Modern technology continues to advance and evolve further. Nowadays, businesses are constantly on a lookout for the latest technology that can be implemented to boost efficiency and overall performance on the market. However, implementing the latest tech is disruptive by nature. When new technology comes along, entire industries can be disrupted and that trickles down to individual businesses and smaller companies.

And yet, that technology is crucial in moving businesses toward their goals. Technology has enabled more efficiency and productivity at workplaces. It enables remote work and helps companies and employees to improve their performance. Therefore, as modern tech continues to advance, businesses must continue to adapt to it.

In essence, technology is supposed to help make work easier rather than increase the workload of each employee tenfold. Regardless of that fact, numerous companies focus first on maximizing their immediate profits instead considering the implications of the new systems they’re adopting. To address this issue, there are a few ways to take an advantage of technology without getting overwhelmed in the process.

Stepping towards the remote world

Thanks to modern computing power and fast internet access, companies today can hire from practically anyone in the world. Remote work has grown both in popularity and in use over the past few years. However, even though a lot of companies are embracing this concept it seems that many business owners don’t fully understand it yet.

A primary issue is an ongoing mentality that everyone should be gathered in an office where managers can oversee the employees even though there’s practically no reason to have employees stuck in the office for eight hours in this modern age. Even when a company allows for remote work, there may be a tendency to focus on in-house employees leaving remote workers to fend for themselves most of the times.

In order to truly embrace and benefit from the concept of remote work, companies must build their culture around technology that will support the trend. That includes leveraging technology that will make communication and collaboration seamless, regardless of the geographical location or distance. Centralized databases are still a must, but practically everything else can be remote, in which case a company can save a lot of money on resources, such as office space and supplies.

How to choose the right technology?

In most cases, many companies first adopt technology that will boost their performance on the market and increase their work output, meaning they can produce more and thus sell more. However, if employees cannot keep up with newly adopted technology or if systems aren’t upgraded to support new tech, then problems start to arise. In other words, the entire company becomes overwhelmed. Just because a company can adopt new technology it doesn’t mean it should do so right away.

Instead, companies should look for a solution that will balance out the adoption of new technology and allow the company itself to adjust to new tech as well. For instance, consider what type of technology is most suited for your company. As an example, law firms whose employees jump from court hearing to court hearing could make use of reliable legal transcription services.

That way, individual attorneys won’t miss out on anything important due to the amount of work and the overall firm will benefit from their improved efficiency. In other words, look for a solution that will benefit both the company and the employees and make sure you train workers on how to use the newest tech. That way the entire integration of new technology into a company can be made as seamless as possible.

Preventing employees from burning out

One of the major downsides of implementing new technology into a company is the negative impact it can have on your employees. As mentioned before, technology should make things easier rather than cause employees to burnout. That being said, due to constant connectivity and use of technology, employees nowadays work more than ever before.

In fact, in the U.S. alone, 53% of employees work during the weekend, 52% work outside usual business hours and 54% work while on sick leave. The worst part is that this additional work isn’t optional in most cases but oftentimes mandatory. This increased work from employees might be beneficial for companies, especially in today’s competitive market. However, from an employee’s point of view, this increased workload leads to burnouts and numerous other negative implications.

Instead, companies should take an initiative, in order to ensure the well-being of their employees. One of such initiatives being remote work. Today, many managers attempt to help employees reach work-life balance. But, with the increase in workload, that effort becomes increasingly difficult. Nevertheless, companies should strive towards developing the best solution that will benefit everyone, such as expecting less from employees in the first place.

The newest technology is designed to help improve things but only if it’s being used the right way. Companies rush to adopt new technology, in order to gain an advantage over their competition but without realizing the negative implication this rush could have on both the company and its employees. Instead of stumbling in blind, companies should strongly consider a more strategic approach to adopting new tech. That way, both the company and the employees could actually benefit from it.

David Webb is a Sydney-based business consultant and an online marketing analyst and a senior editor at Bizzmarkblog.com.

Photo by Johannes Plenio