For many businesses and startups, the introduction of technology could be a vital step towards improved operations and increased profits but the daily demands of running a business often means it's difficult to implement such systems.
If you're operating in a competitive marketplace, streamlining your business through the introduction of technology could give you the competitive edge your business deserves.
Conference calls
If you're in regular contact with clients, suppliers or colleagues who're often away from the office, try introducing video conferencing. Not only does it allow for a number of people to discuss matters at once, the video functionality can often break down barriers caused by audio alone.
GoToMeeting is a great place to start.
Invoice software
Your business has probably become so familiar with processing invoices and receipts, that you don't deem this aspect of your business a great concern? But whether you're dealing with a high volume of receipts or just a few, there's software to take care of it. Receipt Bank works to reduce manual input when paying suppliers and billings clients. With its ability to extract information by simply sending an invoice to a dedicated email address or uploading a photo to the app, Receipt Bank might be the solution to helping free up vital hours your business needs.
Document management
A study into productivity in the workplace found that employees spend an average 20% of their working week searching for internal information, emails and files. To help reduce that figure, it's important to consider the use of a cloud-based management system to store all files collectively. Introducing systems such as Dropbox, allows colleagues access to all files from their computer, it's easy to share links to files with Dropbox and there's also an option to retrieve previous version, should something go wrong!
Note sharing
If you're a regular note-taker or creator of lists, having somewhere to store these can sometimes be messy. Not only could you end up with random Word files scattered on your computer but also locating misplaced paper documents can be hugely frustrating. In addition, allowing others the opportunity to access or contribute to those notes becomes problematic. Evernote has developed the ultimate cross-platform app to help digitise all your notes and store them within the cloud. One of our favourite app features is Evernote's ability to detect the content within a photo upload because it automatically trims, resizes and creates a crisp reproduction. Perfect for sharing those whiteboard-brainstorming sessions with your team.
Workplace messaging apps
Nothing beats picking up the phone; it's personal, immediate and direct. However, there are times when you're head down in work and the phone can be an unwelcome distraction. Thankfully, there's a solution in the form of workplace messaging apps, which are rapidly becoming integral to internal business communications. Not only do they allow colleagues to chat in real-time via desktop or device, they often host other features such as video/audio calls, file sharing and document editing. Workplace messaging apps such as Slack, Teams and Yammer offer free trials, so it's certainly worth giving your team a viable alternative to their phone.
