How can IT improve your office efficiency, and how does your current system hold you back?
There’s an endless number of blogs online about how to improve office efficiency from an HR standpoint. But what if your workers aren’t held back by motivation or management, but by the limitations of their technology? By assessing your current IT capabilities, you can make improvements that will do wonders for your office efficiency. Here’s where to start.
Focus on the slowest performer.
It doesn’t matter how efficient your team members are if their equipment can’t keep up. When it comes to IT improvements, boosting your technological capabilities is the first step toward creating a more efficient office. The usual suspects holding your employees back are:
Software
Are you running outdated versions of your software programs? Do they frequently freeze or crash? Are they able to keep up with the latest improvements, and do they work well with newer technology? It’s easy to convince yourself that a certain piece of software is “good enough” because you’ve been using it for so long. But if your program isn’t broken outright, it could still lack capabilities that newer, improved versions offer.
Hardware
Slow computers are frustrating, distracting, and the death of productivity. If you’ve ever been in the middle of a project and been forced to stop, shut down all your programs, and restart your computer before you can keep going, you know how critical a functional machine is. And this is before you consider the implications of lost data if a computer crashes in the middle of a project.
Internet
A slow Internet connection in a non-starter for most businesses these days. The good news is that there are some excellent options out there for upgrading your Internet connection. Fiber offers much faster connectivity at significantly lower prices than even just a few years ago. There are also some simple steps you can take to improve your WiFi connection if your wired is still working well.
Improve or enable remote work capabilities.
How mobile is your office environment? If your employees have to be in the office to handle business, it can drastically cut down on their ability to address problems. While there are several cloud software options available, we also offer a complete remote desktop solution for businesses who want to increase employee capabilities from outside the office.
Batch your software updates.
Have you ever had your computer hijacked by a Window’s update in the middle of the day? The interruption doesn’t just cut into your productivity, it can also disrupt important projects at inconvenient times. That said, ignoring or delaying software updates can leave your systems vulnerable to critical security patches. In order to keep your systems secure without disrupting workflows, we work with businesses to handle only the highest-priority updates right away. The rest we delay until we can ensure the fixes are stable, and then deploy them during times when your employees aren’t using your system.
Need help managing your IT updates?
We offer a free assessment to help you learn more about your current systems and what you can do to improve your office efficiency. Contact us today to get started.
