Business unusual: Improving your staff's operational efficiency in a world disrupted

In a world operating remotely, improving your staff's operational efficiency has been demanded by customers' rising expectations for digital convenience.

Covid-19 ushered in changes that saw businesses globally needing to migrate staff to remote working wherever possible - and fast. Simultaneously, advances in contactless payments and online shopping saw customers now having easier access to goods than ever before online.

These changes have left businesses accustomed to face-to-face exchanges and brick-and-mortar service scrambling to meet the needs of changing client preferences, and it seems staff experiences have changed as well. According to IOL, a US remote work survey released earlier this year found that 83% of employers believed the shift to remote work had been successful for their company, compared to 73% in its June 2020 survey. Fewer than one in five executives say they want to return to the office as it was pre-pandemic.

As the customer and employee are forced further apart physically, technology has allowed the two to come closer together digitally. Investment in platforms, automation and training has opened up possibilities for businesses to both keep up the pace with changing preferences, but also free up time to continue to service clients with the human touch.

"There's been a significant demand for digital enablement through technology. Now that we all have learnt in a very short space of time to digitise many operations, our customer base will demand this going forward, especially where such digitisation produces more convenient ways of doing business," says de Kock.

Digital communication tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have given businesses large scale reach with staff members these past 18 months. Zoom itself saw "unprecedented" growth in 2020, with sales rising more than 40% in a single year to reach $3.7bn, the BBC reported. Learning app Kahoot grew by 1.5 billion cumulative "players" by the end of 2020, taking their total to five billion cumulative players.

A key trend enabling staff to deliver the personal touch is the freeing up of tasks through automation. Automation is the creation and application of technologies to produce and deliver goods and services with minimal human intervention. In some sectors, it can improve the efficiency, reliability, and speed of many tasks while also reducing costs, such as software that learns and improves user experience on an e-commerce platform.

Automation has been met with both positivity and pessimism in the past due to connotations with job losses, and questions remain over whether South Africa is prepared for large scale workforce disruption. Now however, in the new normal ushered in by Covid-19, job losses due to stagnant operational practices have become the norm, while technologies like automation have become the major trend for survival for some businesses. Forbes reported this month that hyperautomation is the number one trend to watch out for in Gartner's top 12 strategic tech trends for 2022, as it was in 2021.

"Changes in technology have definitely made it easier for the client to do business, without a doubt. In the banking sector, for example, it’s much easier to open accounts or to put new requests through by the click of a mouse," says de Kock.

Ultimately, the accelerated adoption of digital technologies like automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning could triple South Africa's productivity growth and more than double growth in per capita income over the next decade, according to McKinsey research. It could also result in a net gain of 1.2 million jobs by 2030, the research said.

As technology frees up time for staff to adapt to their new environment, new modes of communicating, reporting, and motivating will naturally be required. Training can go a long way in preparing your staff to adapt to the demands of online.

"One key area we are seeing where there is more investment is the upskilling of staff, to provide them with the enablement and the capability to still provide the relevant services and solutions to your customers. My view is that while the investment in technology brings in more automation and straight-through processing, it is not to say there is a net reduction of costs, but a repurposing of expenses to other areas, such as training," adds de Kock.

"What's really fantastic for me to experience is the investment Nedbank is making in technology to stay in touch with my staff, with my colleagues, and with my clients, and the investment the bank is making in my ability to study and increase my skillset."

Successful training techniques can include using existing employees to conduct and host training sessions in their field; hosting sessions regularly to reinforce it as part of company culture; and knowledge-sharing sessions across departments.

In using digital meeting tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, more staff members can join and participate from their homes. Digital sessions also no longer require venues, administrative costs and in some cases even flights and accommodation, reducing training expenses further.

Lastly, investing in platforms and hubs for staff to engage on single-mode, easy-to-use networks can be a healthy, long-term investment for ongoing success.

In the banking sector, for instance, a client of a major bank may require its staff to do all their banking remotely. To meet these changing consumer preferences, Nedbank invested in the Nedbank Business Hub, a single channel that lets business clients apply for new products, transact, request and track services.

"The Nedbank Business Hub that we've invested in, this platform allows staff to stay in touch with their clients on one easy-to-use platform. There's less paper, it allows self-service, it allows ease-of-doing business and that gives our staff more capacity to bring the human touch to our clients. This allows our decentralised sales teams to remain in touch and engaged during this 'new normal'."

Some of the benefits for clients of the Nedbank Business Hub include:

Convenience of a single point from which to navigate to NetBank Business or NedTreasury.

Track and act on tasks that are urgent or important using the task list.

Track the status of your requests for services or new applications.

Request services or apply for solutions online, with no paperwork.

To find out more about Nedbank’s Business hub, visit the Nedbank Business Hub.