If I were to summarize why technology based in the cloud works, I’d say it’s all about the employee experience. Because, let’s face it – if employees aren’t happy, they aren’t productive. And when employees aren’t productive, neither are their companies.
There are many ways the cloud enhances the employee experience. Let’s narrow it down to what I call the “fundamental four”: Better decision making, simplified business processes, greater efficiency, and improved communication. Across the four areas, cloud software allows employees to be engaged, more cognizant of corporate goals, and be more agile, innovative team players.
Better decision making comes from better time-to-decision
In today’s fast-paced environment, reducing time-to-decision (TTD) is critical. By eliminating silos, isolating relevant data, and standardizing practices globally, cloud software both simplifies and speeds up TTD. Cloud computing can help bring new products and features to market ahead of the competition. It can point HR executives to the right hiring decisions at the right time. And, it can eliminate decision-making clutter, and allow managers at all levels to isolate germane facts, figures, and findings.
Our clients tell us over and over that in today’s instantaneous world, spot-on decisions, made quickly and deliberately, sharpen their competitive edge – and that the cloud simplifies and facilitates their decision making.
Simplified business processes for a brighter future of work
Employees, especially Millennials, want to have the same speed and ease of technology at work as they do at home. Millennials are a corporation’s next generation of leaders; motivating and retaining them is vital to current and long-term organizational success. Next-generation workers expect technology to be seamless and simple, and the cloud doesn’t disappoint. It integrates and simplifies processes. It gives talented people the best tools without constraining them to their office or desk. It eliminates layers of unnecessary complexity. And, it facilitates the transition from tedious processes to productive ones.
The ease, mobility, and simplicity of the cloud foster a welcoming and productive environment, not just for Millennials, but for talent across an organization – vital for the future of work.
Greater efficiency, greater profitability
Increased efficiency usually goes hand in hand with increased profitability. Cloud technology allows companies to deliver their solutions globally to all of their employees in their native language and on a unified platform. Conversely, legacy platforms, often twenty years or older, deliver tools locally and in silos, resulting in isolated people and information. The cloud helps create a standardized global approach to solving problems. It can eliminate situations where time and resources are wasted and remove situations where a company is reinventing the wheel. From hiring practices to retaining talent, to financial reporting, the cloud can play the needed role of “enforcer,” ensuring that best practices are in place and processes are operative across the organization.
Additionally, by replacing legacy processes carefully and prudently, the cloud brings with it a myriad of IT efficiencies. It is ideal for businesses today, following the direction to “do more with less.” The cloud streamlines the entire process of implementation, upgrades, and enhancements. Very little needs to be done onsite, and enhancements can be added automatically, in real time.
When implemented correctly, transformation to a cloud environment improves efficiency in every department from IT to the C-suite.
Improved communications
The cloud facilitates communication for any organization whether it’s local or global, small or a conglomerate. These benefits, stemming from the cloud’s collaboration and communication tools, extend to all levels of management.
For example:
- Collaboration tools allow every employee to feel engaged and involved, increasing innovation and productivity.
- Being able to communicate securely, in real time, with role-based permissions encourages senior-level decision makers to feel more confident in participating in discussions online.
- Real-time discussions can be tied directly to any business area and linked to relevant source data. The result? Simpler, more accurate, and more efficient discussions and decisions.
- Employees are enabled to use their own devices to communicate in the workplace. Having this option creates an advantage for both individuals, especially those who travel frequently, and organizations, particularly those operating across multiple time zones.
- At the executive level, real-time communication allows C-level talent to share changes in strategy with greater speed and agility, a critical competitive advantage when time is always of the essence.
Both the workforce and the workplace are changing rapidly – and sometimes unpredictably. The cloud is a go-to resource to ensure that a company’s people have the best tools available to simplify decisions and processes, and that software is in sync with the needs of the organization and its talent pool.
Originally posted on SAP Innovation Blog: http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/cloud-computing/cloud-sunny-forecast-simplifying-processes-improving-decision-making-02050226