How can workplace technology help your team stop wasting time on unproductive tasks?

Imagine the majority of your team’s week not being taken up completing routine tasks. Imagine using software designed to make life as simple as possible while addressing your team’s pain points and needs. Imagine not needing to spend hours a day on outdated systems that don’t work the same way your business does.

More and more, we’re hearing of how software issues are resulting in poor productivity. Employees are struggling to access the data they need or are using too many isolated systems, and therefore wasting time entering multiple passwords and usernames, trying to remember how to use different interfaces or just having to hunt for the information they need. But just as it might seem that technology is limiting the workplace in this respect, it can also be the key to unlocking so much more.

As technology continues to play a growing role in the world, one of the most significant impacts we see is on the people who engage with it. Where there was once fear that it would replace and confine people, it’s now demonstrably enabling them to do more than ever before. By bringing the right technology and your people together, you can unlock incredible opportunities and really start to accelerate productivity across the board. Because at its core, technology should work to set people free - and when it does that productivity can flourish.

Technology is no longer about confining people or over-complicating their roles. It’s about helping them to do more with the freedom they didn’t have before. And with freedom comes some pretty great things!

This is what the right technology can do. It means your people can focus on doing more of the value-adding aspects of their job roles, which will ultimately make them want to give more of their best. And it means you can support them properly, through training or improving processes, or just being with your team when they need you.

This article will explore some of the ways technology can help you and your team cut down wasted time focusing on non-core tasks. Non-core tasks are generally defined as things that do not directly contribute to a person’s work. This includes admin, timesheets, expenses, and so on – although the definition can change by industry. 22% of respondents in our recent productivity survey think that minimising time spent on non-core activities will help productivity. The right software solution can automate time-draining processes and relieve administration burdens from your frontline staff.

Powerful apps to make the everyday simple

In today’s world, apps help us rapidly complete tasks on a daily basis. Just look at our smartphones and tablets, filled with all kinds of applications that help us do or find things wherever we are. But when it comes to the business world, apps are fairly non-existent - why is that, when they could prove so useful?

Some software providers (including Access) are now addressing and tapping into this and are offering bespoke suites of apps designed to help staff in the areas they need it most. Non-core tasks, like booking holiday requests or submitting expenses that are common to employees in every industry, can be made faster and easier through apps.

We like to refer to this as distributed enablement. Not everyone needs a full software licence for every system, they just need the ability to complete role-specific tasks quickly and easily, so they can focus on the tasks that matter most to them. By introducing these apps, people are essentially able to self-serve and help themselves to the info they need, as and when they need it, without having to disturb their colleagues with access or data requests, and then waiting for things to be actioned by other people. That also means whole departments that previously spent hours filtering through requests and granting access permissions or serving up data to other employees are no longer tied up and gain back countless hours to focus on the real value-adding tasks that will drive your organisation’s success.

The right data at the right time

Getting the numbers right is essential for any business, and the right software can deliver the highest levels of accuracy.

Our research showed that 53% of our respondents need to access data on a daily basis to do their jobs, with a further 39% needing access to data weekly.

Despite the regular need to share data across teams, almost half of mid-sized businesses exist in a ‘supply and demand’ data economy with no direct access to the data they need.

Having a single source of data means staff across different departments, sites, and even remote workers have access to the same information. This helps to retain data integrity and minimise errors because all employees can update information from wherever they are. Subsequently, they will also spend less time trying to find what they need.

Automation freedom

If you feel like you spend far too much of your time on routine tasks, then you’re probably not alone. The definition of these tasks can change by industry, but they tend to have one thing in common: they’re a drain on both people and time. The report finds that employees overall are spending 16% of their time on non-core tasks. More worryingly, the productivity challenge worsens as companies grow: SME employees spend 26 days a year on non-core tasks; mid-market organisations (300-500 employees) have nearly twice as much downtime. So, it’s not surprising that 94% of UK’s mid-market organisations say they ‘need to improve productivity’.

This drain on our time can be especially frustrating in jobs we’re passionate about; no one wants to spend their days filling out forms or completing audits when they could be using that time on the things that really matter.

Automating many of these routine tasks allows you and your team to get back to doing the things that really matter to your organisation, offering support to your teams or simply doing more with their time - whether that’s providing exceptional levels of care or knuckling down in the kitchen. And let’s face it, anything that gets people’s heads out of their laptops and paperwork and back to adding real value to the organisation can only be a good thing.

By simplifying and automating a lot of these processes, you not only reduce the drain on your team’s time, but you ensure that those admin tasks, which are undeniably critical to the smooth running of your business, are completed consistently and effectively, on time, every time.

To read more about how technology can free up your people to achieve more of what really matters, and for smart tips on the best ways to integrate technology into your business to boost productivity, download our ebook ‘Do what matters more.’