Canadian Business Adapting to Demographics and Technology Changes    

Canadian Business entrepreneurs are facing a new reality—one marked by changing dynamics in the labour force and new ways of doing business.

Recently, the Business Development of Canada released a study about the future of business in Canada.

It reviewed current changes and challenges the landscape of Canadian business. They noted of the business respondents polled two very specific shifts were identified relating to demographics and technology.

“One quarter of the respondents noted demographic changes had hurt their ability to recruit skilled employees, while 38% said they had changed the way they do business following the integration of new technologies.”

Looking at these shifts the BDC found when it came to the impact of demographic employers found it difficult to replace retiring boomers with a diminishing skilled workforce.

As new Canadians and highly educated millennials are the dominate labour force specialty training and up hiring were important considerations for employee recruitment. Additional incentives such as compensation, benefits, and improving work conditions were further contributing factors to attract quality employees.

When it came to technology’s impact in the work environment businesses reported that there was a 50% improvement to customer experience.

A third of the respondents stated they had better revenue growth with the addition of technology. Most notable uses having the greatest impact was found when used to digitize marketing and sales strategies, automate repetitive and low value-added tasks. It was found that the use of data to help improve business processes and create new product was due to improved technology interfacing.

Businesses are encouraged to review current conditions within their environments and operations to adapt to these shifts. The BDC cited those companies who have are finding new growth and profitability within the changing landscape have openly adapted to these new frontiers.

Developing adaptive business solutions to address these points in business systems and processes will help business owners create successful transition and growth strategies. Staying proactively ahead of trends was seen as beneficial. Which, if left unaddressed could severely impact performance and profits according to the study.

Want to read the BDC report and their findings? Click here to get your own copy along with their recommendations for future-proofing your business. https://www.bdc.ca/en/about/sme_research/pages/future-proof-your-business.aspx

At Pacific Chartered Advisors, we are pleased to offer our own in-house business solutions expert who can help you with business processes and system strategies.