How IT and Technology can Transform Your Company Culture
“Corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur.” – David Cummings, Co-Founder, Pardot
Company culture is far from a woolly concept. In fact, if it isn’t well-defined or carefully considered, your business is at risk of becoming nothing but noise.
Your culture is your brand’s DNA. It weaves a story of who you are and what you value while determining your business’ destiny. How do you want to be known and remembered?
You’re here because you want to improve your culture by expediting a shift. Cutting-edge technology can help you. This is how.
Online Workspaces
An online space where employees from all levels can make announcements, have conversations, invite or ask questions and share success stories can supercharge employee engagement.
As a result, discussions flow seamlessly and hierarchical barriers are broken down to enable workforce synergy. This can improve job satisfaction creating a more positive working environment which will bolster an employee-centred culture:
“Highly engaged employees make the customer experience. Disengaged employees break it.” – Timothy R. Clark, The 5 Ways That Highly Engaged Employees are Different
A platform that can help you achieve this is Microsoft Teams. Big brands using this social networking service to enhance employee engagement and reinforce collective connectivity:
“We are engaging employees more deeply and helping shape company culture faster than ever before.” – Kathleen Hogan, Chief People Officer, Microsoft
Tech like Teams can ignite better working relationships. Staff can spark discussions instantly and across all levels enhancing connectivity. For example, senior employees can participate in conversations and give feedback to their juniors bolstering a collegial sense of connection.
And as CEOs share their vision for the future, staff from the bottom up can understand the bigger picture, encouraging a culture of inclusion and driving progress.
An engaged workforce creates a healthy, positive and beneficial corporate culture:
“Organizations with high employee engagement outperform those with low employee engagement by 202%.” – Jennifer Costa, Business2Community
It raises the bar for employee happiness reducing absences and staff turnover while boosting productivity levels.
Team Collaboration through IT Technology
Do your employees like working together? It’s critical that they do, not only for their own enjoyment but for the benefit of the business. A more collaborative culture can help you surge business growth.
But many teams find cooperative working a challenge without the right tools. A research report by ESI International showed that less than one-third of teams work effectively to drive project success.
Traditional communication methods, such as sending emails and following paper trails, can not only move you at a snail’s pace but increase the risk of communication breakdown. In the worst case scenario, this can result in misunderstandings and conflict.
This is where technology like Trello and Evernote can be a gamechanger. They provide digital blackboards made specifically for unique projects or tasks whole teams can share and view.
This software enables employees to find their own answers to questions and obliviate tedious status update meetings. Additionally, valuable insights can be obtained at the click of a button streamlining projects and increasing completion times.
Collaboration becomes effortless and effective which reduces disputes. This in turn creates a happier, more fulfilled workforce making for an attractive culture for new talent and customers.
Flexible Working and Team Learning
Your company is nothing without its people. Of course, you know this, but is this translating into your company culture?
“If you are lucky enough to be someone’s employer, then you have a moral obligation to make sure people look forward to coming to work in the morning.” – John Mackey, Whole Foods
It’s no secret that millennials, especially, yearn for more flexible working hours. This approach nurtures a better work-life balance which is integral to employee happiness and wellbeing.
Instant messaging and video service apps like Skype and Zoom can make the dream of flexible working a reality. It enables employees to stay connected with each other and their clients from anywhere in the world (internet connection permitting).
Skype’s video conferencing makes virtual face-to-face interaction a breeze: essential for building personal relationships between staff no matter where they’re located. And through screen sharing, managers can train employees on different tools and workflows easily.
Training is key to building a better employee-centred culture. Encouraging staff to improve their skills and sharing opportunities for growth within the business will help individuals feel valued at work.
LinkedIn has an excellent sister site for this purpose. Lynda.com contains a vibrant mixture of learning opportunities in a single dashboard which can be customised down to an individual user.
Broaden the scope of an employee’s future within your company. They’ll reward you with their loyalty and hard work. With staff that feel appreciated, your company culture will shine making you a beacon for new talent.
Ignite Your Company’s Culture Shift
At San-iT, we’re always on the lookout for tech that can help our employees work better, deliver knockout customer service and ensure we stay ahead of the curve.
Adopt a similar attitude and implement the tech you’ve discovered today to ignite a cultural shift towards impressive growth.
Positive, incremental changes to work habits has the power to transform your company culture. It takes time to see these changes, but technology can help you speed up the process.
Perhaps you already use culture-enhancing tech in your business. Tweet us your brilliant discoveries – we’d love to hear all about them.
Curious as to how San-iT uses technology to help clients level up? Here’s a stellar example that demonstrates how we enabled massive company culture improvements for one client.
