This market offers a more efficient organization, drives improvement on customer experience and digital engagement of workers via innovative technologies, automated applications and smart places. To this end, labor market focuses on the following aspects:
- Systems and platforms we use on a daily basis, such as operational tools (CRM or ERP) or collaborative platforms.
- Tools and features that allow us to improve our performance, such as analysis, automation and artificial intelligence tools.
- Hardware and devices we use in our workplaces, such as computers, phones or screens.
- The office or facilities where we work.
- Cybersecurity and network infrastructure tools, which are cross-cutting to all aspects and are necessary to carry out our duties.
The work innovation market is fully alive. In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic represents an opportunity to analyze and work on certain areas of improvement. However, it must be noted that this situation is not a 100% real work-from-home experience. For example, children are also at home and we cannot go out and clear our heads after several hours of concentration. This is something we must bear in mind.
What can be discussed is the fact that certain companies miss having tools that enable them to motivate the performance of their employees to guarantee their commitment and efficiency.
But there are some positive data too, especially in relation to efficiency in infrastructure. Both in Europe – and particularly in Spain – and in most Latin-American countries, it has been proven that there are excellent national networks capable of supporting historic increases in network traffic, such as the use of Webex or Skype, which has multiplied fourfold since March 13 last.
The need to be just as efficient inside and outside our offices, along with the growth in the adoption of collaborative tools by companies, has allowed some start-ups to launch collaborative tools that are less well known but no less useful and that are worth trying, such as:
- Miro: a collaboration platform that offers online whiteboards with a great variety of frameworks and canvas to work in teams, as well as many integrations with more popular tools as Jira, Slack, Trello, Box or Google Drive.
- Tandem: a collaboration platform that simulates a virtual office. It integrates a system that provides users with real time access to applications used by each of the team members while maintaining a conversation by video chat.
- askSpoke: a ticketing tool that uses NLP conversation interfaces to automatically answer internal requests of companies. Interactions are improved using machine learning algorithms. It allows for tickets to be created using a chatbot or importing them from Human Resources systems.
- TalkDesk: an omnichannel solution for Contact Centers that integrates automation and collaboration tools in an architecture designed to reduce latency periods. In addition, it includes several features to increase the performance of agents, such as advanced analytics or virtual assistants.
Given the wide variety of tools, it is not surprising that the so-called integrators have arisen: systems that can be incorporated into different tools and that allow us to create small automatisms by connecting them together. Let’s have a look at some of them:
- IFTTT: an integrator platform based on the IFTTT (If This, Then That) standard. It allows us to connect different third party applications and easily automate actions and tasks through low-code technology.
- Workato, Integromat, Zapier or Tray.io: are other task integration and automation platforms that use low-code flows. The main differences between them relate to the number of connectors or integrators with other tools. Zapier and Tray.io are noteworthy here. They also vary on their different use of Artificial Intelligence technology, such as certain machine learning algorithms included in Workato.
Several gamification tools that enable to identify OKR (Objectives and Key Results) have arisen in order to encourage job performance of workers and try to improve their commitment to the business objectives of the company.
These tools include games that can be applied to business operations and learning processes. They can also be integrated with other Human Resources systems with a view to creating a 360 degree view of the employees of any company:
- Centrical: a platform aimed at motivating employees and improving their performance through gamification (for example, customization of challenges or weekly goals), individualized micro-learning and management of performance in real time synchronized with other reward programs to drive the success of the employees.
- MindTickle: a platform that includes different applications that allows for the creation customized learning paths for sales representatives, facilitating onboarding and helping them through coaching sessions or by identifying skills to be strengthened.
- Culture Amp: a platform used to facilitate change management in companies, improving employee commitment, retention and performance. It is based on gamification functions such as performance evaluation and feedback surveys combined with machine learning algorithms to predict employee turnover.
Now is the time to determine which tools best meet our needs and facilitate telework for our teams. Likewise, over the coming months, the growing evolution of technologies like artificial intelligence, data analysis, virtual reality or blockchain will lead to the creation of new proposals and companies that see the current situation as a business opportunity. In this changing context, we will pay close attention to what work innovation market has to offer.