If you don’t start integrating cloud solutions and mobile working conditions, your business won’t last.
It’s a grim message – but that’s the reality… Business leaders who don’t believe they need to adapt to the new world of work will soon find they simply can’t compete with those who are – especially when the NBN starts to rollout within Australia.
A key issue is that too many business leaders think the cloud is simply a technology, instead of seeing it as a concept. They don’t actually understand that cloud computing has very little to do with IT, and everything to do with how the organisation is managing its own future. Failure to adopt this first level of understanding will likely see a business as a casualty on the super highway, rather than a winner on the superhighway.
Despite advising on how “cloud for business” increases efficiency, and boosts revenue – it isn’t cutting through for many SME’s. This is concerning given that the Australian NBN is just around the corner.
What’s the Barrier?
Well, mostly it’s a case of old habits die-hard. The ol’ chestnut of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality.
The new reality is, it is broken! Certainly there is an unwillingness to change but ultimately is it a lack of awareness, education and the perception that the solutions are complicated (and costly).
One example of a technology which was slow to be adopted, but later become industry standard, is email. However, email as a technology is now a scourge on productivity, and a component of the so-called old world of work. Indeed McKinsey Report from July 2012 found that the average worker spends 28 per cent of the workweek managing email.
When social technologies are fully adopted, thereby eliminating tasks such as tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks, the research suggests companies stand to raise productivity by 20 to 25 percent.
Cloud tools exist for almost any business, any activity, and any role – Yet there are also still businesses that use pen and paper for accounting.
Furthermore, the mobile and remote workforce is on the climb. The pirmary driver is scarce resources (talent) and the want to keep talent. The application of the business cloud and the NBN within Australia will see more and more businesses adapting their processes for those workers who are not geographically located near the office.
All in all – changes in technology, and changes in society, go hand-in-hand.
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