Technology has been an integral part of our lives in recent years, and it is hard to imagine modern businesses spearheading innovation without its use.
Despite the fact that some people argue that technology can be a great distraction in the workplace. The truth is that, with a little discipline and preparation, the right tech tools can help you speed up processes, and as a result boost productivity; here is how:
1. Connect Distributed Teams
The pandemic forced many businesses to adopt remote or hybrid work models to curb the spread of the virus and keep employees safe. However, there are other reasons you might want to have a remote workforce including, less commute stress, embracing diversity and inclusion, draw from a larger talent pool, reduce your carbon footprint, etc.
Whatever your reasons, you will need to solve a significant challenge to enjoy these benefits- how do you connect your distributed teams?
You can use technology to overcome the limits that geographical location, or time zones, have imposed on your employees.
You can use Slack for communication because it offers some useful in-built features for remote workers. It also allows you to integrate other apps and bots to streamline your work and keep your employees engaged.
At the start, it can be difficult for your dispersed team to get along, and understand each other’s nuances and preferences. You can use Crystal’s free personality test to solve this problem and create a high-performing team.
When working with a remote team of employees in different geographical locations, you might constantly find yourself googling “time in New York” or other areas to organize your workday schedules. You can use Timezone.io to deal with this challenge.
2. Improve Organization and Collaboration
Whether your employees are sitting next to each other in cubicles or working halfway across the globe, they need tools to help them work together on critical projects and share information to save time and improve project management.
You can leverage collaboration tools to improve your team’s productivity. But we are not talking about emails here; it’s challenging to keep them organized, and important memos can quickly get missing in a pile of junk.
You can use Trello or Asana to facilitate your business’ workflow, improve scheduling, track the progress of your projects, organize tasks, etc. What sets Trello apart is its easy-to-use Kanban-style boards that allow you to create projects and assign them to your team. What’s more, you can boost your team’s productivity by integrating Trello with other third-party tools like Plus for Trello for detailed reports, Timeneye for time tracking, Pomello to use the Pomodoro technique, etc.
3. Strengthen Marketing
Being a business owner, you probably know that offering quality products/services is only one part of the puzzle. You also need to create a brand, spread the word about your offerings, attract prospects, and engage with customers—this is where marketing comes in.
Some time ago, businesses needed to spend vast amounts of money on marketing campaigns such as TV ads and outdoor billboards to connect with prospects. These campaigns were not always effective at generating returns, and it was challenging to measure the results.
Today, you can leverage tech tools to create personalized marketing campaigns to target people who need your products/services, thus increasing your chances of converting them into customers and making profits.
For example, you can improve your website’s SEO rankings to drive more traffic to your business, use Google Analytics to process information, and social media to engage with your customers.
You can use MobileMonkey to stay connected to your customers on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and Web Chat. You can also use Ubersuggest for keyword research and to gain insight into strategies working for your competition.
4. Outsource Tasks to Skilled Professionals
No matter how big or small your business is, you might not want your team to undertake some tasks, either because they are highly skilled, complex or inefficient non-core functions. This has become more crucial in these times of uncertainty.
What do you do then?
Technology has allowed businesses to outsource some operations easily to skilled freelancers or agencies. Outsourcing can help your business become more flexible and agile to navigate various challenges by delivering cost savings and a large talent pool.
You can use platforms like Fiverr to hire skilled freelancers in a wide range of categories including, graphic design, writing & translation, video animation, programming & tech, etc., from $5. You only need to sign up on the website, and you can start looking for a freelancer in a specific niche.
5. Automate Repetitive Processes
Automation is one of those wonders of technology we have all used and enjoyed, sometimes without awareness. Remember how you rely on your phone’s alarm to wake you up every morning, or how you set your microwave to turn off after a specific time?
You will be happy to know that automation has become even more accessible and robust in recent years with the continuous advancements in technology. In fact, automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks like paying your bills or responding to emails is one of the most effective way's technology can boost productivity in your business and reduce the chance for human errors.
In addition, letting automation tools handle those recurring tasks allows your employees to focus on other activities, thereby helping you save time and money.
You can use automation platforms like IFTTT to connect different apps and create basic automated actions between them. For example, you can use it to upload your Instagram pictures to Facebook automatically, get the weather forecast at a specific time every day, or share links to specific YouTube channels you follow to Telegram.
Let Technology Do the Heavy Lifting for Your Business
There are so many ways you can use technology in your business to improve productivity, but you can get the ball rolling with the tips above. Lastly, remember that investing in the right tools for your business, and finding the best ways to use them will work wonders for you.
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