Paper-reliant trade and utilities businesses risk losing staff to tech-savvy competitors
Over two thirds of employees admit they would prefer to work for a trade or utilities business that was embracing digital technology over one that was stuck in the analogue past, finds new research.
The survey, conducted by mobile data capture service, WorkMobile, found that 67 per cent of workers in the trade and utilities sectors believe it would be more beneficial working for businesses that invest in digital technology to replace paper.
When asked why they’d rather work with digital technology instead of paper, a third (33 per cent) think it would make documents easier to fill in and store, especially when working remotely. 33 per cent also feel it make them more productive and effective.
Surprisingly, the technology that employees would most like their bosses to invest in is email. Just under half (46 per cent) of employees want their companies to invest in email, suggesting that a large number of businesses have not yet introduced this most basic form of technology – despite it being available for well over a decade.
Aside from email, employees are also favouring more innovative tech. 44 per cent would like to see cloud computing introduced into their working practices to make document storage easier. A third (32 per cent) would like to use mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, to capture and store data remotely. A fifth (20 per cent) support the use of mobile data capture, instead of paper-based forms.
Colin Yates, chief support officer at WorkMobile, said: “Investment in mobile technology brings a wealth of benefits for businesses, and also for their employees. Utilising cloud-based services, such as Dropbox, or mobile devices can make employees’ jobs much more efficient and increase their overall productivity levels. Menial tasks, such as filling in job specification forms, design blueprints or health and safety documents by hand, and then having to deliver or post them back to the office or store them correctly, will be eradicated, meaning that workers can just get on with their core jobs.
“The benefits are hard to dispute when so many companies have already reaped the rewards of switching. But, those remaining businesses that still rely heavily on paper really need to be getting on board with mobile technology to bring their processes up-to-date. Otherwise they could find that they’re losing some of their top talent to their more innovative, forward-thinking competitors.”
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