Over the last couple of decades, the way that a lot of people do their work has changed a lot. With computers becoming affordable enough for every desk to have its own, most roles in the modern world rely on this sort of machine, handling even the smallest tasks on a digital platform. Of course, this makes sense, as it saves time, money, and crucial resources, along with creating new jobs in the form of technicians and engineers. To give you an idea of how technology is able to help with productivity within a business, this post will be exploring some of the options which are available today.
Time Management
How Time & Attendance Software Can Help Business Owners & Their Employees
Managing time has never been easier than it is today. Unlike in the past, when professionals would often have secretaries to help them with their time, people are able to have all of their meetings and appointments stored in their pocket. Without paper to lose, modern online calendars are proving to be incredibly useful to company owners who want to keep their teams running on time. Systems like Office 365 often include this sort of tool as one of their main features. This gives you access to loads of additional time-savings products, without having to spend more money on them.
Information Sharing
Tick Tock Goes The Clock: How Your Business Wastes Time Without Even Noticing
There are few things which slow down a day of work more than struggling to access a document or file which you really need. This issue is especially problematic when you’re outside of the office, as it will force you to make calls and disrupt other people’s work, wasting more time in the process. To solve this issue, cloud storage enables companies to access their information over the internet, rather than using local servers for it. A subscription to a service like Google G Suite is required for this, but this doesn’t cost too much, and will give you loads of additional features to make it more worthwhile.
Communication
Times Are Changing. Is Your Business?
An effective team will always have a need to communicate with one another throughout their work. Whether people need to liaise to discuss their parts of a wider project, or simply need to ask one another for help and advice, it’s essential that everyone is linked and able to get through without too much effort. To achieve this goal, a range of different services should be used. Instant messenger is often the most effective, giving everyone a platform to talk via text, regardless of whether or not they are at work. Of course, though, communication goes much further than simple messages.
Along with IM, you should also think about the email services which you use. Some companies will be able to offer much greater security than others, and price doesn’t often reflect this. When you’re using a system like Office 365 or G Suite, you will have unrestricted access to tools like Skype and Hangouts. This means being able to voice and video chat with everyone inside your company, with the opportunity to extend this if you pay a little more for your subscription. Having communication tools which are easy to use will make work much easier for your team, saving time and enabling more effective workflows to be implemented.
Work Monitoring
Keeping an eye on what people are doing when they are at work is an important part of an employer’s job. When your business is still small, it will be essential that everyone is doing their best if you want to succeed. To achieve this goal, it’s always worth pushing your employees to be accountable for their work, having them submit daily figures which surround the amount they’ve been able to do. If you notice problems with certain workers, you can use software tools to monitor them a little more closely, spotting the things which might be taking their mind off of their work.
Learning & Training
Benefits of Change Management Software
Most fields in the world of business are always changing. Even if you work in an industry which has been around for hundreds of years, the work you do will have changed in recent times, and this means having to do some learning to keep up. Thankfully, with the power of the internet, keeping people’s qualifications up to date is nice and easy. You can get an online MBA from JCU for Canadians without having to stop working, and there are loads of other examples to choose from when you’re researching this area. It’s always in your interest to improve the skills of the people working for you.
Along with the learning they do outside of work, you can also provide them with some of the knowledge internally, using training to keep everyone on the same page. When it comes to areas like data protection, you will have little choice but to consider the work which has to be done. You can also think about things like customer service and financial management, though, as these are also useful to know in most roles. Technology makes this much easier by offering a huge range of online resources which can be used to aid your teaching.
Restrictions & Filtering
Boosting Business Productivity Through Technology
Finally, as the last area to consider, it’s time to think about the restrictions you place on your employees. A lot of companies have had issues with too much social media use over the last few years, with workers taking advantage of the ability to freely browse the web. In reality, though, a simple filtering system can stop this from being an issue. Modern examples of this sort of tool enable you to schedule your filtering, making it possible to turn them off when it comes to break times, giving staff the chance to catch up with friends on their own time.
With all of this in mind, this post should give you a good idea of what needs to be done when you’re working on improving productivity within your business, and only have technology on your side. Over the next few years, the tools which are improving this area are set to get even better. This means that this challenge should start to disappear.
