Productivity growth in U.S. is modest at best, but there is a silver lining
How productive are we? According to a recent U.S. Labor Department report, not as much as we’d like. If you take a close look at the numbers, you’ll understand why. The nation increased productivity 0.5% in the last quarter – but that’s not enough to offset the 1.7% decline over the last quarter of 2012.
But there’s a silver lining to the Labor Department’s findings. First, weak productivity growth combined with increasing demand means many companies will need to hire new workers, according to the Associated Press, to stay competitive. Second, in addition to encouraging news for the nation’s job seekers, advances in technology mean small and midsize companies have new tools at their disposal to solve this complex challenge. By taking a closer look at their IT to uncover greater productivity, small and midsize businesses can lead the charge in making their companies more efficient.
For those organizations that are looking to technology as their creative solution, here are four areas that they need to consider:
Data management: Data management technology provides the foundation and tools for lowering the cost and reducing the complexity of wrangling data. And with data coming in at an increased volume and velocity, this is one area that shouldn’t be ignored. Data management covers it all from database software to data warehousing with business intelligence and analytics to database management tools.
Cloud computing: While companies aspire to have predictable needs, the reality for many small- to- midsize companies is highly variable and often unpredictable computing needs combined with neither a large IT budget nor a big IT staff. That’s why the cloud has become so popular. It delivers computing resources on-demand, over the Internet and on a pay-for-use basis – all without hefty installation or maintenance costs. With all the success around cloud, its popularity and influence on businesses will likely grow – and eventually move beyond just delivering efficiency and cost savings to actually driving innovation.
Social collaboration: While collaboration tools like email, instant messaging and video chat aren’t new, integrating all these tools -- as well as blogs, wikis, content management tools and other collaborative applications – into the company’s strategy, operations and processes is new. Social collaboration tools connect employees and collects intelligence within the company -- allowing organizations to share information and processes in real time across a geographically distributed workforce.
Integration of processes and data: As small- to- midsize companies expand (as they are often inclined to do), there are inevitable growing pains. Company growth can result in a massive portfolio of unconnected and sometimes redundant processes and data. Connecting this data and streamlining these processes can have a significant impact on productivity – ensuring the right information is provided to the right place and improving workflow. And while integration may not generate the same excitement and headlines as cloud computing or social networking tools, there’s a reason why companies still invest in integration. It works.
Economists will no doubt be keeping a close eye on U.S. productivity. The good news is that there are plenty of ways companies can make production more efficient; new hires and advanced technologies are just two of them. And while modest increases or decreases in the country’s productivity may not seem immediately relevant to the average small- to- midsize business, what small- to- midsize- business doesn’t want to be more productive?
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