Connect with us

Technology

68 Percent of U.S. Workers Say They Regularly Spend Time on Low Value, Inefficient Tasks, New Eagle Hill Consulting Research Finds

Published

2 years ago

on

Employees Have Ideas on Operational Efficiencies That Most Organizations Aren’t Tapping

ARLINGTON, Va., March 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Improving organizational efficiency is a continuous focus of organizations, yet a new nationwide survey of U.S employees from Eagle Hill Consulting finds there is much room for improvement. More than two-thirds of employees (68 percent) indicate much of their time is spent on low-value inefficient tasks. The research also finds this inefficiency appears to be top of mind for workers. Seventy-eight percent of employees indicate that they regularly exchange ideas with colleagues on how to do their work more efficiently, but organizations often aren’t leveraging employee ideas.

These findings are detailed in new research from Eagle Hill Consulting, “Are Employee Ideas the Hidden key to operational efficiency?” Read the research.

“Efficiency is the backbone of a high-performing organization, yet many workers report inefficiency in their day-to-day work,” said Melissa Jezior, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting. “Efficiency in organizations is crucial because it maximizes productivity, reduces costs, and creates a better customer and employee experience. Ultimately, efficiency is a competitive advantage because organizations that operate efficiently can adapt quickly, offer better prices, and outperform.”

“A first step in improving efficiency is to engage employees on ways to improve efficiency as they are steeped in the day-to-day work and often are frustrated by inefficiency. Our research finds employees already are talking about how to streamline their work, so tapping into their ideas is a must. Other steps that can make a real impact are leveraging technology to automate and streamline processes, finding ways to improve communication and collaboration, and training workers on productivity skills and decision making,” Jezior said.

Key findings of the research are as follows:

Most employees want to improve efficiency. More than three-fourths of employees (78 percent) indicate they regularly exchange ideas with colleagues on how to work more efficiently, while 66 percent have shared their ideas with their organization.Employees often know how to support business optimization, but their organizations aren’t tapping into their ideas. More than half of workers (56 percent) say their organization doesn’t incentivize them to find ways to be more efficient. Forty-one percent say that their organization rarely or never seeks their ideas to make improvements, while 44 percent report that their organization doesn’t support employee initiatives to improve efficiency.Many organizations lack a clear process for submitting ideas to improve operational performance. Sixty-three percent of employees report their organizational lacks a clear process to submit ideas for improvement, with nearly a quarter (23 percent) reporting their organization has no process at all. Employees at organizations with a clearly defined process for sharing ideas are about two times more likely to also report that their organization is effective at improving productivity.Organizations often fall short in implementing employees’ ideas to improve efficiency. Thirty-eight percent of employees say it’s unlikely their efficiency will be implemented, while 42 percent don’t feel empowered to implement changes based on their ideas. The vast majority of workers (83 percent) say their organization struggles to generate ideas for change. Nearly half of employees (48 percent) find it difficult to put ideas into practice, and 39 percent say it is difficult getting changes approved.

The research also offers practical solutions for employers to break old paradigms and tap into a goldmine of employee ideas on improving efficiency. Read the five actions.

The findings are based upon the 2025 Eagle Hill Consulting Workplace Efficiency Survey conducted by Ipsos from January16 – 22, 2025. The survey included 1,375 respondents from a random sample of employees across the U.S.

Eagle Hill Consulting LLC provides unconventional management consulting services in the areas of Strategy, Performance, Talent, and Change. The company’s expertise in delivering innovative solutions to unique challenges spans across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. A leading authority on employee sentiment, Eagle Hill is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with employees across the U.S. and offices in Boston and Seattle. More information is available at www.eaglehillconsulting.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/68-percent-of-us-workers-say-they-regularly-spend-time-on-low-value-inefficient-tasks-new–eagle-hill-consulting-research-finds-302390471.html

SOURCE Eagle Hill Consulting LLC

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Technology

De¹ Introduces Tokenized Asset World on BNB Chain, Developing Financial Intelligence Across the Full RWA Financial Landscape

Published

32 minutes ago

on

October 19, 2026

By

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — De¹ is launching Tokenized Asset World on BNB Chain, the first domain-specific world under its Financial World Model (FWM). It introduces specialized financial intelligence designed to understand the full onchain RWA landscape, from trading and collateral to borrowing, credit, liquidation and agent activity, and apply that knowledge to real financial decisions.

Traditional finance moves assets through separate networks of brokers, custodians, clearing systems and lenders. Each institution sees a different part of the lifecycle, while transfers, reconciliation and collateral requirements add friction to capital deployment. Bringing assets onchain makes financial activity more programmable, but it does not automatically connect the knowledge held across trading, financing and risk systems.

De¹ is establishing Tokenized Asset World on BNB Chain, where that real-assets financial ecosystem already unfolds in live markets. PancakeSwap, ListaDAO, Venus, Binance Agent OS and BNB Agent SDK span public trading, collateralized lending, structured credit and authorized agent activity. These activities produce distinct signals: executed prices, liabilities, vault constraints, liquidations and the outcomes of agent actions.

Tokenized Asset World brings fragmented financial knowledge into a coherent, learnable model of the full RWA landscape. The domain model is designed to understand the relationships and consequences across financial operations, with verified execution outcomes continuously refining De¹’s understanding of onchain financial physics. This introduces a new layer of intelligence to BNB Chain, enabling a more complete understanding of the tokenized-asset stack across trading, collateral, credit, vaults and agent activity.

AI agents can tap into this intelligence to operate across tokenized-asset markets with a more comprehensive view of liquidity, borrowing conditions, collateral exposure and liquidation risk as a whole. This deeper market understanding could raise more sophisticated strategies, execution and risk decisions. Each agent interaction, in turn, generates new evidence for the model, creating a continuous feedback loop between financial intelligence and live market execution while strengthening De¹’s broader Financial World Model.

About De¹

De¹ is the intelligent infrastructure platform at the intersection of DeFi and AI, building the Financial World Model grounded in live execution and real market feedback. It serves developers, traders, institutions, and AI agents through intelligent execution, unified liquidity, reinforcement learning optimization, and a continuously evolving data flywheel.

Contact: Marketing, pr@de1.ai

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/de-introduces-tokenized-asset-world-on-bnb-chain-developing-financial-intelligence-across-the-full-rwa-financial-landscape-302912966.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Plata reaches $1 Billion ARR Milestone, becoming the fastest digital bank ever

Published

32 minutes ago

on

October 19, 2026

By

The Mexico based digital bank shatters traditional digital banking scaling timelines, reaching a $1 Billion Annual Recurring Revenue  in less than 3.5 years from launch

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Plata, the world’s fastest growing digital financial institution, today announced that in September 2026 it has crossed $1 billion in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), reaching the milestone in less than 3.5 years from launch in April 2023 and less than a year after receiving its full banking license. Plata´s growth makes it the fastest digital bank in history to reach this benchmark, and puts it on par with some of the world’s fastest growing leading AI companies, underlining Plata’s own AI and tech capabilities.

Plata reaches this goal after having reached more than 4 million customers in Mexico and having launched operations in Colombia at the beginning of September. In Mexico, Plata is now the fourth credit card issuer in the country by number of customers, and the only digital bank with a full product suite including credit, debit, investments, and small business banking. Plata’s growth is also nearing profitability, which is expected to be reached for its Mexico business within the next 6 months.

Plata changed the rules by building a universal financial platform powered by its own technology from day one. By setting up its core banking system, the company proved that regulated financial institutions can scale at AI-like speed without undermining operating performance.

“By building our own technology from scratch, we proved that a bank can move at AI company speed without compromising anything. Now we are ready to accelerate our innovation, make finance effortless and accessible for everyone.” Neri Tollardo, CEO of Plata.

As digital adoption accelerates across Latin America, Plata´s performance sets a new benchmark for financial infrastructure scaling, financial adoption, and operational efficiency in emerging markets.

About Plata

Plata is the fastest-growing financial institution in Latin America and the largest private digital bank by customer volume. In less than three years, we reached a valuation of $3.1 billion with 4 million active credit card customers and crossed $1 billion in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). Backed by $1.5 billion in equity investment, 1.5 in financing, and a workforce that includes 800 in-house developers, in Banco Plata we have built our own technological ecosystem, which includes a core banking system, CRM, and an app focused on simplifying the financial experience.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plata-reaches-1-billion-arr-milestone-becoming-the-fastest-digital-bank-ever-302912970.html

SOURCE Plata

Continue Reading

Technology

Trends International Announces Kenneth Smith as President and Chief Executive Officer

Published

32 minutes ago

on

October 19, 2026

By

Experienced executive to lead company’s next phase of retail, digital commerce and strategic growth

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trends International, LLC, a leading publisher and manufacturer of licensed posters, calendars, stickers, wall art and social stationery products, today announced that Kenneth Smith has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, effective May 2026.

Smith will spearhead the company’s overall strategic direction and growth initiatives across its retail, wholesale, e-commerce, licensing and direct-to-consumer businesses. In his role, Smith will oversee Trends International and its portfolio of digital businesses, including Art.com and AllPosters.com.

Smith’s appointment comes as Trends International enters a new phase of expansion focused on broadening its retail presence, accelerating e-commerce, strengthening strategic customer relationships, developing new products and licenses, and pursuing partnerships and business opportunities.

“I am honored to lead Trends International and build on the strong foundation established by the company, its founders and its talented employees,” said Kenneth Smith, “We have an exceptional portfolio of brands, licenses, products and customer relationships, and we see significant opportunities to grow the business. Our focus will be on strengthening our retail partnerships, accelerating our digital businesses, developing innovative products and creating new strategic opportunities that deliver value for our customers, consumers, licensors and partners.”

Expanding Retail and Digital Footprint
Under Smith’s leadership, Trends International will continue to invest in its core retail business while broadening its digital commerce capabilities.

The company is focused on deepening relationships with major retailers, expanding distribution, improving merchandising, and developing new product platforms designed to create incremental sales opportunities.

Trends will also continue to build Trends Digital, bringing together the company’s e-commerce capabilities and creating a platform for future digital growth and potential e-commerce acquisitions.

The company’s digital portfolio includes Art.com and AllPosters.com, providing consumers with access to millions of images, posters, prints, wall art, and complementary décor.

“Trends has a tremendous opportunity to build upon its heritage while positioning the company for the future,” Smith said. “We are focused on growth, but equally important is how we achieve that growth — through strong customer partnerships, disciplined execution, innovation and a culture that empowers our people to succeed.”

Strategic Priorities
Smith’s leadership agenda includes several key areas of focus:

Retail growth — Expand relationships and sales with major national retailers and specialty channels.Product innovation — Develop new product formats, displays and seasonal programs that create incremental retail opportunities.Digital commerce — Accelerate the growth of Trends Digital, Art.com and AllPosters.com.Strategic partnerships — Forge new licensing, brand and business partnerships that expand the company’s market opportunity.Operational excellence — Improve organizational alignment, processes, technology, and execution across the company’s businesses.Talent and culture — Build a high-performing organization focused on accountability, innovation, customer service and sustainable growth.

“Kenneth brings a strong combination of leadership, customer focus and business development experience to Trends International,” said Phil St. Jean, Founder and Co-Executive Chairman of Trends International. “His vision for the company and his commitment to our customers, employees and partners make him the right leader for this next chapter. We are excited about what the future holds for Trends International and its businesses.”

About Kenneth Smith
Kenneth Smith is an experienced business executive with a background in sales leadership, strategic account development, business development, customer relationships, and organizational transformation. Throughout his career, Smith has focused on developing strategic growth initiatives, building high-performing teams, and creating long-term partnerships with major customers and business partners.

As president and chief executive officer of Trends International, Smith is responsible for the company’s overall strategy, growth, organizational leadership and business performance.

About Trends International
Trends International, LLC is a leading publisher and manufacturer of licensed posters, calendars, stickers, wall art and social stationery products. Established in 1987, Trends built its business around strong partnerships between licensors, retailers and licensees. Today, the company delivers a broad portfolio of licensed and proprietary products distributed through major retail, specialty, and digital channels.

Art.com, acquired by Trends International in 2023, is a leading online specialty retailer of high-quality wall art and complementary décor. The business offers millions of images and products through its digital commerce platform and interactive visualization tools.

AllPosters.com, part of the Trends International family of businesses, offers consumers a broad selection of posters, prints and wall décor.

For more information about Trends International, Art.com, AllPosters.com or Kenneth Smith, contact:

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trends-international-announces-kenneth-smith-as-president-and-chief-executive-officer-302912992.html

SOURCE Trends International

Continue Reading

Trending