Source: AltTab Project
By: Asaf Cohen
There is no startup who does not feel this – we are flooded with too many apps and software. Apps and software on a variety of topics and for quite a few tasks and assignments. Of course, each comes with its own password, each has its own notifications, and of course each requires one level of concentration or another.
This overload phenomenon is already known worldwide and has many names, but the basic idea is that today’s high-tech workers are flooded with an ever-increasing array of dedicated software, which turns their workday into a technological overload that they have to somehow get through.
How did it happen? In the last decade many organizations are experiencing an overflow in the information and knowledge they produce. After all, businesses generate a lot of information and knowledge. Therefore, there is a need to manage the information, maximize its use and analyze it optimally. In addition, it is possible (as usual) to blame the corona which gave a tremendous boost to all the communication and sharing software that became critical for businesses as a result of the hybrid work. So it turned out that new employees entered one application, were trained by another application and reviewed by another application. The corona is already quite behind us, but the use of applications did not go along with it, if the opposite is true. Our situation is not better – the employers do not achieve the desired product and on the other hand, the employees are not satisfied. According to a test by the cloud software company OKTA, in 2021 companies launched 89 new applications, on average, compared to only 58 in 2015.
Want more data? The Israeli company WalkMe conducted a similar survey among large companies, and found that their number is even higher and even reaches 187 applications, with close to 30% creating duplicates or not adding value. Another study conducted recently among 20 teams in three large companies found that employees switched between different apps and websites approximately 1,200 times each day.
In other words, we spent five weeks of the year pressing the Alt–Tab keys.
This data should raise a warning sign to the industry. Apparently, in order to manage the organization from end to end they are required to implement dozens of applications. In practice, mediocre products are obtained, if they are obtained at all (there is no real control and management and there is a large loss of information) and worse – the workers despair of the technological load. Even intermediate solutions that have emerged recently in order to maximize the product for the employers such as AI systems fail to present quality data for the captains of the organization.
When we have too many software, for too many things it can be frustrating and annoying. The ones who pay the price, in the end, are the workers who, in addition to the natural stress and burnout in the workplace, are also “nerves” about the technology around them. The stress and burnout are doubly frustrating when the “sacrifice” of the employees in the form of using applications does not really yield products.
This is also reflected in the data – in a WalkMe survey it was discovered that the fatigue from the technological swing caused the departure of 76 employees, on average, in each corporation in 2021. It happens in the US but it can be assumed that it also happens here at one level of intensity or another. Therefore, my call is to reduce – less specific apps.
Therefore, organizations need to rethink the applications they introduce into the organization. After all, each one has a meaning. First, you have to change the habit that for every need there is an app that overlaps with other apps. For the benefit of our employees (and managers) we must change the common perception that for every need an application is required. Organizations and businesses operate as a whole, therefore, when we treat each part in isolation (despite the interfacing with other parts) we achieve undesirable results.
The understanding that the technological treatment in the organization must be holistic is slowly spreading. For the benefit of more satisfied employees and managers who receive better and more reliable information about the state of the company, we must act to change the status of the applications and software in the organization.