Technology and unemployment headwinds

Technology makes employees more productive, and with more productive employees, I need fewer of them to accomplish the same work. We can debate the state of the economy and the rate of recovery, but the overriding theme we’re seeing in technology deals is a focus on cutting the bottom line rather than expanding the top line. CRM and mobile devices make employees more productive, ERP systems reduce cost, and HCM systems streamline onboarding, optimize schedules, and reduce management time through self-service. All good, but all bottom line rather than top-line focused. Yes, there are solutions that increase marketing outreach and upsell, but if I were to make an unscientific guess, I’d say for every 20 deals we see, 19 have cost reduction as one of the driving benefits. If we dig into the product roadmaps for the top solutions, we see a horizon filled with more features that increase productivity and reduce costs. That’s great news for organizations, but not so good news for unemployment. It’s hard to reduce the real unemployment number against the relentless march of technology.