By embracing new ways of working and optimising technology investment, leaders can ensure that their businesses prosper during periods of instability – and beyond.

Amid uncertain markets, inflation pressures and a gloomy economic forecast for the next 12-18 months, many leaders have turned to emerging technologies to boost their efficiency. However, with a tech landscape that is changing faster than ever, their first step should be to check on their existing tech investments to ensure they are paying off.

Talent management must also be adapted and refined for the current economic climate. In light of current talent shortages, organisations need to consider how they can get the most out of their people without compromising the employee experience.

To set your tech and talent strategies up for success in unstable times, try these five tips.

1. Leverage tech to cut costs

The best way to combat inflation, high-interest rates and slowing customer demand is by making sure you are running your business as efficiently as possible. Businesses need to ensure their investments in technology are paying off. 

Ask yourself: Are you maximising your opportunities to serve customers via digital channels that will improve their experience and brand loyalty? Are you using business process automation to eliminate low-level manual tasks and free up employees to tackle higher-value and more meaningful tasks? Is your employee experience up to scratch? The last thing you need in an economic dip is to lose the people who are essential to your success. 

2. Become a net creator of talent

The borders may have returned to regular programming, but skills shortages continue to challenge industries. In Australia, we don’t have enough nurses, tradies, chefs and care workers to meet our demands. In the tech sector, we have an acute shortage of software engineers, cloud architects and cybersecurity analysts. These shortages are a drag on the economy and are a sign that Australia needs to build its skills pipeline to make it easier to establish careers in high-demand industries. 

Rather than purely focusing recruitment and professional development on qualifications, applying a skills-based approach can ensure that you not only hire the right people, but that you develop and invest in the people you have on board. As a result, your recruitment pool will expand to capture those who may not have a traditional or technical background, but instead bring the skills they can adapt to the role and contribute to. This also allows employees to be exposed to diverse experiences to further develop their skills which they contribute back to the organisation tenfold. 

3. Recognise hybrid work as the game-changer it is

The massive shift towards remote working during the pandemic sparked a profound change in attitudes to work – and there is no going back. ‘Quiet quitting’, the ‘Great Resignation’ and the unexpected career pivots we saw from colleagues and friends are all manifestations of a desire on the part of millions of people to work differently. 

It would be short-sighted not to embrace this new environment of hybrid working, especially given the talent shortages we are experiencing. While there is definitely value in face-to-face time with colleagues, back-to-office mandates won’t cut it. But it’s also about more than just agreeing that staff can work from home for part of the week. 

“The cloud is an incredibly powerful vehicle that, in the right hands, can transform business and accelerate value creation.”

Hybrid work changes how teams collaborate, how you use your office spaces and the definition of employee productivity and wellbeing. Done well, hybrid work and employing the best digital tools and platforms to enable collaboration, can transform your business in a very positive way. It opens access to talented individuals who would never have applied for a 9-5 office cubicle job. 

Every organisation must find its own hybrid working sweet spot, but it is no longer an optional nice-to-have.

4. Put data at the heart of your business

Salesforce’s Marc Benioff once said, “Speed is the new currency of business.” He was right, but pairing that speed with data and insights is even more powerful. Thanks in large part to the incredible tools and applications available in the cloud, every business has the opportunity to glean insights from its data that can inform changes, save time and money and improve customer and employee satisfaction.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been talked about for several years now, but this year many organisations will start to put them to use for the first time. We are also entering the era of predictive analytics, which combines historical data, statistical modelling and machine learning to forecast business outcomes.

But data is complex, and needs careful consideration and planning. In no other context is the term “garbage in, garbage out” more relevant than in data analytics. 

Data is too often locked up in inaccessible formats, ignored and used inappropriately. To be a data-driven organisation is to commit to a pathway that ultimately makes you more efficient and competitive. But do you have the capability to start down that path? The businesses that can create the most value from their data the quickest will outperform their peers. 

5. Make the cloud work for you     

Most Australian businesses and public sector organisations are now operating in the cloud or are in the midst of a cloud migration project. The result, according to numerous independent results, is billions of dollars’ worth of productivity gains to the economy.

The cloud is an incredibly powerful vehicle that, in the right hands, can transform business and accelerate value creation. But to maximise outcomes and business benefits, careful planning is required before you adopt cloud platforms. 

Businesses that have already migrated to the cloud need to embrace cloud ‘FinOps’ (financial operations), tools and processes that ensure your return on investment is maximised and unnecessary costs are removed across all areas of IT budgets.      

Businesses that can focus on getting it right in these five areas will put themselves in the best possible position regardless of the market challenges outside their control.

Alex Coates is the Managing Director of Datacom Australia.

How is your organisation preparing for the future world of work? Develop a successful HR strategic plan with the help of AHRI’s short course on HR Strategy Planning.