Productivity is the measure of how your business operates. Without a certain standard of it, any business will stagnate or fail. The overall productivity of your business comes down to a combined effort of the tools you deploy and your employees’ ability to maximize individual productivity. This week, we will take a look at how the emergence of technology built specifically for your business directly correlates to higher degrees of productivity.

The Tiers of Business Technology

When you look to add technology to your business, you typically do it to make your process more efficient, get more from your staff, and improve productivity. This digital transformation has three notable tiers to it. They are:

• Operational - This includes all business management applications, productivity, and communications. 
• Supply Chain - This technology improves business through data collection based on your business’ procurement, processing, and distribution processes.
• Digital Platforms - This technology is implemented to promote or sell goods and services and provides a lot of actionable information. 

Let’s get into what each tier entails and how it helps build a more productive business.

Operational Technology

When a business looks to build the most productive workforce they can, they typically provide that workforce with tools that allow them to be their most productive. This means adding technology. Today, there are more options than ever to maximize your employees' productivity. Customer relationship management (CRM) technology provides a construct that can track task progress, time, and interact with customers to keep them up to date on project progress. There are communication tools such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), email, and video conferencing. There are “productivity” tools such as Microsoft Office and Google Drive that provide users with all the applications they need to be productive, most of which come with built-in collaboration. Finally, there are collaboration features designed specifically to give users access to all the tools needed to promote productivity while also providing enhanced communication. 

Supply Chain Technology

The supply chain is essential to every business’ ability to produce the goods and services they offer. Some businesses move and deliver more products and components than others, but even service-oriented businesses need to have an efficient supply chain to maximize their ability to serve their clientele. Today, technology is bringing more transparency than ever to the supply chain, with logistics platforms, inventory management, and other systems built to track and manage goods, fleets of vehicles, and Internet of Things devices. These systems collect the data needed to completely understand how to maximize the efficiency of your business.

Digital Platform Technology

In the course of doing business today, it’s almost imperative to have some type of online presence. Many businesses have expanded this into applications that their customers and employees can utilize to move business along faster. While the CRM, file sharing platforms, and collaboration systems are digital platforms, when we talk about online digital platforms, we typically refer to a business’ use of a webpage, social media, and stand-alone applications to facilitate better business with their customers. The more these platforms integrate with the other digital tools your business uses, the more insight you can get on how to build the type of productive efficiency you seek.

The use of technology in business is growing rapidly. If you would like to learn more about how Data Net professionals can help you acquire and deploy the technology you need to build a more productive business, give us a call today at (760) 466-1200.