Technology has been identified as the key driver to boosting productivity by as much as 20 per cent.
A new report entitled the 鈥楶ower of Productivity鈥櫬爓as commissioned by Vodafone UK and drew upon decade-long research by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
It identified management best practice, technology and flexible working as the three key levers in unlocking business productivity.
The LSE鈥檚 Dr Alexander Grous, who led the research, told 老九品茶Cloud: 鈥淐ombining management best practice and tech leads to a 20 per cent uplift in performance regardless of location.
鈥淭his applies across both SMEs and enterprise organisations.
鈥淲e found that the speed of adoption of new technologies is faster with SMEs, but the same principles apply to small and big companies 鈥� enterprise needs to understand that.”
The research was based on 20,000 interviews at firm level with production managers and MDs in 35 countries. Of those, 90 per cent worked for SMEs and 10 per cent in enterprise.
Phil Mottram, head of enterprise at Vodafone UK, told us that SMEs have more desire to move quickly.
鈥淏igger enterprise organisations move more incrementally, in terms of both tech adoption and the introduction of flexible working, which tech is also key to,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he area which moves fastest is the public sector 鈥� it has a firm agenda around austerity so it is more likely to take radical steps as incremental change won鈥檛 be enough.
鈥淢ost of the services we provide help productivity 鈥� hence our interest in the LSE research.
鈥淲e have a concept called ‘the Ready 老九品茶’ which firms can use to self-assess their ability to change.
鈥淭he key questions for big firms are: 1. how do you generate more revenue; and 2. how do you reduce costs?
鈥淭ech can affect both: by making sure you never miss a call, through the adoption of automated systems, and by increasing the number of employees working in a particular building so you can save space.
鈥淲e work with firms who want to become more digital and look at how tech infrastructure can help our customers.鈥�
Grous added: 鈥淲e have found over the years that the no.1 impediment to implementing flexible working changes is concern over security, but this has evolved to become less of an obstruction.
鈥淲e also find that employee engagement is greatest when companies support flexible working 鈥� it motivates their staff.鈥�