Technology hasn’t just advanced in the past twenty years or so—it has made enormous leaps and bounds. Such advances are bound to have had a significant impact on our lives, including on the way we do business. Here’s how technology is changing the way we work today:
Telecommuting
Advances in technology and telecommunications have made it possible for people to work remotely; from home or another location instead of in a physical, traditional office. Telecommuting is now an acceptable and even common work arrangement for many businesses and companies. This has led to the increase of coworking spaces like the Common Desk, which offers office space for rent in various locations in Texas.
Coworking spaces are fully equipped facilities where freelancers, remote workers and small business owners can work without buying or renting an office space long term. It’s a great way to save money and enjoy a comfortable working environment conducive to productivity. Common Desk has office spaces in Fort Worth, Plano and Deep Ellum among other locations in Texas, so if you live in the area, this is a great coworking space to check out.
Communication
Technology has significantly improved the way colleagues communicate with each other, as well as the way consumers and business owners interact. It is now possible to hold business conferences and meetings with colleagues from halfway around the world, what with the numerous conferencing and video calling apps now available to us.
Customers can give real time feedback to businesses via chat or email, and businesses can promote themselves to a wide audience with the click of a mouse through the use of social media and email marketing.
Marketing
The rise of new media has significantly changed the way businesses market themselves these days. Advertising is no longer limited to TV and radio commercials or newspaper print ads and posters. Digital marketing is now the way to go. You can’t do much as visit a website or watch a YouTube video without seeing an ad pop up or or like the side of your screen.
Businesses now also have greater interaction with their consumers via social media. Every big brand now has to have a functioning, updated website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and an Instagram account to be considered up to date and be taken seriously.
Social media is a double edged sword. On one hand, it speeds up the feedback process and loyal consumers can stay up to date on new products, sales and promotions. On the other, it is now all to easy for consumers to post negative reviews and significantly damage a brand’s reputation if these “go viral.”
Automation
Advances in technology have made it possible to eliminate repetitive tasks from our daily workload and hand them off to machines and apps who can perform the work for us. In many cases, automation has resulted in more accurate work being done, and better consistency in terms of quality. Automation has also led to the loss of human jobs, and in some industries, many are scrambling to develop and hone new skills to avoid being made redundant.
There is no doubt that technology has completely changed the way we work and do business, in innumerable ways. In some ways it has definitely made our lives easier. At the same time, the challenge for us now is how we can adapt more quickly in an ever changing world, and how to add value to the workplace so we can remain indispensable.
