Digital Transformation Strategy

How connected worker technology supports digital transformation

How Connected Worker Technology supports your Digital Transformation Strategy   

A comprehensive digital transformation strategy can streamline operations, improve communications, and accelerate better business outcomes across your organisation. And in industries such as construction and manufacturing, where health and safety regulations are a priority, no digital transformation strategy is complete without a thorough review of your current approach to risk monitoring and management.

In this article, we’ll review the benefits of a well-executed digital transformation strategy, a explore how connected worker technology can support and accelerate these outcomes.

Integrating purpose-built technologies to improve operations, accelerate results, and future-proof ways of working

Broadly speaking, digital transformation is the process of integrating digital technologies into business operations.

In recent years, digital transformation has touched nearly every sector and market, and the impact has been huge. 

In the healthcare industry, for example, video consultations and e-portals have streamlined the triage and communication process for both patients and providers. In banking, the adoption of digital platforms - including online banking and payment systems - has completely revolutionised how individuals and corporations access, transfer, and invest funds. And in the entertainment industry, the shift to streaming services has completely changed the way that millions of people access and consume entertainment.

Of course, not all digital transformations disrupt entire industries or economies. For the majority of organisations who undertake a digital transformation strategy, the aim is to replace legacy systems and outdated processes with cloud-powered technologies and digital workflows increase efficiency and streamline workflows. The goal isn’t total disruption, but rath improve operations and outcomes.

Common examples of digital transformations within organisations include migration from on-premises databases to cloud-based storage solutions, integration of automated or AI-driven technology (such as chat bots) to streamline customer support, and the adoption of purpose-built software to make collaboration easier and faster. These processes and tools are flexible and easily scalable, so they can be implemented business-wide, or on a team-by-team basis to facilitate the unique goals and requirements of diverse organisations. Building a comprehensive and effective digital transformation strategy includes identifying where change is needed most: companies must ask themselves what their priorities are, and what resources they must harness in order to achieve them.

In industries and markets where compliance with health and safety regulations is required, and within which reliance on a healthy and productive workforce is part and parcel to success, a modern approach to occupational risk management is key to the success of any digital transformation strategy. By adopting purpose-built tools and technologies for safer and more efficient ways of working, teams operating within these sectors can work towards a more impactful, more future-proof digital transformation strategy.

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Overcoming barriers to successful digital transformation: Moving industries forward with connected worker technology

Historically, certain sectors have been slow to digitalise and to embrace more modern ways of working. The construction industry is a primary example of an industry that consistently lags behind when it comes to digital transformation. In late 2023, a global survey revealed that over 70% of construction companies face challenges when implementing or improving technology: the fragmented nature of projects, heavy reliance on traditional paper-based methodologies for business operations, and resistance to change have all been identified as barriers to successful digital transformation in this sector.

But ‘going digital’ doesn’t have to be complicated, time consuming, or a drain on resources. The cloud-based technologies available today are easy and fast to adopt, install, maintain, and upgrade. Over time, these solutions have become incredibly user-friendly, meaning users don’t need to have any IT expertise or experience in order to get the most out of these tools and platforms. Plus, unlike legacy systems, modern technologies are adaptable and easily scalable, meaning they’re uniquely future-proof and built to grow or change as your organisation evolves. 

Today, the need for more meaningful change and forward progress has never been clearer. For example, digital tools can streamline project management tasks, leading to faster project completion and cost savings for firms. Additionally, cloud-powered solutions can enable better and more accurate data and information sharing, reducing errors and vastly improving communications across complex projects, large teams, and busy worksites. And of course, the right digital tools and processes can aid with risk management efforts, making it possible for teams to better protect the health and safety of their workforce while minimising delays and exposure to liability.

Taking control of your risk environment with connected worker technology

Connected worker technology is a driving force behind the digital transformation of the construction industry and many other sectors including manufacturing, engineering, rail, and local authority management. With an ecosystem of workplace wearable technology and cloud-based analytics, connected worker technology enables teams in these environments to do more than just modernise their operations: it empowers them to finally take real control of the workplace risk environment.

The following are the primary ways in which connected worker technology drives meaningful change across organisations:

1. Connected worker technology eliminates guesswork from your risk management equation:

Traditional, third-party risk assessments - on their own - are an unreliable and outdated method for managing occupational risk. In today’s dynamic work environments, teams require access to information that moves at the speed of their tasks. This is the only way to ensure that workers are well and truly safe from exposure to workplace risk from vibration, dangerous hazards, noise, and dust.

When teams rely exclusively upon third-party risk assessments, they’re relying upon information that’s inaccurate, unreliable, and out of date. In environments such as construction sites or manufacturing plants, the amount of exposure to risk that any one worker is exposed to is constantly changing, and varies based on a number of factors including tool age and condition, worker posture and skill level, environmental or time constraints, and more. These factors are in near-constant flux and it’s next to impossible to make an accurate or reliable risk assessment without taking them into account, in real-time.

Connected worker technology eliminates this element of guesswork from the risk management equation, and gives teams access to reliable and up-to-date information that they can use to identify problem areas, hotspots, trends, and patterns, and take decisive action that actually moves the needle.

2. Connected worker technology gives you the power to intervene proactively, so you’re doing more than simply mitigating risk:

The traditional approach to occupational risk management has been largely focussed on mitigating risk, not preventing it. This is partly due to the fact that teams have not historically had access to tools and solutions that could enable them to be more proactive with their approach. Third party risk assessments and PPE are designed for risk mitigation, not risk prevention, which is why it’s so important to adopt a purpose-built solution, instead of attempting to retrofit old or outdated mechanisms to work in more modern ways. Connected worker technology is designed to help teams engineer risk out of the workplace: individual worker data is collected and then analysed in an ultra-secure, advanced cloud analytics platform before being displayed to safety managers and duty holders in a digestible, attractive way that supports swift, confident decision making With this kind of control over your workplace risk environment, your team can shift gears and go from simply mitigating occupational risk, to actively taking steps to eliminate it.

3. Connected worker technology enables you to take an unprecedented 360-degree view of your workplace risk environment:

One of the most significant benefits of connected worker technology - and one we simply cannot be replicated with any other system, process, or tool - is the view it provides of your entire workplace risk environment. Essentially, an ecosystem of workplace wearable technology and advanced analytics come together to provide organisations with layers of insight that take their view of their occupational risk environment from siloed and incomplete to vivid and three dimensional. By overlaying data from multiple sources of risk, including vibration, noise, dust, and dangerous proximity to hazards, teams can paint a more complete picture of their risk landscape, and plot safer routes for workers to take as they make their way through it. This kind of 360-degree insight is simply unavailable without digital transformation, and connected worker technology. 

Leveraging digital transformation to create a safer, healthier working environment

Digital transformation is a daunting topic for many organisations, across many sectors. But the reality is that digital transformation represents a step towards a more streamlined, more efficient, and more productive workplace where workers are better protected from occupational risk.

Digital transformation is about building the workplaces of tomorrow, and that simply cannot be done by relying exclusively on the solutions and systems of yesterday. By adopting purpose-built technology for occupational risk monitoring and management, organisations will see vast improvements to their methods of operation and communication, resulting in increased efficiency and responsiveness, and - most importantly - a healthier and safer environment  workers. Reactec is a pioneer in prevention engineering. R-Link is third generation workplace wearable technology that teams across the world rely upon every day to monitor and manage exposure to risk from vibration, dangerous hazards, dust, and noise. With ground-breaking features and functionality, including real-time alerts, the R-Link drivers’ watch, and two-way messaging, R-Link is connected worker technology for teams who are ready to adopt better, more modern ways of working.

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