Staffing Management 101: Four Important Digital Trends for 2013

Staffing Management Technology TrendsJust because your business is a people-centric enterprise such as staffing management doesn’t mean you can afford to ignore the opportunities for efficiencies and growth presented by digital technologies. Here are four major digital trends for 2013 you should be considering taking advantage of, if you aren’t already:

1. Tablets, Mobiles and Handheld Devices

Seemingly everyone has a smart phone of some sort nowadays. Obviously, the shift that has taken place over the past few years from desktop internet access to mobile internet access will not change. Figures show the impact of mobile Internet access—roughly 30% of all web searches now come from mobile devices. Now here is the crux: if you are not continuously working on making it easier for your customers to transact with you or each other via mobile devices, then you need to. And if you’re in staffing management, that goes for your field staff, too. At the very least, your web presence should be mobile compatible.

2. Apps vs. The Old Fashioned Web

App downloads are predicted to double during 2013 as smart phone and tablet use soars. Just as companies four years ago made moves to leverage Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, now apps are cementing themselves at the forefront of digital marketing strategies. Apps are redefining digital access and web experience. Now is the time to consider how apps can improve experiences for both our customers and field staff. How can they make interacting with you easier?

3. The “Insights” of Social Media

Getting involved in social media to build communities is one thing. We presume you’re already involved in social media at some level. Using social media as an intelligence tool is something else. As use of social media has become more widespread, the amount of critical data contained in the social media sphere has exploded, yielding great opportunities to gain critical insight into your customers and employees. Enlightened staffing management can’t afford to let those opportunities slip by. There are many tools to monitor and gain insights from social media. Here’s a good rundown of those.

4. Rescue Us, Digital Mission Control Centers!

The increasing availability of real-time market data and insights has created a corresponding thirst for them. It’s a thirst that’s difficult to quench without the ability to keep tabs on many channels at once, which has given rise to the movement toward digital control centers, multi-screen environments that enable us to simultaneously keep tabs on various channels (many of them social), track mentions of our brands, monitor shifts in perception, track the success of marketing campaigns, conduct market research and more. For staffing management professionals, building a digital mission control center gives us a tool to understand the real-time engagement of our workforce and the impact it is having on our customers.

So as we move forward with new technologies shaping our business practices and operations, attempt to keep up in staffing management and get ahead of competitors with digital shifts into the future. Make a killer app and shine!