Staff Shortage? Don’t Panic – Reach for the Sky!

Staff shortages furthermore offer increasingly interesting opportunities for employees to seize new opportunities and hop to a new employer for more pay or better working conditions. This vicious circle confronts organizations with the additional time and cost of recruiting new personnel, training them, as well as with loss in productivity before new staff have gained the same expertise as their predecessors.

Now for the good news

The only way out of this trap is for businesses to boost the efficiency of their business processes and the productivity of their present staff. In doing so it is crucial for organizations to accommodate for a welcoming, pleasant and inspiring work environment and healthy and safe work conditions to keep staff in the company and keep employees dedicated to contribute to its success.

The good news is that there are great ways to do so, with new technology and solutions at hand for smart automation to make a significant difference. Let’s take a look at several areas where structural improvements can be made.

Hybrid Working

Starting with the New Normal, one area is accommodating for hybrid working, enabling staff to combine remote (home) working with flexible presence at the office. The pandemic lock-downs have demonstrated that most businesses can continue successfully with staff working from home and made this mode fully acceptable.

Naturally organizations need to ensure remote workers are equipped adequately for their tasks. With mobile phones and PC-based UC applications fully integrated into a company’s network, communications run as smooth as in the office, with full-fledged functionality available such as single number reach, presence information and call routing through the company network.     

Smart Workspaces allow disparate teams to work productively together in real time and provide easy access to tools such as click-to-call and conference capabilities, file sharing and digital collaboration.

Successful and complete integration of its remote workforce into a company’s operation, maximizes productivity and engagement, motivates staff appreciating the improved work life balance and paves the way for possible office space optimization.

Productive Collaboration made easy

Empowering teams with Unified Communications & Collaboration tools such as instant web based video conferencing, shared workspace, sophisticated team collaboration, calendar coordination and rich presence, drives productivity across organizations and enables individuals to interact efficiently and effectively with co-workers, clients and suppliers.

These tools should be easy-to-use, high-performing, dependable and stress-free, so that users can focus on the team interaction and what is being communicated and not the tool itself. With conferencing and file sharing made easy, no barriers exist and collaboration becomes the preferred means for all office communications. By doing so, businesses keep teams connected and motivated and customers satisfied.

UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT for instance is a fully integrated cloud-based unified communications service combining phone system, chat, video, screen sharing, file management and conference calling into an easy-to-manage seamless experience that is accessible from anywhere.

Re-engineering business processes through Workflow Optimization

Repetitive everyday tasks drain resources and erode job satisfaction. Automating processes frees up teams time that can be dedicated to more skilful and rewarding tasks, like interacting with customers and creating unique experiences.

As the nature of work evolves from static responsibilities to dynamic tasks, the ability to flexibly adapt workflows and quickly and easily integrate new applications into customer facing processes, can be crucial for organizations to cope with the dynamics of events, the market, the environment and society.

Organizations today still often struggle with implementing new applications and services, and swiftly integrating them into their existing business processes. New advanced software is reaching the market that interconnects disparate systems to become one’s own centrally managed application network. It seamlessly bridges IT and Communications infrastructures, integrates applications, data, devices and services and enables to dynamically design, manage, integrate and streamline business workflows through drag-and-drop menu’s in a swift and flexible manner.

A Welcoming Return to the Office

Making getting to the office and life at the office attractive is another focus point businesses should pay utmost attention to.
 
At the office, touchless access and integrated environmental control, digital signage, motion sensors, people counting, desk and room scheduling and voice activation can all support the ‘New Normal’ and makes coming to the office relaxed and enjoyable.

NEC’s SMART ACCESS for instance provides an easy-to-use, automated, private and touch-free self-service that guides employees, visitor or guests through the check in/check out process normally provided at a reception desk. A person’s identity is verified, reservation information is retrieved and an entry badge and information supporting a person’s stay are automatically issued. Hosts are automatically informed their guests have arrived. It not only frees up reception desk resources but also reduces waiting times and boosts safety and security.

To exploit today’s flexible location options, SPACE MANAGEMENT leverages the power of data and AI for real-time office space optimization and workplace efficiency. Besides automated desk, meeting room and parking space reservation, the solution includes attendance and occupancy monitoring, movement tracing as well as monitoring and optimizing lighting, heating, and air quality.

Reach for the Sky

The dilemma for many businesses today is that they feel digitalization is a major challenge that requires them to develop expertise in entirely new field and acquire more IT staff to support it. Staff that today in particular is scarce.

Cloud services however have revolutionized IT and software systems delivery and are evolving to become commodities that despite their sophistication are easily sourced and implemented. Advanced applications running in the cloud makes it incredibly easy for users to signup, access and draw on solutions available on demand and within minutes.
Moving IT & Communications provisioning to the cloud helps organizations reduce risk, reduce costs and increase revenue through better service delivery and improved customer experiences. Cloud-based deployments can also adopt new technologies much faster and more easily, with new functionality and applications driving rapid innovation.

Cloud services have numerous advantages, including one flat monthly per user fee and the peace of mind of knowing all software updates and upgrades are included and automatically made available.  Cloud based solutions are furthermore easily and speedily scaled to cater for increasing or decreasing workforces and to support staff with the same advanced tools and functionality wherever they are – in the office, at home or elsewhere.

Businesses with on-premises phone systems however, are challenged to leverage existing infrastructure and look for a seamless transition that keeps operations moving forward by adding incremental, flexible technologies that are compatible and easy to adopt. NEC’s UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE is designed to enable existing on-premises phone systems to leverage the power of cloud-based services and solutions while maintaining existing infrastructure and investments. Customers can comfortably migrate to the cloud at their own pace, while adding cloud-based functionality to their platforms.

So relax, and reach for to the sky to keep your employees happy and engaged.
Offer them flexible work options that improve their work life balance. Empower them with easy-to-use tools for sophisticated team interaction. Reduce latency by streamlining workflows and automating repetitive tasks. Make visits to the office welcoming and attractive. And without increasing your dependency on IT staff and facility management, enjoy the latest innovations and scalable services from the cloud.