Empowering employees through technology

As pandemic lockdowns around the world started to ease, employees across many industries began to evaluate their existing employment arrangements. I'm sure we've all heard about the "Great Resignation" or "Big Quit", with many of the world's workforce looking for better work-life balance, higher salaries, or a completely new challenge.

The market research industry has been no different, and many research agencies have been left struggling to fill open vacancies. As a knock-on effect, remaining employees have been left feeling overworked and stressed, as they are now responsible for doing the work of two or three people. However, there is a way to overcome this recruitment squeeze: through new technology that will empower your employees. New technology can relieve pressure by helping employees to work more efficiently and make their day-to-day roles more enjoyable. In this article, we will discuss the benefits of empowering your employees through new technology and how it can help your business overcome the recruitment squeeze!

Identifying areas to empower employees

The market research industry is constantly evolving, and new technology that claims to be able to help researchers to do their jobs more effectively is always emerging. However, with so many new options to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start. One way to identify the most helpful new technologies is to look at the areas in which your employees are spending the most time. If they are spending a lot of time on tasks that don't add value to the business, this is a good indication that there is room for improvement. Once you have identified where employees are spending the most time, you can identify new technologies that can help to improve efficiency and drive value for your business.

The benefits of empowering employees through technology.

1. Empower vs. replace employees
2. Remain competitive
3. Improve employee morale
4. Increase value to the client
5. Scalability

1. Empower vs. replace employees

As the market research world becomes increasingly competitive, it's more important than ever to empower your employees through technology. By investing in tools that will help your team operate more efficiently, you'll be able to free up time and resources to spend more time on tasks that add real value to the business. As your teams begin to operate more effectively, you'll find that it's no longer necessary to fill those empty vacancies and struggle with the headache of recruitment. Instead, you'll be able to focus on building a strong foundation for future growth.

2. Remain competitive

It's probably no secret to you that many of your recent leavers have moved on to higher-paying roles with better benefits. But you have to wonder if that business model is sustainable. As salaries increase, something has to give. Either the cost to the client has to increase or profit margins need to take a hit. By empowering employees through new technology, you can increase output while reducing business outgoings. As your competitors are forced to increase their costs, you'll be able to maintain your pricing at the same time as increasing profit margins. This will give you a significant competitive advantage and allow you to grow your business at a sustainable rate.

3. Improve employee morale

As any business owner knows, employee morale is essential for a successful company. Happy employees are more productive, more engaged, and less likely to leave for another job. One way to improve employee morale is to make sure that employees can focus on the tasks that they enjoy. With new technology, businesses can automate mundane tasks that take up a lot of time, such as data entry or quality assurance. This will give employees more time to focus on the tasks that they are passionate about and that make them feel valued. By making work more fun and engaging, employees will be more likely to stick around for the long run. So if you're looking for ways to improve employee morale, consider investing in new technology.

4. Increase value to the client

As the market research industry becomes more competitive, it's important to remember that your clients are looking for value. They want to work with a company that can provide them with insights that will help them to make better decisions.

By removing mundane and time-consuming tasks, your team can focus their efforts on providing more value to the end client by helping them to understand the true impact of their research project. This extra attention will allow you to more deeply understand your clients' needs and provide them with more comprehensive and targeted research that will deliver real results. By giving your clients more attention, you'll be providing them with a better service and increasing stickiness - making them more likely to come back to your agency for future projects. In today's competitive market, this level of customer service is essential for retaining and growing your client base.

5. Scalability

Now that you have increased the value to your clients, they are likely to be coming back to you more frequently to commission projects. As your business grows, you'll likely need to find ways to increase efficiency and output without damaging employee morale or shrinking margins. Luckily, many tech solutions are scalable, meaning they can grow with your business. With the same workforce, you can maintain the same level of output or even increase it. New technology shouldn't be seen as just a short-term solution, but as part of a long-term strategy for growth. By investing in scalable solutions, you can set your business up for success in the long run.

Key takeaway

By giving your team the tools they need to do their jobs better, you are not only solving an immediate problem but also ensuring that your research agency remains competitive in the future. Additionally, by investing in technology you are improving employee morale and increasing the value you provide to clients. All of this can be done while maintaining efficiency and keeping costs low. What could be better?

Automate reporting in market research

Indico Labs work predominantly with Market Research teams who used to spend a lot of time copying and pasting data from Excel to PowerPoint. In most cases, the end client for a market research project is expecting a report that shows them the results. Although the charts add value in helping the end client to understand the data, it is the expert interpretation and recommendations off the back of the research that adds the real value. This is where we come in. Our software allows users to quickly and easily create beautiful reports that clearly and concisely communicate complex research findings. As a result, our clients can spend less time on tedious tasks and more time adding value for their end clients.

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To find out more about our report-building software and services, book a demo today.

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