Why Employees Should Have a Say in Future Technology Decisions
An interesting grassroots trend has emerged in the past year that is increasingly driving the future of work technology: employees are afforded more say, and more power, in decision-making about what to purchase and use.
It makes sense. After all, they are the ones using the technology. But historically — for a number of reasons — this may not have happened. Workplace suites and devices were either chosen for them, or they were given a choice of a handful of corporate-approved options, designed to keep a lid on the support overhead for IT.
What's Different Now?
The change in this dynamic is particularly noticeable in industries where skills shortages and access to talent is an overriding concern. In these sectors, it is becoming more common for people to be given a freer choice over the workplace technology they use.
Recent research by Bain & Co found more than 80% of employees see the use of “modern tools and methodologies” as a strong draw when considering their future employer. Similar results are seen in other surveys: 57% “of unsatisfied employees say their current software makes them less productive,” leading to stress for almost half of respondents.
In that context, a preferred development environment, language, tool or device is no longer the deal-breaker it once might have been. It’s better to have access to the talent in the first place by forgoing the old one-size-fits-most approach, making some concessions and generally being a bit more flexible.
These attitudes are now starting to fan out into broader business domains.
People in business units increasingly want to be aware of what technology exists that can be put to work solving some of their most pressing business challenges.
Part of the value they bring to the unit is knowing what tools exist and how to use them, and that comes from a greater due diligence on their part to understand the application landscape. It allows them to become more of a voice for — and enabler of — change. In the context of the continuous digital transformation mindset that now exists in many organizations, this is a valuable asset and skillset.
Currently, the thirst for knowledge and understanding is highest for automation and intelligence tools. These are big focus areas in many business functions, and tend to work hand-in-glove. Intelligence is an important preface to automation: in order to improve a process, one must first understand it, and a certain level of intelligence is required to do that. Intelligence is also a valuable technology in its own right. As such, many functional business users want to understand it, both to get a better sense of how to create efficiency and unlock latent value in their immediate areas.
Related Article: Should You Include Employees in Digital Workplace Software Selection?
A Sanctioned Community for Experimentation
Leading organizations are now also starting to create new internal experimentation and pilot structures that cater to this increased appetite by employees to be more actively involved in workplace technology selection.
Learning Opportunities
These structures take various names — ‘tech lounges’, labs and ‘innovation hubs’ — but broadly have the same purpose: offering a physical space where people can come face-to-face with new and emerging technologies, test-and-learn in a safe space, and rate them for future use.
What’s important about these kinds of spaces is they are sanctioned by the organization as (psychologically) safe spaces in which to experiment.
The intent is not to create a free-for-all approach to the use of workplace technology, but to offer choice with some overriding governance and a deference to existing security and procurement rules.
Organizations have set modes of operation that have evolved over an extended amount of time. Bending these rules in an unsanctioned way may lead to friction with leaders and other parts of the organization, and become counterproductive to the effort to usher in flexibility and change.
The best scenario is to have a leader either sponsor or drive the creation of these community-like experimentation spaces, as this resolves one of the biggest barriers to change from the outset.
Cost considerations will also arise. While from a productivity standpoint it makes sense that people use whatever fits best to derive maximum benefit, these choices will at some point be constrained by what is deemed cost effective for the organization. This aspect of the discussion may be challenging to negotiate. The most cost-effective device or tools are often not the most productive. Organizations that favor cost over flexibility may be committing themselves to short-term gain but long-term pain. A balance between ease-of-use, productivity, staff choice and cost will need to be struck.
In all of this it is important not to lose sight of the aim, which is to recognize that decisions on future work technology are best made with more direct engagement with staff. Enablement of this kind of model will ultimately lead to better acceptance of work tech, and a happier and more engaged workforce.
Related Article: Why Shadow IT Is Your Best Friend in the Digital Workplace
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About the Author
Chris Ellis, director of pre-sales at Nintex, gained invaluable experience in SharePoint, Office 365 and the Nintex Platform as a pre-sales solution specialist within the partner network. Hailing from Aberdeen in Scotland, his work with the Nintex Platform exposed him to the full lifecycle from analysis and requirement gathering to delivery, support and training, contributing across a spectrum of projects in various industries and in some interesting places.
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