Innovation in various forms of technologies such as smartphones, cloud storage, and social media increase productivity and enhance work/life balance. But unless these technologies are used correctly, businesses will not see an increase in productivity levels.
In a day and age of multiple technologies, one can easily lose track of how they connected with someone and not everyone may be using the same technologies. It may have been via Skype, slack, iMessage or Google Allo or even Google Drive, iCloud or Dropbox. Now, more time is spent on figuring out which platform, communication type and where contact information is stored and overall this can be a time suck. Conversations such as, “We cannot add Mark to the iMessage group because he does not use his iPhone so we have to use Skype,” become common. Or “Sally uses Chromebook on which Skype does not run, so we have to use “hangout” with her.”
Here are five simple tech hacks businesses can use in the second half of the year to increase productivity:
- Get everyone internally on the same single messaging channel
Within the internal company, all employees should not be using multiple communication channels. Slack and Skype are two main business communication platforms that can exist on all platforms and across mobile and desktops. Always go with a platform that most employees are familiar with and can be deployed easily. Where productivity gets lost is if one person is not on the similar platform.
- Save & Store everything in the cloud but in one place
Cloud storage has become dime a dozen and ubiquitous. While a few years ago everyone was afraid that the data stored in the cloud may not be safe and secure, many recent hacks and “wannacry” ransomware have proved it otherwise. When it comes to storing any digital data the 3-2-1 backup strategy should always be used. But what about accessing and sharing that data within the business? Visybl, a technology company that makes IoT products for businesses, utilizes the Google Drive as a single file storage mechanism where all necessary documents get stored. Key folders and current projects are synched with local machines so that one can have access to those files even when offline. When sharing files and documents with external contractors and vendors, files are put in separate folders and given access to the expiration date (for example, 30 days or less). This way their access gets cut off automatically.
- Setup alerts & notifications about your customers, vendors, competitors
A lot goes on every day in the news and social media. Everyone wants your attention or is trying to sell something. Opening multiple social media channels to keep track of what’s happening with your customers, vendors or competitors is wasting time.Instead, setup Google alerts with keywords related to your search. On sites such as Twitter and Linkedin, one can setup activity to be sent as an Email daily to an account. Within that email, set up a folder and name it “Newsfeed” and Emails can be directly sent to this folder using filter rules. Now all you have to do is spend 10 mins every day looking through this email folder and browsing through relevant news. If you find any interesting news, click on that link to read more. This will save you over an hour if not more of time each day.
- Identify and outsource mundane and repetitive tasks
There are several minor business tasks that one does throughout the day which can add up. Calling to order or refill stationery items, scheduling package pickup with carriers such as FedEx or UPS, online research, entering data from one system to another and so on can take time. First, identify all these tasks. They all have some common characteristics such as the same steps are followed every single time, is not person dependent, and is repeated at least two-to-five times each week. Once identified, the next step is to see how it can be automated by using a technology such as using a goButton. If it cannot be fully automated then another option is to outsource to virtual assistants using freelancing platform such as zirtual, taskrabbit and many others.
- Utilize SaaS (software-as-a-service) Freemium model to your advantage
Over the past two years there are many SaaS companies that came into existence for any type of software. From sophisticated HR software to simple to use contact management tools, there is always a free tier option when trying them out. In many cases just within the free tier one will be able to get work done. Only upgrade to pricing tier when the free trial period expires and if you find the tool productive and would like to continue using it. If that software doesn’t work, another one can be switched to immediately.
By following these 5 simple tech hacks, not only will a business see an increase in productivity but employees will spend more time working efficiently and less time doing repetitive tasks. This in turn can help increase sales and profit the second half of the year.
