Positive Change Can Follow a Crisis
Positive change often occurs with a compelling event or trigger that creates forward momentum. The current situation we are in with COVID-19 will change us forever and while daunting, heartbreaking and frustrating, the situation can present opportunities for innovation.
A recent Forbes article highlights that “a crisis eliminates boundary conditions and produces innovation accelerators”, which we have seen impact technology with the Y2K crisis and major cybersecurity breaches that provided the momentum needed for critical changes to the way companies operate and embrace technology innovation.
Now may be the time to begin planning how to innovate more, better, faster. Coming out of the crisis can situate your company with a different view on advancing important changes that have been on the back burner. Here are some important areas that should be on your priority list.
Support Workers with Digital Innovation
More than ever workers need to feel safe and supported. No doubt they have felt scared, uninformed, confused, unengaged, unappreciated, exposed and many have felt exploited during the past few months. Current GALLUP tracking shows only 39% of U.S. employees strongly agree that their employer has communicated a clear plan of action in response to COVID-19, which will certainly create significant stress for workers. Many essential workers are also frustrated with a lack of clarity around PPE requirements and access to PPE which of course is the first level of hazard control and prevention. A recent survey by Colonial Life found that nearly 40% of adults report “high” or “moderate” daily stress levels that distract them from their work, which is understandable, but highly concerning.
These challenges are exacerbated in companies still using paper forms to communicate work instructions, track process compliance and gain input from workers. Paper can be fast for the author, but there’s no efficiency gains, process adoption is slow, swift dissemination of changes is challenging and most importantly, actionable data is locked in paper. In light of the current crisis, actionable data is needed quickly to protect your employees and your business.
Now may be the right time to move forward with plans to innovate with digital solutions focused on safety, employee engagement, productivity, efficiency, quality. Here are some suggestions to consider as you plan out next steps for innovation.
Go Mobile to Connect with Workers
There’s no doubt that your workforce is leveraging mobile technology more than ever before to stay connected and informed. Over 96 percent of younger adults use smartphones regularly and the aging workforce continues to rapidly adopt smartphones for personal use. The number of mobile subscriptions reached an all time high in 2019 with over 8.3 billions subscriptions worldwide.
This increasing mobile usage also increases workforce expectations that companies will use mobile applications in the workplace. Mobile usage trends make it the right time to introduce mobile applications targeted at supporting your workforce. If there are concerns about usage risks for mobile devices in the workplace, mobility management solutions are available to support appropriate use in the workplace. These solutions coupled with the right mobile applications that support in-the-moment data capture can pave the way to eliminate paper, keeping workers informed, compliant, and more productive.
Automate Data Capture and Engage your Workforce
The most important aspect of innovation is capturing data from the frontline and giving workers a voice. Smart technologies can help not only provide important information for your workforce, but also bolster general employee engagement.
Capturing data from employees in real-time should be the goal. Identifying risks and providing actionable data to drive timely interventions and employee feedback helps bolster employee engagement. While engagement in companies is on the rise, only one in three U.S. workers are actively engaged on the job. However, studies show that workers who feel they have a voice, demonstrated through management action, are more likely to be engaged. This results in higher employee satisfaction, higher quality work, and more importantly less workplace injuries.
How Anvl is Different
We’re not just another form tool or complex solution that takes months to implement or goes stagnant because of lack of use. Our tailorable mobile application captures your paper forms in a way that engages the user and simplifies data capture. We know you don’t have time to learn yet another tool, manage it, deploy it and figure out how to manage changes. That’s why we do the work for you from the initial implementation to training to support and on-going change management.
Let us know how we can help. We will listen, respond and collaborate.
