How to eliminate the technological barrier?
Technology has moved so fast and come so far in the last 30 years. Many years ago I used to be the finance director of a company that cleaned 30,000 telephone boxes in the U.K. Now you are hard pressed to find any. I also remember punch cards and computers the size of rooms whirring rhythmically. These days the speed at which developments take place and technology moves can create a fear in some - not everyone can embrace or welcome the latest gadget. So in some people there is a psychological barrier or a reluctance to try out or put the effort into learning, something that could save them time and change their working lives for the better.
What's the issue?
For company managers or directors of my generation, we can see the benefits of using technology within our business. However, many of us would rather have no interaction with it.
At PARiM we try and stay ahead of the vast array of new technologies and applications being launched - in fact, we use many of them to run our business, most free of charge - Trello to keep a track on everything we're doing, Mailchimp to keep our friends posted, Zendesk and Olark to help our clients out, Skype to run daily office chats, Dropbox to share files, and so on. However, we recognise that some would rather leave others to immerse themselves in technology and have others manage it for us. We hope they then report any issues to us and maybe occasionally we access a dashboard or a key screen.
Keeping it simple and easy to use
I don’t think that’s the correct approach, especially when there's a good chance that a large amount of your employees are of a generation that basically lives and breathes technology. Have a look at this article on what goes on in generation Y's minds and why you should learn to accept it.
PARiM software is designed with me in mind and to overcome this barrier or fear. It’s easy to use and quick to set up. If I can use it and work my way around in minutes then anyone can. There’s even a dashboard to summarise things that need action as well as displaying today’s activity at a glance.
Call an expert
I would advise these people to give it a go! Get an expert within your company or from the supplier to spend the time with you showing you what to do. The supplier should do this for you as at the very least this is decent customer service. Whilst you’re being shown make some notes and then play around yourself.
Online demonstrations are great for this. With the technology available it’s possible to share screens, talk at the same time and for each person to have a go at a program. Have you ever tried shared chats in Olark or Skype or done online demos or meetings in Join.me or GoToMeeting? They're great! So go on, hurdle that barrier and have a go, even if you don’t get things right the first time you’ll enjoy it and be amazed!
Looking for easy to use technology?
PARiM is easy to get started with and use regardless of your previous experience with any kind of software - it'll save you time, money and probably those couple of gray hairs you'd otherwise get from messing around with endless paperwork.