Knowledge Worker Technology Utilization & Effectiveness
Are you cynical about the ROI you get on your technology invetsments? Annoyed that the constant upgrades of office technologies that keep upsetting familair processes just as they get stabilized?
Working in groups or teams is not just a 21st Century phenomenon. However the number of people working in groups and teams has never been higher. It’s fast becoming the predominant work structure, and according to a 2004 U.S Department of Labor report, this is expected to be the largest structure for working in business within the next 10 years
Being highly productive in 21st Century cross-functional teams, virtual teams, project teams, task groups - or even traditional silo departments, or small businesses - requires that group members move past their comfortable habits and adopt a new way of thinking about collaboration, coordination, and communication, and the structures required for implementation.
Human beings are creatures of habit, and no less so when it comes to how they work. Each person in a group brings their particular set of habits to the table when participating in group work. That “mix” of habits has the immediate impact of adding unconscious complexity to inter-group efficiency, and without any intended malice, naturally begins to slow and restrict group productivity.
The press of 21st century pace, the plethora of competing technologies for communicating and sharing information, and the sheer volume of work expected to be completed in given time frames are not simply individual issues; they are dramatically more apparent when viewed through management's commitment to having groups be more productive. Breakthroughs in group productivity not only require the transformation of tribal habits, but also require the technology and structure for the continual fulfillment of new group practices. So often today the strategy for providing group productivity is to throw some sort of collection of software and hardware technologies into the group mix and hope the group members will figure out what to do with it all. The result? A poor ROI on technology investments and perpetual worker resistance to further change.
Technology is crucial to developing the collaborative, coordinative, and communicative requirements of highly productive teams. However, like using a hammer to install a screw, it requires a context for implementation. No context, wrong tool, poor ROI. Distinctions provides a two ended expertise in the acquistion and implementation of your technological mix. While consulting on Technology Utilization, we may recommend software purchases, we are not software venders. Our analysis and recommendations are based upon which mix of knowledge worker technologies will provide the greatest ROI when incorprated with what changes in group work habits and cultural practices.
To have your technology work, you need to be clear about the collaborative, coordinative, and communicative concerns to be fulfilled and the measurable outcomes to be realized from using the technology. Group throughput is not accidental nor haphazrd. For many clients increasing the ROI on their technology is not a function of technology upgrades or new technology. Rather it's a function of shifting old practices and providing protocols for the ways existing technology will be used to enhance throughput, grow the group's productivity, and increase your technology ROI.