How the Cloud is Changing Workforce Tracking

I know you’ve been bombarded for the last 5 years (at least) about “The Cloud”. Almost all of your software applications are undoubtedly in The Cloud. All your data is in The Cloud. All your photos of your kids/dogs/cats/what you ate for dinner the other night are in The Cloud.

The Cloud has become ubiquitous – so much so, you may not even realize how much it impacts your daily life, both professional and personal. We’ve all become so accustomed to the untethered access cloud applications allow us that we find it difficult to imagine our lives without them.

With the introduction of cloud technology, the nature of work has shifted tremendously. Consider the following statistics that demonstrate its impact on the workplace:

• 77% of enterprises are running at least one application or a portion of their computing infrastructure in the cloud. (2018 IDG Cloud Computing Study)
• In 2020, the cloud technology industry will grow to be a $162 billion industry.
• 61% of businesses that move to the cloud report less downtime. (Microsoft’s Cloud Security, Privacy and Reliability Trends Study)
•  79% of people using cloud applications report they’ve saved money, increased productivity and improved security. (Office 365 Trend Report: Why Businesses are Moving to the Cloud)

There’s no doubt cloud technology affects how your employees work. However, it also impacts workforce tracking, such as the ability to track the work employees are performing. Here are 3 key ways The Cloud has changed (and will continue to change) how employees are tracking their work:

If You Can Work Anywhere, You Can Track Your Work Anywhere

Cloud technologies allow employees to work fluidly, from anywhere and at any time. They can move easily between applications and access the data they need to do their work. Cloud-based time tracking, project management, and other workforce tracking applications allow employees to track their work quickly and easily, no matter where they are.

Timesheets Are Less…Time-Consuming

Many companies are moving to some form of a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy, which means the applications employees use may utilize cloud-to-cloud integrations with each other. An employee could potentially sync their work in any other cloud application with their cloud-based time tracking solution and, with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, complete their timesheet in no time flat.

There’s an App for That

10 years ago, the smartphone “app” became a household name. In fact, it was even the Word of the Year in 2010, according to the American Dialect Society. Now, 1 in 5 people in the world have a smartphone, and 85% of users prefer mobile devices over a desktop.

What does this mean? Your workforce needs the ability to do at least some of their work via mobile devices. Mobile time tracking, for instance, is one aspect of workforce tracking that not only makes timesheets less painful but is just plain necessary for project-based companies that provide some sort of client service.

It’s true: the business forecast is increasingly cloudy with high chances of increased productivity and profitability. You’ll only stand to benefit, from a financial, operational, and cultural standpoint, from ensuring your key workforce tracking applications are in The Cloud.