With the ongoing supply chain disruption, economic uncertainty, and soaring prices already heaping pressure on businesses, the prevailing difficulties finding suitably skilled workers are making operations even more challenging.

Competition is fierce for employers looking for new staff and there are now two job openings for every unemployed person.

And even if you are able to find new hires, it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep them. Younger workers are tending to move between jobs more frequently, with many eyeing opportunities in other industries.

So, how can software help with the current labor shortage? Here, we outline why using technology makes great business sense.

1. Handling Highly Repetitive Processes

When it’s already tough to find sufficiently skilled workers during a labor shortage, it makes little sense assigning them tasks that could quite easily be handled by technology.

Making the most of people’s abilities and skillsets is paramount – particularly when costs are climbing and finding the right people is proving problematic.

Software takes some of the heavy load off employees by streamlining manual processes and minimizing duplication of effort.

Automating labor intensive, repetitive processes such as paperwork, invoicing, and data entry, takes some of the strain off your staff. And by removing some of the more onerous activities, it frees their time to work more productively on something that makes better use of their talents.

2. Saving Time & Money

Businesses are ultimately having to do more with fewer people and there’s a constant pressure to complete tasks more quickly.

Software increases speed, accuracy, and efficiency. Factor in less downtime and fewer concerns about errors, misplaced orders, and customer complaints and that’s why more companies are increasingly relying on technology.

Adopting technology can also be extremely cost effective. Payback periods are often short, with users recouping their initial investment in no time. Affordable subscription models also prove far cheaper than salaried staff members doing the same tasks.

3. Avoiding Errors

Any process that relies on human involvement makes your business more susceptible to errors. After all, it’s all too easy for a serial number to be mistyped, a button accidentally pressed, or an action overlooked. Mistakes happen – but they can be avoided.

Even the most complex tasks are made easier with the assistance of software and technology, allowing them to be completed by team members with lower skill levels. And in a labor shortage, that makes it even easier to fill empty positions.

Digitalization offers complete transparency by providing a detailed overview of every part of the sales or production process.

Software ensures consistency by establishing a baseline standard that can be maintained and easily repeated. Operations become far quicker and safer, with full visibility of the entire workflow – so mistakes can be caught before they happen.

Fewer errors not only mean productivity gains and cost savings, but also help to avoid potentially damaging customer disputes.

Being able to access a complete order history, for example, confirming when product was shipped or delivered, or that it met the right specification, helps avoid potentially difficult situations and smooths relationships.

4. Continuity and Minimal Disruption

Even the hardest working employees need a break now and again – but software doesn’t take time off for sick days or vacations!

Software can be depended upon, day in and day out. Even when the orders are flooding in and pressure is mounting, software provides consistency and stability for a business.

With human error minimized and performance constantly monitored, the likelihood of any issues or costly downtime is far lower. And with fewer mistakes, customer relations also improve.

Software means pinch points and bottlenecks can quickly be identified and remedied.

It can be seamlessly integrated with existing systems to enhance every part of a business – from invoicing and payments to customer orders and inventory management, freight, and logistics. Processes can quickly and easily be automated and monitored on an ongoing basis – and data can be collected, shared, and examined across teams and locations.

5. Data Collection

From the back office through to the shop floor, every business generates vast amounts of valuable data relating to inventories, pricing, customer interactions, orders and shipments…

But, without software, much of this is often either overlooked or lost.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems capture information from all parts of a business, pulling it together to provide greater clarity and establish critical success factors to gauge progress. By harnessing all available data and metrics, users benefit from greater insight into their performance and productivity, identifying successes and assessing shortcomings. Mistakes can be addressed and trends monitored.

Data can be shared easily across teams and departments, offering greater transparency and creating a verifiable audit trail.

With an ever-growing pool of information at your fingertips, progress can be tracked and comparisons instantly made with previous time periods.

Software Enhances a Business

Reliable and functional software has become an essential investment for any forward-looking business – particularly in times of disruption.

With the modern marketplace mired by uncertainty, an innovative digital solution delivers a holistic bird’s eye view of an operation – streamlining processes and improving workflows.

Datacor products have been developed specifically for chemical distributors and process manufacturers, and are trusted by thousands of organizations on a daily basis.

With your peers and competitors adopting technology to stave off the labor crisis, now is exactly the right time to invest.

To learn how Datacor can help your company streamline operations and increase efficiency, sign up for a personalized demo today.