By Stephane Bensoussan, Head of Operations dizmo
Stephane Bensoussan
There are many factors impacting businesses globally, creating an environment of rapid change that must be managed for continued success. Business leaders must prepare for a period of economic downturn and market unpredictability. Many industries are navigating ongoing supply chain issues causing delays and shortages of necessary goods. In addition, most companies are still adapting to the new working landscape, introducing structures encompassing hybrid work and non-traditional employee benefits to retain and attract talent.
Businesses are under pressure within this climate to design a strategy for digital transformation as technological progress accelerates and current systems and structures struggle to cope with increasing change.
Current management resource solutions vs industry needs
Digital transformation is a multi-stage process of utilising technology to modify and develop business processes to meet new market and industry requirements. Updating processes with digitally augmented solutions is a necessary step towards future-proofing a company.
This climate of rapid change has highlighted how current resource management solutions may not be up to the challenges presented by the current business environment. Many of these solutions were not initially designed for the individual use cases of the businesses utilising them; but merely adapted from the mass market.
Enterprise software design is also yet to evolve with the trends of consumer software design, meaning that users experience a stark difference in usability from their personal devices. Many employees still work with siloed platforms designed in the last century with cumbersome interfaces and hardwired processes. Interfaces are clunky, interactivity is lacking, and collaborative properties are poor. Data is confined within spreadsheets that must be manually updated as changes occur, making communication and accessibility within larger teams and across departments slow and inefficient. This is a recipe for frustration, yet businesses have become accustomed to working with sub-par solutions instead of actively seeking something better.
Applying consumer software usability to enterprise software
One of the most considerable differences between enterprise and consumer software is the level of usability. This difference is growing more expansive with new technologies on the market offering interactivity through voice commands, touch, user recognition, and gesture. People have come to expect software and devices to be intuitive, adaptive, responsive and autonomous. They also now expect a level of interactivity, creating a convenient flow of data, and this is simply less present in the workplace.
The challenge for enterprise software developers is to meet consumer tech capabilities and apply these in optimising resource management. New offerings in this arena must also make adoption seamless so professionals of any skill level can adapt as swiftly as changing to a new smartphone. Rather than replacing legacy tech completely, new applications must integrate the systems organisations are already using within simple interfaces so users have visibility of all relevant data within one straightforward interface. To support rapid change, updates must be fast, efficient, and accessible to every impacted business function. Lastly, software must be customizable to fit the unique processes and needs of the organisation purchasing it -resource management is not a one-size-fits-all operation, and this is where many past tools have failed.
Industry adoption for optimised outcomes
There are various industry examples where current resource management technology is visibly not meeting the demands of the current climate. In construction, multiple resources must be managed to ensure a smoothly running system. The pace of change is significant due to factors including labouring shortages, material costs, Brexit, supply chain issues and the economic landscape, alongside the acceleration in technological progress -an area construction has been historically slow to embrace.
In healthcare, complex processes must be managed in an unpredictable environment in terms of patient volume. The pandemic highlighted where inefficient operations can negatively impact staff, resources, and patient outcomes when services are in high demand. Many services were already stretched thin before the events of 2020, and this industry is currently navigating staff shortages, supply chain issues, and funding deficits. Improving resource management is vital to support an ailing NHS.
These are two industries where multiple resources such as skilled people, specialist equipment, and various locations, must be managed on a large scale. The lack of customisable, efficient, and intuitive planning and scheduling software has personnel reverting to manual solutions such as whiteboards and Post-it notes as spreadsheets are slow and siloed, which is absurd in contrast to the level of technological potential we have at our fingertips in other environments.
Future-proofing through technology
The need for digital transformation is becoming more and more apparent for companies and industries to survive the increasingly volatile business landscape. Streamlining operations through better resource management systems to set employees up for success should be a priority of any transformation strategy. From a point of efficiency and improved productivity, improved metrics on operations will be more reliable in determining further areas of business development.
Author bio:
Stephane Bensoussan is the Head of Operations at dizmo and the product owner of Planisy, the latest product powered by dizmo’s technology. Through his Large Industrial and Technical background, Stephane brings over 30 years of experience working in high-tech environments across marketing, sales, business development, operations, strategic partnerships, and R&D. Stephane is a cross-disciplinary individual who has the ability to bring new innovations to the market.
