How Tech Enables Focus in a World of Distractions

Humans do their best work in a concentrated ‘flow’ state. They are more productive, more efficient, and three times happier in their jobs. But flow states can be hard to come by when working from home, with distractions like constant messages on multiple platforms, and longer, more frequent meetings.

Between February 2020 and February 2021 – when most office workers worldwide were ordered to work remote – Microsoft recorded that the average Teams user sent 45% more chat messages per week, and 42% more after-hours. A significant 40.6 billion more emails were delivered. Meetings were an average 10 minutes longer, with 62% conducted ad hoc.

But crucially, all this extra communication is anathema to concentration. Studies have shown that it takes approximately 23 minutes to refocus after a distraction.

Proactive management can help carve out time for employees to focus. But technology can support as well. For example, Teams users can allocate focus hours in their calendar, automatically blocking notifications, and serving a ‘do not disturb’ notice to their colleagues.

Some organizations have taken these tech solutions a step further and have created their own bespoke tools to address inefficiencies across their operations.

KEO International Consultants is a global creative enterprise of planning, design, engineering, and project management professionals. However, in recent years their workflow strategy changed, empowering workers to collaborate securely on any device, whenever they needed, from wherever they were.

This wasn’t just an exercise in efficiency. According to Damir Jaksic, CIO of KEO, that while cost, speed, and efficiency are major considerations for the firm, the real goal of digital transformation is to champion inclusivity and collaboration as a unified business.

Microsoft Office 365 and Power Apps enabled this new way of working, from being able to instantly set up meetings with colleagues on different continents, to creating bespoke apps. “Microsoft 365 solutions are an essential part of the fabric of our operations,” Jaksic says. “Our teams now have the ability to collaborate, and we constantly deploy new online capabilities to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of our deliverables. KEO’s teams take advantage of Microsoft Power BI to report and monitor a number of projects and organizational performance KPIs, enhancing our agility and empowering key delivery staff with up-to-date information whenever they need it.”

For a global company like KEO, this kind of process could have been developed by a professional. But smaller organizations don’t often have the resources for this kind of development project, particular during phases of intense growth. 

FirstWave Group, a small business that grew to become a national leader, is Africa’s primary aquaculture firm and has been expanding in this growth industry for seven years. But to take the business even further, in pan-African and international brand, the team knew they had to digitize their processes. The business partnered with Microsoft because of the productivity tools and solutions that would scale with them as they grew – and fast. 

With Microsoft 365 optimizing workflows, the business migrated to Azure cloud, removing the need for physical servers and office space to house it. Best of all, when everything went to the cloud, the business was able to access data and work collaboratively from anywhere. 

“The ICT team is embarking on several in-house projects to automate more processes across the group companies to further streamline operations. The team looks forward to building and deploying custom web apps for the business that will streamline and further digitize our operations, ensuring we remain the leading aquaculture champion on the African continent,” says Nosiku Siyumbwa, Project Management and Group Operations Associate at FirstWave Group.

Over the last year, we’ve witnessed digital adoption and transformation at an extraordinary pace. Technology has enabled businesses in a way that wouldn’t have been possible if the pandemic had occurred 10 years ago. Many of the tools that have become part of our day-to-day, such as cloud storage, big data, smart mobile devices, and improved network connectivity, were only developed in the last decade. But as shown by Keo and FirstWave Group, the right technology applied at the right time can change businesses for the better. From unlocking potential to supporting growth, finding solutions that can adapt to users’ needs can empower them to do what they do better, and doesn’t just become another distraction.

Learn more about how to create a new culture of work in your organisation by visiting Microsoft’s New Culture of Work website.