In 2015, tech sector innovators have spearheaded massive changes within the health care, finance and retail industries and are on course to disrupt even more fields in 2016. Accordingly, business leaders who wish to remain competitive in the current marketplace need to have digital tools at their disposal that will allow them to operate at maximum efficiency in a fully integrated world.

The Growing Importance Of Social Media

As of this year, Millennials overtook Baby Boomers as America’s largest living generation. That means they’ll soon become the country’s most financially significant generation. As Millennial buying trends become increasingly scrutinized, it has become clear that marketing strategies that were successful with older generations are ineffective. To build brand loyalty among younger consumers, companies need to meet them on their own terms. For Millennials, that means social media driven brand interaction. According to Forbes, 62 percent of Millennials said they have greater brand loyalty to companies that engage them through social media. Because meaningful relationships with millennial consumers and influencers will be hugely important to a business’s future success, executives should be investing in enterprise-level multi-channel social media management systems like Buffer or Spreadfast. Because of the stakes involved, management cannot afford to take a hands-off approach to social media.

Saving Time and Money by Outsourcing Human Resources Management

Around 45 percent of businesses in the United States use some form of cloud computing to fulfill their operational needs. One area in which cloud computing has been particularly useful in outsourcing human resources management, a practice that 50 percent of large businesses in the US currently employ. In addition to saving capital that would be used to maintain an HR infrastructure, using a cloud-based professional employer organization (PEO) like ADP’s HR Business Process Outsourcing for recruitment, talent management, benefits administration, payroll services and government reporting has the effect of making a business’ HR process more efficient and analytics-driven. It’s also an HR solution that makes information more accessible, as executives can examine all the data managed by their PEO through a mobile device.

The High Cost of Distraction and What Can be Done about It

Every year, distracted employees cost U.S. businesses $650 billion. This is due in large part to the fact that when a worker checks their social media feed, it takes them a full 23 minutes to become re-focused on whatever task they were working on. As distractions have such a deleterious effect on a company’s bottom line, it behooves executives to take steps that will optimize productivity. HansaWorld’s Standard Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, which is used by 79,000 businesses across the globe, is a fully integrated productivity solution that keeps employees on task while also keeping managers updated on the status of all ongoing projects at a glance.

Mario McKellop is a freelance writer who has covered the pop culture beat since 2010.