Human resources and technology: 3 pitfalls

  • Amber Kuipers
  • 23 July 2025
  • Edited 7 August 2025
  • 1 min
  • Managing and growing
  • Staff

Are you automating and digitalising more and more business processes? You might have a digital cash register, for example. Or you do email marketing, and your employees use AI tools. Technology can be very useful but there are also risks. Read about 3 of the common pitfalls when digitalising your business.

1. Your staff do not use your software

You have bought an extremely expensive CRM system, but your staff do not use it. According to a survey by ICT Magazine (in Dutch), software is too difficult to use in 68% of cases. The biggest causes of this? Employees get no explanation and no time to practice. And if your staff do not use your software or do not use it correctly, productivity goes down, mistakes are made, and you waste your money.

Tips

  • Consult your staff when buying new software. They know the challenges of their daily work and which software functions are needed.
  • Organise training in software use.
  • Give your employees time to learn how to use the software.
  • Talk about your expectations. Especially if you have no particular expectations. This is reassuring for your staff.

2. Your staff do not follow the rules

There are rules and regulations for online marketing and online sales. If you do not follow these, consumers can report you to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). In addition, you must process personal data securely. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) checks the latter. Even with a small mistake, you risk a fine from the ACM or the DPA. In 2024, 5online shops were fined (in Dutch) for misleading customers with discounts. The ACM also entered into discussions with 2,000 organisations that did not follow privacy legislation.

Tips

3. Your employees do not know how to spend their extra time

Have your staff mastered new technology or software? Then they may have time to spare. For example, in a call centre an AI tool makes the summaries of the calls. This means employees can do more work in less time. But what do you do with the remaining time? And do you still need all your employees? They may be wondering this too and worry about job loss.

Tips

  • Discuss with your employees what they can do with their freed-up time
  • Retrain your employees; there are training subsidies you can use for this.
  • Delegate creative and strategic tasks to your employees.

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