Investing in solutions to empower the connected workforce is not always a simple decision for senior leadership to make. For industries like construction or manufacturing, adopting new tech may seem like more of a burden than a benefit to the day to day operations and workforce. With frontline workers primarily relying on old-school methods of communication (paper handouts, bulletin boards, or memos, tech) or manual methods of data entry, safety management, or reporting, new tech adoption may be a hurdle to overcome, but the cost of not operating with a connected workforce is far greater than the possible adoption learning curve. While every specific technology will bring a different set of specific ROI metrics to the table, here are three major buckets encompassing the general ROI of the connected worker and connected workforce.
The ROI for Connected Workers
Investing in connected workforce solutions is a critical investment for companies at this pivotal point in industrial innovation. The connected worker is a more productive worker. The connected worker is a safer worker. The connected worker is a better investment for leadership.
Understanding the potential ROI, or return on investment, for technology to connect a workforce and empower connected workers, is a critical first step for leaders. By mapping out the true ROI not only on dollars spent but in other measurements as well, leaders are able to better quantify the value of making the upfront investment of working through the learning curve new technology and process might bring to the table.
1. Resource and Supply ROI
At the simplest level, a connected workforce can save manufacturing leadership teams major budget spend on the physical items they are currently using to run their non-digital processes today. Specifically, paper can be a huge cost to companies using it for practically every form of documentation, communication, and record. Beyond the ROI to the environment, cutting costs on paper can really add up over time and save the company major dollars that ultimately can be invested back into something more crucial to the business. Physical space used to house or manage tons and tons of paper records and notes is also a positive return for the company opening up opportunities to save on office rental or even expand floor operations and increase frontline productivity overall. Digitizing paper processes is a huge resource saver for the company and will minimize the manual work that comes from sorting, managing, and organizing massive amounts of critical data captured on paper.
2. Safety ROI
The most expensive issue frontline workers and leadership can face is a safety issue on the job resulting in injury or in worst case scenarios, even death. The cost to companies and of course to the individuals and their families can be enormous. Both monetary costs and psychological and emotional costs are at play with safety and the risk of not investing enough in safety is just not worth it for the sake of employee wellbeing and the business as a whole. Investing in a connected worker solution for connected workers to align on safety initiatives around better documentation of safety procedures, data collection, and intervention is worth the ROI on lives and injuries along with costs associated with injury on the job. If a connected worker solution can save even 1 life and reduce injuries overall, the ROI is beyond clear for leaders.
3. Productivity ROI
Connected worker solutions lead to a more productive and communicative workforce. By removing manual tasks that might take up the majority of employees days, more work can be done. Connected workforce solutions also alow more real-time response and communication leading to fixes and changes in problems as they arise or even before they can occur. Taking the time to invest in and train your employees to adopt connected workforce solutions will yield major ROI on how much work is actually accomplished, leading to clear growth for the business.
See the ROI for Connected Workers with Anvl
If increasing ROI is top of mind and you’re considering taking steps towards investing in a connected workforce, Anvl can help! Learn more about the ROI of Anvl for the connected workforce here.
