It’s not hard to see how technology can cause distractions in the workplace. If you are figuring out how to increase your team’s productivity, it’s always important to remember that technology is something that should aid your productivity, but not the thing that actually gives you the drive. Rather, it’s more of a template. So let’s show you some of the main ways that technology, including devices and applications, can increase productivity and efficiency.
Workflows and processes
So many businesses use applications to streamline their workflows and processes from something simpler to a more focused endeavor. There are features that will reduce time-consuming tasks. When a company is weighing up team task management versus project management, the right tools will always present themselves when it comes to the actual processes, but it all depends on the business.
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When there are customer relationship platforms that organize client information and interactions under one roof, it will naturally help organizations work with businesses more effectively. Conversely, there’s employee management software that will let the HR department manage the employees’ benefits and payroll, as well as many more components. When it comes to increasing productivity, one of the biggest weapons is reducing monotonous tasks. It will also reduce human error, which means that when technology can do the heavy lifting, you can focus on the core tasks that will actually benefit everybody. It will also be easier for many businesses to use simple SaaS tools to automate their work, which are readily available. One popular tool can be found if you click here.
It enables better time management and strategic planning
Time management is one of the biggest obstacles for any business. Ensuring that you and your employees get the most out of your working day involves scheduling in the right ways. These days, you can use a lot of scheduling applications and calendar ones, such as Google Calendar, to integrate with any type of productivity app. Because they are instantly accessible on almost any device, this will increase the communication part of any business.
When a company is trying to keep track of a project, it’s not a good idea to have one large deadline looming, but rather breaking it down into sub-components with their own individual deadlines will help them to see which tasks are more demanding of their effort. When we start to prioritize and schedule more efficiently, it helps us all understand which tasks are really worth our time.
Keeping the lines of communication open
One of the most common things we’ve all seen in the last couple of years is remote work being part of the “New Normal,” therefore, having technology as a key part is so important. Ensuring that distributed workforces have the right resources to stay connected and collaborative means that businesses will always be able to feel that they are in touch with each other. When you use a cloud-based solution, such as (Voice over IP) VoIP, you can enable employees and users to contact everyone in different ways, from emails to phone calls.
For remote work, it’s vital for employees to feel they can get in contact with coworkers as if they were sitting near them. However, there is a big debate on whether increasing the levels of communication actually hinders productivity or not. This is a big question to answer here, but it all depends on the individual. There are plenty of collaboration platforms in recent years such as G Suite and Slack that have helped remote teams to work together, even though they are apart. Additionally, video conferencing apps have made it easier to host interactive virtual meetings and still stay on the productive side.
It can help with concentration
Technology should be an aid rather than an overriding construct. Technology can override a lot of other tasks, but it allows your team to concentrate more so they can have longer periods of work without being interrupted. When we’re trying to improve productivity, the tools can help, but we’ve got to remember that it is the worker who will define whether you are a productive business or not. Therefore, choosing the right type of technology will increase workflow processes, but it can also aid the culture.
When we’re talking about concentration, there are time-honored tools that can help businesses to remain productive that are not necessarily technologically based. For example, the Pomodoro Technique is something that can make a massive difference in ensuring that work and stay focused without getting fatigued. There are also theories such as Parkinson’s Law or the 80/20 Rule that are always worth remembering as human-based tools that can help businesses to improve their concentration.
Simplifying goals
When we have to make goals a success, we need to have a strong desire to achieve them. But in order to achieve them when you are managing a large team, you have to display some sense of organization. There’s a lot to be said in terms of goal setting, and this is where technology can help you to follow your own blueprint to make it a success.
Common smartphone features like reminder apps can help you to record and set regular goals and goal tracking apps can help you to stay focused on the goals and provide you with reminders so you can achieve them better.
Tools are pivotal to ongoing education
Investing in your staff’s education and development is vital to ensure they are stimulated and forward-thinking. This is where a learning management system can help empower employees to diversify and develop their knowledge and skills and therefore, be more than an asset to the business.
When we have these resources, it allows us to find a number of solutions that will elevate our business and ensure that everybody is getting the best bang for their buck, and this includes customers as well as employees. Technology is key to productivity, however, we must remember that to do this effectively, we’ve got to guarantee that the technology is being used for the right reasons but also ensure that the technology we have in place actually improves our productivity rather than hindering it. In one respect, we need to make the most of what is available, but we also need to learn how to implement these things more effectively.