However, you shouldn’t underestimate to extent to which technology alone can fuel your productivity and collaboration — two things which are closely interlinked.
In a survey mentioned by CMS Wire, collaborative work was found to lead to a fivefold likelihood of higher performance. So, what technologies could help you to bring about this change? Here are five noteworthy examples…
Cloud computing
If you store much of your company’s data in paper form, you could need to manage a team of in-house specialists dedicated to handling what you’ve got in filing cabinets.
However, you could free up a lot of time amongst your workforce by setting up cloud storage for use in storing business documents.
Cloud computing applications are delightfully straightforward to use — and, as they even update themselves automatically, you wouldn’t need to set aside time to update them manually.
Automation and AI
There are many supposedly ‘small’ workplace responsibilities that nonetheless, when all added up, can weigh heavily on your precious time. Examples of these tasks include keeping inboxes organised, entering data and managing payments or invoices.
Fortunately, though, these are also all routines that can be made appreciably easier when automation and AI (artificial intelligence) are involved.
One good reason why is that computers are not prone to the kind of errors that humans can too easily make without even consciously realising.
CRM software
If you want to encourage sustained growth in your business, you need to make sure your customers are well looked after. Otherwise, they could feel too inclined to start buying from a competing company rather than stay loyal to yours.
Fortunately, these days, CRM (customer relationship management) software can help businesses to better understand customers and what they want.
It is a strong testament to the success of CRM software that the market is expected to surpass $80 billion in revenue by 2025, as SME News explains.
Unified communications
Through weaving multiple communication tools to form a more extensive and multifaceted solution, you can essentially create what is known as a unified communications (UC) system.
You can tweak and improve a UC system, too, such as by using Microsoft Teams Operator Connect to streamline calling capabilities.
According to one study mentioned on the Business Wire website, 93% of employees using UC tools see a productivity increase as a result. UC has, for example, helped to decrease the time often taken to resolve customer issues.
Webinars
You might already find holding seminars useful for sharing information and ideas. However, you might not have realised that seminars can be held in online form; welcome the ‘webinar’!
The online nature of a webinar means that people can participate in it remotely. Consequently, they don’t need to spend time travelling simply to attend the event.
The time savings made as a result of going down the webinar route mean that businesspeople can devote more of their minutes to other aspects of work life.