Low productivity is bad for business as it negatively impacts revenue, work quality, and employee engagement. The good news is that modern technology is reshaping the business environment.
As a business leader, you must redefine performance management, people structures, and work analytics as you strive to transform the workplace into a highly productive, highly efficient hub.
While technology is a leading source of distraction, it can also bring plenty of benefits to employers and employees. Below, we explore the different ways you can use modern technology to maintain high productivity levels with your workforce.
Track Employee Time
Manual time cards have been in use for many years, helping employers keep track of workers’ clock in and clock out times. However, manual time cards are susceptible to employee time theft and can result in losses.
Thankfully, technology can help mitigate this via time tracking software that automatically monitors employee performance throughout the workday. Time trackers offer an effective way to manage workload, so you can minimize risks of employee burnout.
These tools provide informative data that paints a clear picture of your organization’s overall performance. You can use the data to rethink work strategies and review work processes to make them more efficient, with a focus on productivity.
Furthermore, time tracking tools can bring to light sources of distractions that could be affecting employee performance. By tracking internet usage, managers can see how team members utilize company time and address issues accordingly.
Ensure Timely Project Completion
Technology avails several tools that you can leverage to track and oversee project progress for both on-site and remote workers. With project management tools, managers can delegate tasks more seamlessly and assign specific tasks to specific employees.
They can then monitor progress and milestones for each team member, and provide valuable feedback.
In addition, managers can detect projects that are falling behind schedule and collaborate with team leaders on how to resolve issues that could be affecting project completion.
Declutter the Digital Workspace
Information overload is a real problem in a world ruled by digitization. With so many work apps, documents, links, and chats, it can be easy to get lost in all the chaos. Luckily, technology offers an effective way to organize your workstation.
A tool like Toby simplifies the task of searching for links, documents, or anything else across all your work apps. You’ll find everything in a shared tab collection, where all the important resources are accessible with a single click.
Station is another useful tool that neatly lets you switch between work tools with one click. The app offers a unified search that quickly finds any information or page you need from all your apps.
Introduce Shared Emails to Improve Collaboration
In 2021, the number of emails sent and received worldwide was estimated to be 319.6 billion, according to data by Statista. The figure is projected to rise to 376.4 billion daily emails by 2025.
With so many email communications in an organization, it’s easy to miss crucial information. What’s more, managers and small business owners face a huge challenge of organizing and delegating day-to-day tasks via emails.
That’s why a shared inbox is an essential tool for streamlining communication with your entire team. A shared inbox offers the whole team access to emails from a central platform, making email communication more efficient.
With a shared inbox app, managers can add, remove, or switch up tasks and all team members can see the changes on their board live. In addition, it eliminates tab switching, which can be time wasting.
Reduce Time Wastage Using Automation
According to a survey by KRC Research, 99 percent of business leaders embrace the advantages that automation in the workplace brings. Automation helps get rid of redundancy and facilitates the most effective use of technology to deliver unrivaled performance and results.
Mundane tasks like bookkeeping, inventory management, email replies, reminders, attendance, and calendar can become more efficient if automated. The use of AI chatbots and augmented business tools are some of the modern workplace technologies that offer great potential for business growth.
Facilitate Remote Working
With up to 97 percent of remote employees willing to recommend remote work to others, remote work is no doubt the future of work. After Covid-19, companies had no choice but to rethink how they conduct business to ensure business continuity.
With that in mind, employers must establish and implement new processes, including online onboarding, online knowledge depository, remote team collaboration, and online management.
Technology makes this achievable through remote team management software, cloud-based systems for document sharing, remote collaboration tools, etc. The best use of this technology ensures smooth communication and collaboration, subsequently boosting employee productivity.
Ready to Increase Productivity with Technology?
Understanding and adopting modern technology can do wonders to improve productivity, and hence revenue. The best part is that these tools don’t necessarily require huge costs.
You can find tools that offer free plans, which is helpful, especially when testing out a tool to see whether it meets the needs of your business. If you aren’t taking advantage of technology in your organization, you’re missing out on plenty of opportunities to grow and thrive.
