How Can Software Make Your Employees More Efficient?

Guest Post by Sara Marcum

The more efficient a business is, the more profitable it will be. Successful business owners are already aware of this, which is why they turn to software solutions to increase efficiency and motivation at the employee level.

Successful business owners also know that they have to take measures in order to protect their own assets. Besides utilizing regular liability insurance solutions in their company’s infrastructure, owners will often invest in insurance to protect their income.

It's reassuring for employees to know that if the inevitable occurs, the company has its emplpoyees assets covered as well. 

Using software for efficiency

One of the easiest ways to promote efficiency in a business is to incorporate various software applications into your business structure. These types of software promote productivity across multiple levels. If the majority of your employees work from home, keeping track of their productivity and efficiency is vital.

Calling all internet providers

Some businesses have always offered the option to work from home to their employees. One of the best ways to be efficient in such a position is to have an internet provider that you can count on.

Dealing with an internet service that is slow makes efficiency and productivity hard to maintain. Sometimes even the weather can impact performance speeds. If you plan on having employees in a position where they can work from home, making sure that they have a dependable internet connection should be a top priority.

Managing tasks and projects

Managers need to find a way to make sure that all their employees know what their tasks are and when they are due. They need to be able to ask questions about those tasks and have a place to submit them. Thankfully, there is a technological solution for that.

Asana

Asana is one of the more popular choices among businesses and managers. Asana allows for the creation of tasks and collaboration on projects by more than one employee. It is also available in app form for Android and Apple. 

Asana helps with efficiency because groups can be brought together to collaborate, which is helpful when employees may not all be in the same geographical area. 

Asana also helps make each individual accountable for their own work by sending daily emails to let employees know what they have due.

Trello

Trello has the same premise as Asana. You can collaborate your groups into one space including sales, marketing, management, and human resources. 

Trello is known for its ease of use and speed. The setup alone allows for due dates, file storage, assignments, checklists, and other efficiency applications.

Trello also has the compatibility to integrate with other software. Over 100 compatible software integrations include Google, Slack, and many others.

Evernote Business

Evernote was founded on the idea that a product was needed to address the increasing volume and speed of information that a business undergoes. Evernote brings together teams using versatility and functionality to allow document creation, project collaborations, and information storage in one place.

The search feature on Evernote is quicker and more effective than most of the other project management tools available today. It is also capable of integrating with tools you are already using.

Keeping in touch

I come from the age when you used Yahoo Messenger or AOL Instant Messenger to talk with your friends. Since that time, Google has risen above the rest to offer Gmail and Hangouts. Now everyone has a Gmail email account while Yahoo or Hotmail accounts are less utilized. 

Technological evolution isn’t just cell phones and computers; it is your communication methods as well. MySpace quickly fell off the face of the planet when Facebook became the social media platform of choice. 

Let’s take a look at how businesses and their employees can efficiently keep in touch with one another.

Email

There are several different email service providers that can benefit not only you, but the employees in your business. If you need a free email that allows for collaboration, Gmail is probably the best. 

There are other domains out there that can accomodate business, and you can research these email providers to find the best fit for your needs.

Instant messaging

Sometimes you just can’t wait for an email response. That is where the innovation of instant messaging comes in handy. You can see if your manager or colleague is online and send them a message. When you need an “instant” answer, “instant” messaging can be the most efficient solution.

Slack

Slack leads the instant messaging category. The features it brings are like none across the World Wide Web. Slack not only allows for one-on-one conversations, but it also allows for team collaboration in private channels.

If you have more than one Slack account, you can combine them onto one desktop application. This allows you to move effortlessly between the two when it notifies you of messages.

Spike

A newcomer in the field of business communications, Spike allows you to integrate your email into a user-friendly instant messaging format. This application works on top of an existing email account and works in real time. 

Additionally, Spike offers groups and channels as well as video conferencing capabilities.

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts works a lot like Skype, without the subscription. You can have conversations and video chat with colleagues. It is a more straightforward application, though. 

You find the person via their Gmail address and talk to them. You can chat as a group, but as far as collaboration goes, it’s not as efficient as other instant messaging software applications.

Tracking tools

One of the most useful tools for keeping track of team and business efficiency is by using ActivTrak. ActivTrac is data driven, which means it can monitor the productivity of your employees as well as integrating with existing Google sign-ins. 

It offers easy-to-use controls that allow you to track not only productivity and efficiency but also team behavior analytics.

Keep it simple

The bottom line for any efficient business solution is to keep it simple. The more complicated the application, the more trouble employees are going to have using it. If your employees spend the first 45 minutes trying to open all their applications and set them up, then they aren’t being efficient.

The best way to stay efficient is to stay connected. These software solutions offer a way to stay connected to your employees and a way for them to stay connected to you.

Sara Marcum writes and researches for TheTruthAboutInsurance.com. She is a mother to two boys and the stepmother to a little girl. After many years of working outside of the home, she decided it was time to make a change and pursue her dream of writing. She is currently working on a novel while juggling all the other tasks in her life.