Five ways technology impacts management practices and employees

Technological advancements continue to reshape traditional management practices. This means that businesses must develop strategies to introduce digital technologies and meet organisational goals. One of the first things businesses should do, even before defining a clear digital strategy, is to understand how technology impacts operations. Then, they can use this information to examine their existing environment to identify gaps that digital transformation processes can improve. By doing this, organisations can decide what they want to accomplish from a digital transformation strategy and create a path to achieve those goals.  

Konica Minolta has identified five ways technology impacts management practices and employees. These are:  

1. Drives better decision-making  

Making decisions is one of the most important components of a manager’s role. Decision-making helps organisations step ahead of their competitors and helps to redefine visions and achieve goals. To stay competitive, modern businesses are implementing new technologies to improve the speed and quality of data collection to help management teams make decisions faster and more efficiently. What’s more, technology can help people across teams to collaborate and execute well-informed joint business decisions. 

2. Automates repetitive processes  

Time-consuming tasks that were previously done by employees can now be automated with the use of technology. By automating repetitive tasks, employees are free to complete more valuable tasks, which not only eliminates inefficiencies, but also saves money by reducing manual handling and consumables like electricity and paper. For example, through automation, Konica Minolta was able to help The Smith Family manage its influx of paperwork and digitise student profiles, which can be saved into Microsoft SharePoint for easy access.² In addition, automating tasks provides management with greater insights from data and processes, giving businesses the oversight that they need to be as efficient as possible. Solutions such as business process automation (BPA) can help organisations streamline processes such as employee onboarding, accounts payable, and contract management.  

3. Increases collaboration  

Technology has completely changed the way modern businesses communicate and collaborate. Not too long ago, the formal conference room was the best way to bring employees together to discuss business matters. However, remote and hybrid workforces have completely changed the way companies collaborate. It’s now possible for management and employees to collaborate even when they’re not in the same room. Now, workplaces can hold meetings remotely with video-conferencing technology and work on shared documents with cloud-based file-sharing tools that sync in real time to keep track of changes. For example, real-time collaborative software such as Microsoft Teams and Slack streamlines business tools into one centralised place, letting businesses connect and achieve more together.  

4. Intelligently stores, organises, and manages content  

For many years, businesses battled with disorganised documents, with employees spending extended time tracking their whereabouts and wasting company resources. Now, technology has helped businesses effectively manage, retrieve, and organise documents, not only increasing productivity, but also reducing storage and operational costs. Enterprise content management (ECM) is a system designed to manage the complete lifecycle of information, streamline business processes, and make day-to-day operations more efficient.  

With an ECM platform, Konica Minolta helped Drakes Supermarkets automate its invoice processes so that all invoices are scanned for each store into a watched folder on the company network. By managing business processes from beginning to end, Drakes has fewer payment errors and experiences significant cost and time savings.³ 

5. Improves efficiency of employees  

Recurring and monotonous tasks performed manually by employees can increase the chance of human error, lower employee morale, and reduce workplace productivity. Having the right technology in the workplace can increase employee engagement and, as a result, achieve business goals and help drive the organisation forward. Konica Minolta provided Byford Secondary College with a fleet of multifunction devices (MFDs) and managed print services to minimise costs and complexity. By improving fleet management, administrative staff no longer had to spend time ordering consumables and track printing and could focus their efforts elsewhere.⁴  

Digital transformation: a roadmap to success 

Strategy, not technology, drives digital transformation and maturity. A good digital strategy starts with identifying the gaps that exist within the organisation. Then, businesses should explore technologies available and map out a manageable path for transformation. 

At Konica Minolta, we help businesses tackle specific challenges by providing a custom-designed plan for a seamless digital transformation. Some of the solutions we offer, including ECM and BPA, can help businesses systematically govern the flow of information across their organisation and accelerate how work gets done with technology to automate repeatable, day-to-day tasks. 

As a technology innovator, Konica Minolta can deliver inspiring solutions to transform your business environment now and in the future. To measure and upgrade your business’s digital capacity, take our free digital readiness assessment today.

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[1] https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/australias-artificial-intelligence-action-plan/focus-1-developing-and-adopting-ai-to-transform-australian-businesses

[2] https://konicaminolta.com.au/news/case-studies/customer-success-story-the-smith-family

[3] https://konicaminolta.com.au/news/case-studies/drakes-supermarkets

[4] https://konicaminolta.com.au/news/case-studies/byford-secondary-college