Every business depends on productivity, but there are many different forms that productivity can take. The types that every business prefers are the actions that result in improved revenue generation. That’s not to say that all work that is done for your business isn’t important, but the more that can be done to make money, the better off your business will be. Let’s take a look at three ways your business can shift the way they do things with the use of technology.
Automate What You Can
Every business has a lot of moving parts. When it comes to productivity in a small business, one person could wear a half-dozen or more hats. The more that can be reliably done by machines, the more effective your business is going to be. When you are thinking about how to invest in your business, the answer should always be to produce and sell more and spend less to do it. That’s not always easy, but with tools integrated with artificial intelligence, end-to-end management software, and smart tools this can become a lot easier.
Collaborate Better For Increased Productivity
These days, businesses are often forced to do more with less. Even if they aren’t, having systems in place that improve the ability for people to collaborate can mean enhanced efficiency and productivity. While there are software systems and other technologies that can individually boost your staff’s ability to collaborate, true collaboration is achieved through a dedication to trust the other members of your team. In order to do that, you need tools that make this easier (or possible). Let’s take a look at some of the tools teams are using to improve their collaboration.
- Customer Relationship Management – The CRM doesn’t just help improve customer satisfaction, it can also help your team work together on projects. The software can help stabilize any task by giving a consistent platform to update team members (and customers) to keep any task or project working efficiently.
- Video conferencing – A video conferencing software doesn’t just help businesses with remote teams—although it is a must-have for organizations that sport them—it is one of the very best collaboration tools there is in business. Not only can team members meet with each other at the push of a button, it can also speed up projects and help ensure tasks are completed correctly more frequently, a major consideration for any business that relies on collaboration.
- Collaboration tools – Today, there are many collaboration tools that are specifically designed to keep project teams working together. Most feature a forum-like construct that allows for person-to-person communication and a myriad of software integrations designed to give every member of a collaboration team the resources they need in one easy-to-use platform.
- Productivity apps – Today’s cloud-based productivity applications give employees the ability to work inside the same document/spreadsheet/presentation. This can not only work to improve productivity, it can bring with it a level of rapid quality assurance that traditionally wasn’t available to businesses with stand-alone productivity suites. What’s best, any person with an active login and an Internet connection can use these tools, providing the flexibility and organizational scalability needed to ensure that any deadline is met.
Engage with Your Customer Base
Without your customers, your business wouldn’t be one. This is why one of the most important parts of your business is to reach out to your customers and keep them engaged. Studies show that customer retention is almost five times less costly for a business than customer acquisition. Moreover, it is much easier to expand your current customers’ spend than it is to try to find new customers to fill the gaps.
We listed the CRM above as a crucial collaboration tool, but its main function is to keep your customers in the loop. This provides opportunities to get more feedback from them and to accrue the data needed to make informed decisions. The truth is, your customers are the key to your business’ success, and if you are doing everything right by them, you can really move your organization forward quickly.
With talks of recession on the horizon, the more efficient your business is at producing solid and supported products is going to be key in your ability to grow your business. At Excedeo, we work with businesses every day to get them the technology, expertise, and managed IT support they need to take their operational effectiveness to the next level. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you achieve your goals, give us a call today at 619-776-3032.
