Five Tools Businesses Can Use To Be More Productive
Businesses are always looking for ways to be more productive, whether managing their workflow, generating good leads, communicating with employees, or adopting the latest technological innovations that promise to boost efficiency. Here are five tools that can help you overcome these challenges:
Author:Darren McphersonReviewer:Dexter CookeAug 22, 2024301 Shares9.1K Views
Collaborative project management software to keep employees engaged
One of the biggest challenges a business faces today is keeping its employees engaged. Employee engagement should be a top priority for any organization, as it significantly affects a company’s bottom line. A report by Gallupfinds that companies in the top quartile of employee engagement benefit from 10% better customer ratings, a 22% increase in profitability, and a 21% increase in productivity.
“Businesses often struggle with maintaining high productivity due to challenges such as employee engagement and the temptation to prioritize speed over established processes,” explains Brianna Van Zanten, Customer Success Manager for Incheq. “It's essential to cultivate employee motivation by recognizing achievements, big and small, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This includes using management tools and trackers to monitor progress and skill development, reinforcing the idea that there's always room to grow within one's role without sacrificing the quality of work. Every day has the potential to be better than the last.”
ActiveCollab, a collaborative project management software, can help businesses achieve better productivity in this regard. “Tools that centralize tasks, deadlines, and team communication enable efficient task distribution, tracking, and collaboration, facilitating smoother project execution and resource management,” says Van Zanten. “This boosts employee connectivity through features like file sharing, real-time updates, and enhanced communication across distributed teams. ActiveCollab promotes adherence to established processes by defining workflows, setting milestones, and tracking project progress. This ensures teams work efficiently while upholding quality standards, avoiding the drawbacks of rushed work such as errors, redundancy, and long-term inefficiencies.”
Cloud software to help solve communication issues in a remote work environment
Although the shift to remote and hybrid work models offered several benefits and conveniences, it also brought about several challenges. “Poor communication between departments and team members can result in misunderstandings, duplicated efforts, and missed deadlines in a remote environment,” explains Anna Fong, COO at KENTECH, a revolutionary background check technology company. “Employees can also face numerous distractions during work hours, from social media to unnecessary meetings. These distractions can significantly cut into productive work time.”
According to Fong, the solution to these challenges is to adopt SaaS platforms that enable better collaboration and communication in a remote workplace. “We use a lot of SaaS cloud platforms like Google Suite for productivity and Azure Cloud PC for secure remote accessibility for our users who are literally across four continents,” she says. “We also use Hubspot for our sales and marketing as well as CRM and ADP for HR management. These tools automate workflows and task management, reducing manual effort, and enable seamless communication through integrated tools.”
Phone validation to solve data decay
Data decay presents another challenge for businesses — especially when it comes to marketing. Over time, the information in a database becomes inaccurate and unusable, creating efficiency issues. For example, according to HubSpot, email databases degrade by around 22.5% every year.
“Managing data decay can impact business productivity when it comes to marketing, sales, and client management,” explains JoAnn Fitzpatrick, COO at RealValidation. “To get leads for your business, reach potential customers, or manage existing customers, you need good data, such as customers’ phone numbers. People change phone plans and phone numbers all of the time, and not having their current data can impact a business’s bottom line and productivity.”
RealValidation’s flagship service, RealPhone Validation, aids businesses’ productivity by validating phone numbers to ensure they are active, finding numbers on Do Not Call lists to avoid non-compliance, and determining whether a phone number is a landline or cell phone. This aids marketing efforts by helping businesses reach more potential customers and more effectively manage the customers they already have.
AI and automation to solve issues with outdated technology
Another common mistake businesses make is relying too much on obsolete technology. “Outdated technology can slow down processes and frustrate employees,” explains Mihae Ahn, VP of Marketing at ProServe IT, an IT service provider that helps businesses achieve incredible growth by adopting the latest innovative technology.
Ahn suggests that tools like Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft’s generative AI program, could have a particularly transformative effect when it comes to productivity. “Microsoft Copilot helps streamline processes, reduce the cognitive load on employees, and enable them to focus on higher-value tasks,” she explains. “For example, Copilot can assist in drafting emails, reports, and other documents by generating content based on prompts, which speeds up the writing process. It can also quickly search for and summarize information, making it easier to find relevant data and help make informed decisions. Imagine your marketing team cutting the time and resources required to produce content by half. Imagine your sales team significantly reducing the time required to consolidate notes from customer meetings, input them into the CRM system, and send a meeting summary email to customers. Copilot holds so much potential for productivity improvement for any organization.”
Furthermore, as explained by Insoo Park, founder and CEO of Ecosense, tools like intelligent CRMs can do far more than automate workflows. These tools can also be used for faster lead generation in sales due to their ability to efficiently acquire customer information and engage with them through FAQ support and follow-ups.
“Intelligent CRMs can save companies time and increase their sales opportunities,” Park says. “Automated email blasts and text marketing can quickly generate new leads, while key customer identification data points can personalize support so businesses spend less time having to dig through spreadsheets to find valuable customer information. This lets businesses close higher-value deals faster from anywhere while enhancing their customers’ satisfaction with targeted and personalized follow-ups, ensuring communication issues are mitigated if not entirely eliminated — especially in remote work environments.”
Mixed reality (MR) to solve communication and training problems
Another technology that Ahn suggests could have the potential to transform the landscape of work is mixed reality (MR). Although MR technology has already been incredibly revolutionary in the entertainment industry, recent developments have introduced use cases that will be beneficial for practical and professional applications.
“Using devices such as Meta Quest, employees can interact in a shared virtual space, making hybrid meetings more engaging and interactive, which can lead to more effective communications,” explains Ahn. “MR can also improve training experiences and their effectiveness, whether that is technical training or soft skills training. Better communications and more effective training undoubtedly lead to productivity gains.”
In each of their different ways, these tools and software will help businesses overcome some of the issues they face when it comes to their employees’ productivity. From empowering better collaboration and communication to combatting data decay and overcoming outdated technology, these tools will help your employees achieve maximum productivity.
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Collaborative project management software to keep employees engaged
Cloud software to help solve communication issues in a remote work environment
Phone validation to solve data decay
AI and automation to solve issues with outdated technology
Mixed reality (MR) to solve communication and training problems
Darren Mcpherson
Author
Darren Mcpherson brings over 9 years of experience in politics, business, investing, and banking to his writing. He holds degrees in Economics from Harvard University and Political Science from Stanford University, with certifications in Financial Management.
Renowned for his insightful analyses and strategic awareness, Darren has contributed to reputable publications and served in advisory roles for influential entities.
Outside the boardroom, Darren enjoys playing chess, collecting rare books, attending technology conferences, and mentoring young professionals.
His dedication to excellence and understanding of global finance and governance make him a trusted and authoritative voice in his field.
Dexter Cooke
Reviewer
Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dexter’s insights into media, economics, and marketing shine through his prolific contributions to respected publications and advisory roles for influential organizations.
As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive knee replacement surgery and laparoscopic procedures, Dexter prioritizes patient care above all.
Outside his professional pursuits, Dexter enjoys collecting vintage watches, studying ancient civilizations, learning about astronomy, and participating in charity runs.
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