantly alleviate their day-to-day workload, mitigate the risk to the business of reduced productivity, and enable your IT specialists to cut downtime and focus on other value-adding projects rather than fire-fighting.
Better connected
For many firms, the decision to finally move to the cloud is often prompted by the need for seamless remote working. Working practices have changed for the better and your staff expect to be able to easily access files, data and tools when they’re not in the office, either because they are working remotely, away at meetings or at another site - or if they are putting in extra time out of traditional office hours.
They are keen to do a great job and to succeed in their role, and in the fast-paced world of recruitment, a time delay can have repercussions and cost money. So if you expect your dedicated team to respond in a timely and professional manner to client or candidate questions, they simply have to have remote access they can rely on.
Future-proofed
Consider the ‘chicken and egg’ issue with increased productivity. If you push for more output from your people, the chances are your business will grow. That’s excellent news for profitability, but only if you have the infrastructure in place to cope.
Increased productivity should prompt more work, a need to maintain or even exceed high service standards, and far more pressure on current working processes and systems. Business growth will also eventually lead to more staff and more clients and candidates to manage – all of which puts additional strain on your IT infrastructure and systems.
Migrating to the cloud makes a great deal of sense if you need a fast and effective route to scaling up. A cloud-based system can more easily grow with you and offers a future-proofed solution that will keep pace as your productivity, and growth, increases.
