Can you imagine if your team could get twice as much done in a single day?
Technology can be so much more than just a distraction! It truly offers a world of useful tools and ways for helping to boost productivity in the workplace.
Whether it be improved care of customers or patients, or remote working capacity, the digital workplace is able to be more productive with hundreds of things working quicker and simpler without degrading quality.
Here are 6 ways that technology may help your business to improve efficiency, cut costs, and get ahead of issues and competition.
Information at your fingertips
As a small business, you want high agility with low overhead, across the board. To do this, you can put powerful IT in place that will provide access control and availability of data to keep both employees and customers super happy.
CRM software is an excellent example where companies can take advantage of a technology to organize, analyze, and mobilize. It’s estimated that by leveraging a CRM effectively small- and medium-sized businesses can see thousands of dollars in revenue growth year to year, and their benefits translate to $8.71 earned in revenue for every $1 they spend on a CRM (Nucleus Research). Just a 10% increase in CRM software can drive a 1% increase in revenue growth (Deloitte).
Make Collaboration Easier
Have you ever thought about the price tag that goes along with inefficient operations? Collaboration, or lack thereof, is one of those things you need to consider.
$7,500 USD per day = The cost of poor collaboration mechanisms in the workplace. Yikes! Companies lose an average of that amount of money or more when silos cause departments or teams within those to miss valuable insights from others within the organization (Harvard Business Review).
Employees, partners, and suppliers need to be efficient in order for them to maximize resources and cut costs along the way. Be more productive, but don’t make more work for yourself if you can work smarter instead. Intelligent tools for this, such as Microsoft Teams or Planner, can help these teams to share insights, stay in-sync, roadmap, and even track time.
Consider A Cloud Strategy
By 2020 it is estimated that 60-70% of all IT will be cloud-based or incorporated (IDC/Forbes).
Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications like Office365, Salesforce CRM, and Xero allow you to run parts if not all of your business from just about anywhere. They’ll also help you to scale as you grow and change shape. They also happen to be arguably better for the environment!
Shared cloud-based storage of systems can allow you to streamline document workflow, like with OneDrive, while paying just for the IT storage and services you need.
Scheduling and To-Do Tools
The estimated cost of time lost to unproductive meetings is close to $8,000 USD (Harvard Business Review).
That equates to potentially tens of thousands of dollars in lost value per organization per year that can be helped with some tools in place to facilitate better organization and planning.
It is tough to stick to a task list if you’re constantly bombarded with interruptions, tangents, overrunning meetings and conversations, and firefighting. Take advantage of the tools out there to help!
By refocusing on “the important stuff” in the order you need things done, with context and support from scheduling apps like Outlook, your team can be managing their days so much more effectively.
Workspace “Hacks”
Add a second monitor and you can expect 20-30% more productivity, according to multiple workplace studies including this Jon Peddie Research survey. Dual monitors can increase your productivity up to 30% or more by decreasing the time it takes to complete the common tasks like data entry or researching while producing documents.
Here are a couple other very straightforward productivity “hacks” for you and your team to be more productive and make the most of your time and energy:
- Have high-quality headsets for meeting calls – helps with multitasking!
- Create fill-in-ready templates for things like standard emails and documents required for work processes
- Explore email plugins and inbox rules to organize and control emails
Don’t Fight The Flow of Mobile Productivity!
Flexibility can benefit both the employer and their team.
41% of employees look at flexibility as a top-three motivator in career decisions. It is often viewed in the same category as benefits! A little less than half of workers, according to a 2017 ManpowerGroup study, look for more workplace flexibility, citing long commutes and work/life balance.
The cloud can support this initiative, alongside mobile computing and a plethora of other tools to allow people to work and collaborate from other locations. The fact is that team productivity can be boosted in the process of embracing this sort of flexibility.
We also know that global spend on business travel by 2020 will soar well above $1.5 trillion. Adopting a mobile workforce strategy will also help your team eliminate the need for expensive business trips!
Looking for ways to maximize efficiency while keeping costs down? We can help. Get in touch with us!
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