Why do we prize technology over everything else? Because it helps us solve
problems as efficiently as possible. That much is simple. But our technology
itself is the product of a certain mindset. We have to be willing to prioritize
efficient solutions over all else.
And the best solution can come from anywhere. A 10-year-old might blurt
something out that could inspire a new product. A janitor might point out where
a CEO is (actually) going wrong. Nature just isn’t as linear as we’d like to
think it is.
No one can predict which age, gender, ethnicity or nationality the next great
idea might come from. So, you’d think that the tech industry would know better
than to be held hostage by petty hierarchies and egocentrism. But the truth, as
it turns out, is quite different. Women only account for a quarter of computing
jobs.
Blacks and Latinos also just make up around 8 percent of an average tech
company’s workforce.
Fortunately, though, there are brands out there proving that whatever excuses
their peers are using to maintain the status quo are pointless. Here’s how.
SaaS powering global equal-opportunity employers
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Moving to another part of the world for work’s sake does pose a challenge. And
since most tech jobs are located at specific hotspots, many talented workers
always find themselves unemployed.
Software as a Service products and services are enabling employers to find and
employ talent from all over the world. Remote working, work from anywhere and
digital nomadism are slowly becoming the new normal.
The trend has also done wonders for solving social inequality at the workplace
and is useful in more ways than one. Firstly, companies can find and employ
whoever best fits the role — it’s becoming increasingly common to find online
teams of different nationalities working to solve common challenges. Next, it is
well known that our social and cultural backgrounds determine our perspectives;
a multicultural team can harness all its members’ ideas and use them to refine
its product or service.
Digital marketing firm Loganix understands the
potential of having a diverse team. The company runs almost all its operations
globally — with teams of people from the US, Asia, Australia and
Europe — an employees are dynamically moved between different teams,
depending on requirements, allowing quick resolution of issues.
SaaS breaking the language barrier
Say “social inequality” and the first thing people think of is ingrained bigotry
— but often, the problem has a legitimate basis. If employees and employers
don’t speak the same language, then there’s little chance of them working
together.
Poor or different communication skills can fuel many workplace
misunderstandings. And it costs quite a bit of time and money to learn a new
language.
The US Foreign Services
Institute
estimates it takes on average 480 hours to gain basic competence in Group 1
languages. This can cost several thousand dollars over a couple of months. Of
course, it takes that long and costs that much if you do it the old-fashioned
way — people can hire a tutor online at much more affordable rates today. But
finding a tutor online is rarely easy. It’s hard to know how good a tutor is by
looking at their Facebook or LinkedIn profile.
This was a problem that cloud-based tuition service
Preply aimed to fix. The platform offers a place for both
language tutors and students to collaborate easily and affordably. Tutors can
create their profiles with rates, experience and number of languages spoken; and
students can review their tutors, making it easy for other students to decide
who to hire.
Workers planning to move to another country can use such services to learn a new
language for far cheaper than attending a language school. HR teams can also
hire tutors to both educate employees who need to go abroad or new recruits from
other countries.
SaaS helping new entrepreneurs operate more affordably
Social inequality isn’t always about creed, gender or nationality. Entrepreneurs
are usually handicapped due to high entry barriers in business.
That’s inequality, too. Consequently, they struggle endlessly — sometimes with
little or no payoff. The sad fact is that most founders grossly underestimate
the cost of getting business in the door, and even their day-to-day running.
Indeed, the Cost of Acquiring Customers (CAC) is every bit the startup killer it
is known to be. New entrepreneurs have to face a learning curve, which adds to
that cost. Since these new entrepreneurs are still working out the kinks,
they’ll pay more for each customer than their well-established peers.
All of this, of course, depends on how a business chooses to find new customers.
If it goes with a “throw strategies out there and see what sticks” approach,
there's little chance of success. But the cost of reaching out has been dropping
drastically, mostly due to smart, SaaS-powered tools to find relevant
information.
Oleg Campbell, a Ukrainian developer who bootstrapped his startup,
Reply, to a $2 million a year company, certainly
identifies with the struggle. Campbell’s lack of sales experience stalled the
growth of his first enterprise. Consequently, he focused his efforts on helping
tech entrepreneurs overcome their lack of salesmanship with smarter tools.
Reply’s LinkedIn email finder is specifically for
new companies looking for affordable, effective lead generation. Such a tool can
help a user find email addresses of prospects on LinkedIn. Paired with
LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, users can create highly personalized outreach
messages for each prospect.
Similarly, invoicing software Freshbooks lets
users manage their day-to-business finances from one dashboard. Made for
startups and solopreneurs, the tool can help track everything from invoices to
expenses from one dashboard.
Services such as Reply and Freshbooks give enterprise-level operating abilities
to startups at a fraction of the price. This, in turn, helps level the playing
field — giving the little guys a bigger chance.
Conclusion
The tech sector can, and should, be the leader at showcasing the advantages of
diversity. In many ways, we are all limited by the tools that we use. The cloud
is enabling companies to overcome many barriers that were until recently
impenetrable.
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Macey Stubbs is a freelance writer who keeps a finger on the pulse of technology. She reads and writes about developments in the tech and cybersecurity front, and has worked for various NGOs.
Published Nov 25, 2020 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET