Kanban boards have been around now for eight decades and while they once started off as being a physical board in which to organise processes in the workplace, this is now no longer the case and most Kanban boards have now gone digital. If your office can’t decide whether to opt for a digital or a physical Kanban board, be sure to carry on reading to find out more about the pros and cons of each of these working boards to see which one will fit best in your office.
What Is A Kanban Board?
Before we get into the pros and cons of Kanban boards, it is important that we first answer the question, what is a Kanban board? Kanban boards were first developed back in the 1940s and it was actually the car manufacturer Toyota who introduced this system which is now used throughout the world and in many different industries. Essentially, Kanban is a board that allows you to visualise your workflow and, in doing so, you can then optimise your workflow to improve your business’s efficiency and productivity. Each column will represent a stage in the process which will help you to identify any bottlenecks in the system where more investment is needed to keep up with demand. You will now find that most workplaces across the globe implement some Kanban board tool into their work in order to manage the workflow and ensure they are meeting customer demand.
The Pros and Cons of Digital Kanban Boards
While Kanban boards were originally a physical board, nowadays, more and more people are adopting digital Kanban boards instead and this is for a while host of reasons. As we are now living in a completely digital age, with digital technology showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, this has meant that businesses need to try and stay up to date with the latest technology if they want to remain competitive.
One of the biggest pros to using a digital Kanban board is how easily and quickly they can be made. There is some great specialised Kanban software out there that allow you to keep track of your Kanban boards will ease. With digital Kanban boards, they can be updated in real time, unlike physical Kanban boards. This makes your business far more efficient, saves time and you can streamline tasks to be completed at the fastest possible rate.
Another huge advantage to using a digital Kanban board is that they can be accessed from absolutely anywhere and at any time! All you need to access digital Kanban boards is the internet. So, employees from anywhere in the world can login, no matter where they are and update boards, massively increasing workplace efficiency.
Finally, digital Kanban boards are the ideal solution for those who have staff who work remotely. Using a Kanban board means you can assign them tasks and keep track of the work that they are getting through without having to micromanage.
While the pros definitely outweigh the cons when it comes to digital Kanban boards, there are still some negatives that you should take into consideration before you go ahead and invest in one. Firstly, as digital Kanban boards are viewed on a screen, this means that you and your employees will constantly be squinting at a screen which is, of course, no ideal and not the best for your health. What’s more, while Kanban boards are great for improving communications between people located in different offices, sometimes they can actually be detrimental to those in one office due to workers simply using their Kanban board rather than talking it through with a colleague. This can cause a lack of communication in the office, rather than everyone sharing their ideas and problem solving together.
With Kanban boards it is also important that you ensure they don’t quickly become a place to overload workers. It can be easy to simply add everything to a digital Kanban board, including ideas, and seeing all of this work to get through can sometimes make workers demotivated rather than making them more enthusiastic. Furthermore, with Kanban board it is important that they always have them in a place where they are visible at work, as some may automatically log you out after a certain length of time.
As you can see, digital Kanban boards are definitely the future of most workplaces and are the preferred option for a whole host of reasons. We would recommend that you implement a digital Kanban board into your workplace today to see how it can improve your work’s productivity and efficiency.