Become a Productivity Professional
Your business has ramped up and is successfully operating virtually. You’re able to continue servicing your existing customers, but you’ve also widened your customer base and taken on new customers that you never had access to before. And, because you are growing, you are hiring new employees virtually and expanding your talent base to areas that were previously inaccessible by your business.
Business continuity and continued growth mean you need to explore ways to scale your business to take on new customers and keep your costs down. That means working on improvements to productivity as you continue to work from anywhere.
So how do you improve and upscale your remote worker’s productivity while simultaneously making it easier than ever for you to engage with your new customers and cultivate new ones? Implementing the following adjustments to your business will make accomplishing all of these goals more manageable than you might think.
Become a Productivity Professional
Your business has ramped up and is successfully operating virtually. You’re able to continue servicing your existing customers, but you’ve also widened your customer base and taken on new customers that you never had access to before. And, because you are growing, you are hiring new employees virtually and expanding your talent base to areas that were previously inaccessible by your business.
Business continuity and continued growth mean you need to explore ways to scale your business to take on new customers and keep your costs down. That means working on improvements to productivity as you continue to work from anywhere.
So how do you improve and upscale your remote worker’s productivity while simultaneously making it easier than ever for you to engage with your new customers and cultivate new ones? Implementing the following adjustments to your business will make accomplishing all of these goals more manageable than you might think.
Become a Productivity Professional
Your business has ramped up and is successfully operating virtually. You’re able to continue servicing your existing customers, but you’ve also widened your customer base and taken on new customers that you never had access to before. And, because you are growing, you are hiring new employees virtually and expanding your talent base to areas that were previously inaccessible by your business.
Business continuity and continued growth mean you need to explore ways to scale your business to take on new customers and keep your costs down. That means working on improvements to productivity as you continue to work from anywhere.
So how do you improve and upscale your remote worker’s productivity while simultaneously making it easier than ever for you to engage with your new customers and cultivate new ones? Implementing the following adjustments to your business will make accomplishing all of these goals more manageable than you might think.
Become a Productivity Professional
Your business has ramped up and is successfully operating virtually. You’re able to continue servicing your existing customers, but you’ve also widened your customer base and taken on new customers that you never had access to before. And, because you are growing, you are hiring new employees virtually and expanding your talent base to areas that were previously inaccessible by your business.
Business continuity and continued growth mean you need to explore ways to scale your business to take on new customers and keep your costs down. That means working on improvements to productivity as you continue to work from anywhere.
So how do you improve and upscale your remote worker’s productivity while simultaneously making it easier than ever for you to engage with your new customers and cultivate new ones? Implementing the following adjustments to your business will make accomplishing all of these goals more manageable than you might think.
Before you begin trying to increase productivity and ensure that your employees can meet new demand, it's imperative to understand how to measure and monitor productivity from here on out. These measures have to be simple and objective to ensure the resulting metrics are readily understood and actionable. Without them, it becomes incredibly difficult to understand if changes and adjustments are making a difference.
Effectively managing and improving your business’s productivity can provide some serious benefits as well. A recent Forbes article argues that measuring productivity and managing it during the current crisis comes with a silver lining. “Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Assessing productivity is complicated, and isn’t relegated to work ethic alone. It involves your employees’ work habits, what technology they use, your company's organizational structure, and many other factors that work together towards an outcome. Even though there are multiple factors at play you should focus on changing one or two of them, then seeing the results.
The sudden shift to work from home impacts productivity in different ways, and also complicates how it gets measured. Many studies support conclusions that working from home does boost productivity, but the factors associated with this recent and sudden shift to work from home may contribute to the reverse. Employees that can work from home now face additional distractions such as children not in school and more activity in the house. And employees that aren’t accustomed to or prefer not to work from home may have significant issues adapting to remote work.
Before you begin trying to increase productivity and ensure that your employees can meet new demand, it's imperative to understand how to measure and monitor productivity from here on out. These measures have to be simple and objective to ensure the resulting metrics are readily understood and actionable. Without them, it becomes incredibly difficult to understand if changes and adjustments are making a difference.
Effectively managing and improving your business’s productivity can provide some serious benefits as well. A recent Forbes article argues that measuring productivity and managing it during the current crisis comes with a silver lining. “Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Assessing productivity is complicated, and isn’t relegated to work ethic alone. It involves your employees’ work habits, what technology they use, your company's organizational structure, and many other factors that work together towards an outcome. Even though there are multiple factors at play you should focus on changing one or two of them, then seeing the results.
The sudden shift to work from home impacts productivity in different ways, and also complicates how it gets measured. Many studies support conclusions that working from home does boost productivity, but the factors associated with this recent and sudden shift to work from home may contribute to the reverse. Employees that can work from home now face additional distractions such as children not in school and more activity in the house. And employees that aren’t accustomed to or prefer not to work from home may have significant issues adapting to remote work.
Before you begin trying to increase productivity and ensure that your employees can meet new demand, it's imperative to understand how to measure and monitor productivity from here on out. These measures have to be simple and objective to ensure the resulting metrics are readily understood and actionable. Without them, it becomes incredibly difficult to understand if changes and adjustments are making a difference.
Effectively managing and improving your business’s productivity can provide some serious benefits as well. A recent Forbes article argues that measuring productivity and managing it during the current crisis comes with a silver lining. “Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Assessing productivity is complicated, and isn’t relegated to work ethic alone. It involves your employees’ work habits, what technology they use, your company's organizational structure, and many other factors that work together towards an outcome. Even though there are multiple factors at play you should focus on changing one or two of them, then seeing the results.
The sudden shift to work from home impacts productivity in different ways, and also complicates how it gets measured. Many studies support conclusions that working from home does boost productivity, but the factors associated with this recent and sudden shift to work from home may contribute to the reverse. Employees that can work from home now face additional distractions such as children not in school and more activity in the house. And employees that aren’t accustomed to or prefer not to work from home may have significant issues adapting to remote work.
Before you begin trying to increase productivity and ensure that your employees can meet new demand, it's imperative to understand how to measure and monitor productivity from here on out. These measures have to be simple and objective to ensure the resulting metrics are readily understood and actionable. Without them, it becomes incredibly difficult to understand if changes and adjustments are making a difference.
Effectively managing and improving your business’s productivity can provide some serious benefits as well. A recent Forbes article argues that measuring productivity and managing it during the current crisis comes with a silver lining. “Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Assessing productivity is complicated, and isn’t relegated to work ethic alone. It involves your employees’ work habits, what technology they use, your company's organizational structure, and many other factors that work together towards an outcome. Even though there are multiple factors at play you should focus on changing one or two of them, then seeing the results.
The sudden shift to work from home impacts productivity in different ways, and also complicates how it gets measured. Many studies support conclusions that working from home does boost productivity, but the factors associated with this recent and sudden shift to work from home may contribute to the reverse. Employees that can work from home now face additional distractions such as children not in school and more activity in the house. And employees that aren’t accustomed to or prefer not to work from home may have significant issues adapting to remote work.
“Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Peter Bendor-Samuel
Forbes, Manage Productivity With Employees Working From Home
“Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Peter Bendor-Samuel
Forbes, Manage Productivity With Employees Working From Home
“Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Peter Bendor-Samuel
Forbes, Manage Productivity With Employees Working From Home
“Because it forces companies to deal with the reality of an ongoing work-from-home model and make it sustainable, they gain an intriguing opportunity to unlock dramatic improvement in productivity.”
Peter Bendor-Samuel
Forbes, Manage Productivity With Employees Working From Home
In the rush to get your employees up and running quickly to work remotely, considering the challenges they would face as a result wasn’t an option as the critical task at hand was business continuity. Now, understanding how your employees work and what conditions they consider ideal to get work done is the next step in optimizing their productivity over the longer term.
The key to understanding productivity is measuring output, not hours. You know how well your employees perform under normal circumstances and know what they can deliver. Changes in output and even the quality of their work can improve, but you may see the reverse trend in some.
Understanding why this is occurring is the first step in helping those employees optimize their work from home environments so that they can get back to being as productive as they were or even more productive.
In the rush to get your employees up and running quickly to work remotely, considering the challenges they would face as a result wasn’t an option as the critical task at hand was business continuity. Now, understanding how your employees work and what conditions they consider ideal to get work done is the next step in optimizing their productivity over the longer term.
The key to understanding productivity is measuring output, not hours. You know how well your employees perform under normal circumstances and know what they can deliver. Changes in output and even the quality of their work can improve, but you may see the reverse trend in some.
Understanding why this is occurring is the first step in helping those employees optimize their work from home environments so that they can get back to being as productive as they were or even more productive.
In the rush to get your employees up and running quickly to work remotely, considering the challenges they would face as a result wasn’t an option as the critical task at hand was business continuity. Now, understanding how your employees work and what conditions they consider ideal to get work done is the next step in optimizing their productivity over the longer term.
The key to understanding productivity is measuring output, not hours. You know how well your employees perform under normal circumstances and know what they can deliver. Changes in output and even the quality of their work can improve, but you may see the reverse trend in some.
Understanding why this is occurring is the first step in helping those employees optimize their work from home environments so that they can get back to being as productive as they were or even more productive.
In the rush to get your employees up and running quickly to work remotely, considering the challenges they would face as a result wasn’t an option as the critical task at hand was business continuity. Now, understanding how your employees work and what conditions they consider ideal to get work done is the next step in optimizing their productivity over the longer term.
The key to understanding productivity is measuring output, not hours. You know how well your employees perform under normal circumstances and know what they can deliver. Changes in output and even the quality of their work can improve, but you may see the reverse trend in some.
Understanding why this is occurring is the first step in helping those employees optimize their work from home environments so that they can get back to being as productive as they were or even more productive.
There are legitimate reasons why productivity can take a hit, so taking the right steps to address those reasons is key in helping those employees that need it. Offsetting the costs of a sitter to take care of the kids, investing in updated equipment and providing guidance and maybe financial support to help employees prepare a private office area are some of the steps you can take to help offset specific challenges. Measuring progress after the measures are implemented will also help. Seeing improvements means the changes were useful and helped productivity.
Create regular checkpoints to monitor productivity improvements, and discuss with employees how changes helped or didn’t help. Keep looking for ways to make your employees feel more comfortable and less distracted in their work from home environments, allowing them to focus and get their work done.
There are legitimate reasons why productivity can take a hit, so taking the right steps to address those reasons is key in helping those employees that need it. Offsetting the costs of a sitter to take care of the kids, investing in updated equipment and providing guidance and maybe financial support to help employees prepare a private office area are some of the steps you can take to help offset specific challenges. Measuring progress after the measures are implemented will also help. Seeing improvements means the changes were useful and helped productivity.
Create regular checkpoints to monitor productivity improvements, and discuss with employees how changes helped or didn’t help. Keep looking for ways to make your employees feel more comfortable and less distracted in their work from home environments, allowing them to focus and get their work done.
There are legitimate reasons why productivity can take a hit, so taking the right steps to address those reasons is key in helping those employees that need it. Offsetting the costs of a sitter to take care of the kids, investing in updated equipment and providing guidance and maybe financial support to help employees prepare a private office area are some of the steps you can take to help offset specific challenges. Measuring progress after the measures are implemented will also help. Seeing improvements means the changes were useful and helped productivity.
Create regular checkpoints to monitor productivity improvements, and discuss with employees how changes helped or didn’t help. Keep looking for ways to make your employees feel more comfortable and less distracted in their work from home environments, allowing them to focus and get their work done.
There are legitimate reasons why productivity can take a hit, so taking the right steps to address those reasons is key in helping those employees that need it. Offsetting the costs of a sitter to take care of the kids, investing in updated equipment and providing guidance and maybe financial support to help employees prepare a private office area are some of the steps you can take to help offset specific challenges. Measuring progress after the measures are implemented will also help. Seeing improvements means the changes were useful and helped productivity.
Create regular checkpoints to monitor productivity improvements, and discuss with employees how changes helped or didn’t help. Keep looking for ways to make your employees feel more comfortable and less distracted in their work from home environments, allowing them to focus and get their work done.
Yes, there is a reason why this tip or some variation of it has been in almost every chapter so far. Even if you have the most talented and dedicated employees and the best offering, you will create challenges for your employees and your customers if employees lack the right technology and productivity tools to be efficient and effective. Equipping your workforce with the right tools can immediately create a measurable increase in productivity and efficiency across the entire business subsequently facilitates the ability to grow and expand.
The International Business Times suggests, “If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
Yes, there is a reason why this tip or some variation of it has been in almost every chapter so far. Even if you have the most talented and dedicated employees and the best offering, you will create challenges for your employees and your customers if employees lack the right technology and productivity tools to be efficient and effective. Equipping your workforce with the right tools can immediately create a measurable increase in productivity and efficiency across the entire business subsequently facilitates the ability to grow and expand.
The International Business Times suggests, “If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
Yes, there is a reason why this tip or some variation of it has been in almost every chapter so far. Even if you have the most talented and dedicated employees and the best offering, you will create challenges for your employees and your customers if employees lack the right technology and productivity tools to be efficient and effective. Equipping your workforce with the right tools can immediately create a measurable increase in productivity and efficiency across the entire business subsequently facilitates the ability to grow and expand.
The International Business Times suggests, “If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
Yes, there is a reason why this tip or some variation of it has been in almost every chapter so far. Even if you have the most talented and dedicated employees and the best offering, you will create challenges for your employees and your customers if employees lack the right technology and productivity tools to be efficient and effective. Equipping your workforce with the right tools can immediately create a measurable increase in productivity and efficiency across the entire business subsequently facilitates the ability to grow and expand.
The International Business Times suggests, “If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
“If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
International Business Times, Working from home advice for business owners
“If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
International Business Times, Working from home advice for business owners
“If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
International Business Times, Working from home advice for business owners
“If you’ve always worked in-office with employees and run a customer-contact service-based business, it’s very likely that you’ll need to get new equipment and cloud-based tools to help you run your business from home.”
International Business Times, Working from home advice for business owners
Making sure your workforce has access to project management tracking applications, an all-in-one communications platform and other productivity tools your employees might need, ensures that your employees, and your business as a whole, can run even more efficiently, regardless of location.
In fact, since the pandemic forced many to begin working from home, MarketWatch reports that “U.S. workers were 47% more productive in March and April than in the same two months a year ago through cloud-based business tools, chat applications and email, according to an analysis of 100 million data points from 30,000 Americans by workplace-monitoring company Prodoscore.”
Making sure your workforce has access to project management tracking applications, an all-in-one communications platform and other productivity tools your employees might need, ensures that your employees, and your business as a whole, can run even more efficiently, regardless of location.
In fact, since the pandemic forced many to begin working from home, MarketWatch reports that “U.S. workers were 47% more productive in March and April than in the same two months a year ago through cloud-based business tools, chat applications and email, according to an analysis of 100 million data points from 30,000 Americans by workplace-monitoring company Prodoscore.”
Making sure your workforce has access to project management tracking applications, an all-in-one communications platform and other productivity tools your employees might need, ensures that your employees, and your business as a whole, can run even more efficiently, regardless of location.
In fact, since the pandemic forced many to begin working from home, MarketWatch reports that “U.S. workers were 47% more productive in March and April than in the same two months a year ago through cloud-based business tools, chat applications and email, according to an analysis of 100 million data points from 30,000 Americans by workplace-monitoring company Prodoscore.”
Making sure your workforce has access to project management tracking applications, an all-in-one communications platform and other productivity tools your employees might need, ensures that your employees, and your business as a whole, can run even more efficiently, regardless of location.
In fact, since the pandemic forced many to begin working from home, MarketWatch reports that “U.S. workers were 47% more productive in March and April than in the same two months a year ago through cloud-based business tools, chat applications and email, according to an analysis of 100 million data points from 30,000 Americans by workplace-monitoring company Prodoscore.”
Advanced cloud-based technologies allow businesses and their employees to leverage the same tools when working remotely. Additionally, many of these same technologies can also allow you to make sure your customers are in the loop and generally make communication internally and externally more efficient. This technology is so effective that the absence of it is one of the main issues employees point to when they are unable to reach their productivity targets. A study done by Ivanti found that 85% of workers don’t have the right tech or resources to take care of their tasks efficiently.
Not only do these technologies allow employees to be more productive in their work, but it also enables your company to engage with and cultivate existing customer relationships which is key for any business. The right communications solutions for internal and external collaboration can have a large positive impact financially. SHRM reports that each year, companies with approximately 100 employees lose around $420,000 yearly due to inefficient communications. Hence the criticality of ensuring your business has the right all-in-one communications solution.
Advanced cloud-based technologies allow businesses and their employees to leverage the same tools when working remotely. Additionally, many of these same technologies can also allow you to make sure your customers are in the loop and generally make communication internally and externally more efficient. This technology is so effective that the absence of it is one of the main issues employees point to when they are unable to reach their productivity targets. A study done by Ivanti found that 85% of workers don’t have the right tech or resources to take care of their tasks efficiently.
Not only do these technologies allow employees to be more productive in their work, but it also enables your company to engage with and cultivate existing customer relationships which is key for any business. The right communications solutions for internal and external collaboration can have a large positive impact financially. SHRM reports that each year, companies with approximately 100 employees lose around $420,000 yearly due to inefficient communications. Hence the criticality of ensuring your business has the right all-in-one communications solution.
Advanced cloud-based technologies allow businesses and their employees to leverage the same tools when working remotely. Additionally, many of these same technologies can also allow you to make sure your customers are in the loop and generally make communication internally and externally more efficient. This technology is so effective that the absence of it is one of the main issues employees point to when they are unable to reach their productivity targets. A study done by Ivanti found that 85% of workers don’t have the right tech or resources to take care of their tasks efficiently.
Not only do these technologies allow employees to be more productive in their work, but it also enables your company to engage with and cultivate existing customer relationships which is key for any business. The right communications solutions for internal and external collaboration can have a large positive impact financially. SHRM reports that each year, companies with approximately 100 employees lose around $420,000 yearly due to inefficient communications. Hence the criticality of ensuring your business has the right all-in-one communications solution.
Advanced cloud-based technologies allow businesses and their employees to leverage the same tools when working remotely. Additionally, many of these same technologies can also allow you to make sure your customers are in the loop and generally make communication internally and externally more efficient. This technology is so effective that the absence of it is one of the main issues employees point to when they are unable to reach their productivity targets. A study done by Ivanti found that 85% of workers don’t have the right tech or resources to take care of their tasks efficiently.
Not only do these technologies allow employees to be more productive in their work, but it also enables your company to engage with and cultivate existing customer relationships which is key for any business. The right communications solutions for internal and external collaboration can have a large positive impact financially. SHRM reports that each year, companies with approximately 100 employees lose around $420,000 yearly due to inefficient communications. Hence the criticality of ensuring your business has the right all-in-one communications solution.
The rapid shift to working from home acted as a push to finally get them to move their business online and to make sure that their application stack could seamlessly run in the cloud. By doing this, you are opening up the possibilities to not only improve productivity but also streamline your business processes so that it reduces effort customers need to invest to work with your business and reduces the amount of time employees have to spend on various small tasks throughout the day.
There are many ways to move your business online and streamline your processes through digitizing and moving towards the cloud.
Here are a few tips for streamlining your workflow and business processes:
- Map the current workflow
- Analyze it based on its current state
- Identify areas to focus on improving
- Create a plan to improve a single area
- Implement your plan
- Analyze the new process and compare to the old process to make sure it works
The rapid shift to working from home acted as a push to finally get them to move their business online and to make sure that their application stack could seamlessly run in the cloud. By doing this, you are opening up the possibilities to not only improve productivity but also streamline your business processes so that it reduces effort customers need to invest to work with your business and reduces the amount of time employees have to spend on various small tasks throughout the day.
There are many ways to move your business online and streamline your processes through digitizing and moving towards the cloud.
Here are a few tips for streamlining your workflow and business processes:
- Map the current workflow
- Analyze it based on its current state
- Identify areas to focus on improving
- Create a plan to improve a single area
- Implement your plan
- Analyze the new process and compare to the old process to make sure it works
The rapid shift to working from home acted as a push to finally get them to move their business online and to make sure that their application stack could seamlessly run in the cloud. By doing this, you are opening up the possibilities to not only improve productivity but also streamline your business processes so that it reduces effort customers need to invest to work with your business and reduces the amount of time employees have to spend on various small tasks throughout the day.
There are many ways to move your business online and streamline your processes through digitizing and moving towards the cloud.
Here are a few tips for streamlining your workflow and business processes:
- Map the current workflow
- Analyze it based on its current state
- Identify areas to focus on improving
- Create a plan to improve a single area
- Implement your plan
- Analyze the new process and compare to the old process to make sure it works
The rapid shift to working from home acted as a push to finally get them to move their business online and to make sure that their application stack could seamlessly run in the cloud. By doing this, you are opening up the possibilities to not only improve productivity but also streamline your business processes so that it reduces effort customers need to invest to work with your business and reduces the amount of time employees have to spend on various small tasks throughout the day.
There are many ways to move your business online and streamline your processes through digitizing and moving towards the cloud.
Here are a few tips for streamlining your workflow and business processes:
- Map the current workflow
- Analyze it based on its current state
- Identify areas to focus on improving
- Create a plan to improve a single area
- Implement your plan
- Analyze the new process and compare to the old process to make sure it works
Analyze what your customers and clients really want from you, and how they want to take delivery of the goods and services you offer, while taking your current process into account. Moving your services online can make it easier for customers to do business with you, while simultaneously automating and improving efficiency for your business as a whole in servicing those customers. It also allows your business to scale quickly to meet new demand by extending your business’ reach.
A recent McKinsey Report stresses that digital transformation should be focused on where it brings value to both internal efficiencies as well as reducing friction with your customers. Internally, look at what services and processes that employees must complete that might have digital alternatives. Billing for example is a great starting point when considering what to move online and automate. Moving systems online reduces the amount of work that your employees have to do, and allows them to spend time on more important matters, therefore improving productivity.
Analyze what your customers and clients really want from you, and how they want to take delivery of the goods and services you offer, while taking your current process into account. Moving your services online can make it easier for customers to do business with you, while simultaneously automating and improving efficiency for your business as a whole in servicing those customers. It also allows your business to scale quickly to meet new demand by extending your business’ reach.
A recent McKinsey Report stresses that digital transformation should be focused on where it brings value to both internal efficiencies as well as reducing friction with your customers. Internally, look at what services and processes that employees must complete that might have digital alternatives. Billing for example is a great starting point when considering what to move online and automate. Moving systems online reduces the amount of work that your employees have to do, and allows them to spend time on more important matters, therefore improving productivity.
Analyze what your customers and clients really want from you, and how they want to take delivery of the goods and services you offer, while taking your current process into account. Moving your services online can make it easier for customers to do business with you, while simultaneously automating and improving efficiency for your business as a whole in servicing those customers. It also allows your business to scale quickly to meet new demand by extending your business’ reach.
A recent McKinsey Report stresses that digital transformation should be focused on where it brings value to both internal efficiencies as well as reducing friction with your customers. Internally, look at what services and processes that employees must complete that might have digital alternatives. Billing for example is a great starting point when considering what to move online and automate. Moving systems online reduces the amount of work that your employees have to do, and allows them to spend time on more important matters, therefore improving productivity.
Analyze what your customers and clients really want from you, and how they want to take delivery of the goods and services you offer, while taking your current process into account. Moving your services online can make it easier for customers to do business with you, while simultaneously automating and improving efficiency for your business as a whole in servicing those customers. It also allows your business to scale quickly to meet new demand by extending your business’ reach.
A recent McKinsey Report stresses that digital transformation should be focused on where it brings value to both internal efficiencies as well as reducing friction with your customers. Internally, look at what services and processes that employees must complete that might have digital alternatives. Billing for example is a great starting point when considering what to move online and automate. Moving systems online reduces the amount of work that your employees have to do, and allows them to spend time on more important matters, therefore improving productivity.
Automation of common tasks and workflows is another way to create internal efficiencies while at the same time creating an overall better experience with your customers. While automation for businesses of all sizes has been trending for some time, the trend has been rapidly accelerated (the term hyperautomation has been used) out of necessity as customers demand remote and contactless service, It can start with simple processes like automating text and email responses to confirm orders or provide order status. Automation of reservations, orders and even delivery schedules are good follow-ups. Anything that improves employee productivity and removes friction from dealing with customers should be considered for automation. Customers now expect a level of automation but always want the option to reach out to you directly if they need something.
While investing in cloud communications solutions, business process automation solutions and other cloud based technologies may seem like an important up front investment, the returns in terms of increased employee productivity, improved customer satisfaction and the ability to scale your business to meet new demand while containing costs are immeasurable. The benefits far outweigh the upfront costs.
Automation of common tasks and workflows is another way to create internal efficiencies while at the same time creating an overall better experience with your customers. While automation for businesses of all sizes has been trending for some time, the trend has been rapidly accelerated (the term hyperautomation has been used) out of necessity as customers demand remote and contactless service, It can start with simple processes like automating text and email responses to confirm orders or provide order status. Automation of reservations, orders and even delivery schedules are good follow-ups. Anything that improves employee productivity and removes friction from dealing with customers should be considered for automation. Customers now expect a level of automation but always want the option to reach out to you directly if they need something.
While investing in cloud communications solutions, business process automation solutions and other cloud based technologies may seem like an important up front investment, the returns in terms of increased employee productivity, improved customer satisfaction and the ability to scale your business to meet new demand while containing costs are immeasurable. The benefits far outweigh the upfront costs.
Automation of common tasks and workflows is another way to create internal efficiencies while at the same time creating an overall better experience with your customers. While automation for businesses of all sizes has been trending for some time, the trend has been rapidly accelerated (the term hyperautomation has been used) out of necessity as customers demand remote and contactless service, It can start with simple processes like automating text and email responses to confirm orders or provide order status. Automation of reservations, orders and even delivery schedules are good follow-ups. Anything that improves employee productivity and removes friction from dealing with customers should be considered for automation. Customers now expect a level of automation but always want the option to reach out to you directly if they need something.
While investing in cloud communications solutions, business process automation solutions and other cloud based technologies may seem like an important up front investment, the returns in terms of increased employee productivity, improved customer satisfaction and the ability to scale your business to meet new demand while containing costs are immeasurable. The benefits far outweigh the upfront costs.
Automation of common tasks and workflows is another way to create internal efficiencies while at the same time creating an overall better experience with your customers. While automation for businesses of all sizes has been trending for some time, the trend has been rapidly accelerated (the term hyperautomation has been used) out of necessity as customers demand remote and contactless service, It can start with simple processes like automating text and email responses to confirm orders or provide order status. Automation of reservations, orders and even delivery schedules are good follow-ups. Anything that improves employee productivity and removes friction from dealing with customers should be considered for automation. Customers now expect a level of automation but always want the option to reach out to you directly if they need something.
While investing in cloud communications solutions, business process automation solutions and other cloud based technologies may seem like an important up front investment, the returns in terms of increased employee productivity, improved customer satisfaction and the ability to scale your business to meet new demand while containing costs are immeasurable. The benefits far outweigh the upfront costs.
With all of the sudden changes, it may be time to revisit your organizational goals in light of how your employees will work for the foreseeable future and how your customers are interacting with your business.
While the business environment will remain uncertain for some time, setting updated short, medium and long term goals is imperative to getting employees on the same page and also allows your business to formulate a proper communications plan for your customers. McKinsey recommends a relaunch roadmap to help you realign your business goals to help employees focus on what’s needed to thrive in the new way of doing business.
A relaunch allows you to frankly reassess everything from your investments in technology to your investments in people. It means taking a closer look at the technologies you’ve implemented and assessing if they will allow you to meet your new roadmap effectively. It means looking at process automation and deciding how that aligns with the new roadmap. It also means looking at how to better enable your employees to be able to help your business drive towards that new roadmap. A possible outcome is that your business may need to rethink some of its current technology investments and make changes to improve efficiencies around how your employee collaborate together and get work done and how customers interact with your business.
With all of the sudden changes, it may be time to revisit your organizational goals in light of how your employees will work for the foreseeable future and how your customers are interacting with your business.
While the business environment will remain uncertain for some time, setting updated short, medium and long term goals is imperative to getting employees on the same page and also allows your business to formulate a proper communications plan for your customers. McKinsey recommends a relaunch roadmap to help you realign your business goals to help employees focus on what’s needed to thrive in the new way of doing business.
A relaunch allows you to frankly reassess everything from your investments in technology to your investments in people. It means taking a closer look at the technologies you’ve implemented and assessing if they will allow you to meet your new roadmap effectively. It means looking at process automation and deciding how that aligns with the new roadmap. It also means looking at how to better enable your employees to be able to help your business drive towards that new roadmap. A possible outcome is that your business may need to rethink some of its current technology investments and make changes to improve efficiencies around how your employee collaborate together and get work done and how customers interact with your business.
With all of the sudden changes, it may be time to revisit your organizational goals in light of how your employees will work for the foreseeable future and how your customers are interacting with your business.
While the business environment will remain uncertain for some time, setting updated short, medium and long term goals is imperative to getting employees on the same page and also allows your business to formulate a proper communications plan for your customers. McKinsey recommends a relaunch roadmap to help you realign your business goals to help employees focus on what’s needed to thrive in the new way of doing business.
A relaunch allows you to frankly reassess everything from your investments in technology to your investments in people. It means taking a closer look at the technologies you’ve implemented and assessing if they will allow you to meet your new roadmap effectively. It means looking at process automation and deciding how that aligns with the new roadmap. It also means looking at how to better enable your employees to be able to help your business drive towards that new roadmap. A possible outcome is that your business may need to rethink some of its current technology investments and make changes to improve efficiencies around how your employee collaborate together and get work done and how customers interact with your business.
With all of the sudden changes, it may be time to revisit your organizational goals in light of how your employees will work for the foreseeable future and how your customers are interacting with your business.
While the business environment will remain uncertain for some time, setting updated short, medium and long term goals is imperative to getting employees on the same page and also allows your business to formulate a proper communications plan for your customers. McKinsey recommends a relaunch roadmap to help you realign your business goals to help employees focus on what’s needed to thrive in the new way of doing business.
A relaunch allows you to frankly reassess everything from your investments in technology to your investments in people. It means taking a closer look at the technologies you’ve implemented and assessing if they will allow you to meet your new roadmap effectively. It means looking at process automation and deciding how that aligns with the new roadmap. It also means looking at how to better enable your employees to be able to help your business drive towards that new roadmap. A possible outcome is that your business may need to rethink some of its current technology investments and make changes to improve efficiencies around how your employee collaborate together and get work done and how customers interact with your business.
“There will be interruptions, and I don't know when they will occur, and I don't know how deep they will occur. I do know they will occur from time to time, but I also know that we'll come out better on the other end.”
Warren Buffet
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
“There will be interruptions, and I don't know when they will occur, and I don't know how deep they will occur. I do know they will occur from time to time, but I also know that we'll come out better on the other end.”
Warren Buffet
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
“There will be interruptions, and I don't know when they will occur, and I don't know how deep they will occur. I do know they will occur from time to time, but I also know that we'll come out better on the other end.”
Warren Buffet
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
“There will be interruptions, and I don't know when they will occur, and I don't know how deep they will occur. I do know they will occur from time to time, but I also know that we'll come out better on the other end.”
Warren Buffet
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Another easy way to increase the productivity of your remote workforce that ties into the previous tip is by setting up short and long term goals for individuals and teams. While working from home, one of the biggest challenges that employees face is uncertainty and vagueness within their job. Working remotely makes understanding one's goals and objectives more difficult than working in the office. Setting short and long term goals for employees and teams takes away some of the uncertainty.
Employees and teams can check in on their progress towards each goal, so that not only will they be working towards the goals and feel more confident about their responsibilities, but also you will be aware of progress across the organization and can make sure nothing slips through the cracks. By setting goals and being able to see performance metrics that employees report, your workforce is more motivated to achieve their goals, and it allows them to get a cursory look into the productivity, health, and progress of the business.
Another easy way to increase the productivity of your remote workforce that ties into the previous tip is by setting up short and long term goals for individuals and teams. While working from home, one of the biggest challenges that employees face is uncertainty and vagueness within their job. Working remotely makes understanding one's goals and objectives more difficult than working in the office. Setting short and long term goals for employees and teams takes away some of the uncertainty.
Employees and teams can check in on their progress towards each goal, so that not only will they be working towards the goals and feel more confident about their responsibilities, but also you will be aware of progress across the organization and can make sure nothing slips through the cracks. By setting goals and being able to see performance metrics that employees report, your workforce is more motivated to achieve their goals, and it allows them to get a cursory look into the productivity, health, and progress of the business.
Another easy way to increase the productivity of your remote workforce that ties into the previous tip is by setting up short and long term goals for individuals and teams. While working from home, one of the biggest challenges that employees face is uncertainty and vagueness within their job. Working remotely makes understanding one's goals and objectives more difficult than working in the office. Setting short and long term goals for employees and teams takes away some of the uncertainty.
Employees and teams can check in on their progress towards each goal, so that not only will they be working towards the goals and feel more confident about their responsibilities, but also you will be aware of progress across the organization and can make sure nothing slips through the cracks. By setting goals and being able to see performance metrics that employees report, your workforce is more motivated to achieve their goals, and it allows them to get a cursory look into the productivity, health, and progress of the business.
Another easy way to increase the productivity of your remote workforce that ties into the previous tip is by setting up short and long term goals for individuals and teams. While working from home, one of the biggest challenges that employees face is uncertainty and vagueness within their job. Working remotely makes understanding one's goals and objectives more difficult than working in the office. Setting short and long term goals for employees and teams takes away some of the uncertainty.
Employees and teams can check in on their progress towards each goal, so that not only will they be working towards the goals and feel more confident about their responsibilities, but also you will be aware of progress across the organization and can make sure nothing slips through the cracks. By setting goals and being able to see performance metrics that employees report, your workforce is more motivated to achieve their goals, and it allows them to get a cursory look into the productivity, health, and progress of the business.
It is a useful metric that can be used to identify places in your business that could benefit from adjustments to increase productivity as well. Furthermore, managers could see which specific employees need more support in a certain area, or if there is a problem that needs to be addressed at a higher level.
Making sure that these goals and the business are as transparent as possible allows for increased productivity, accountability, information regarding the health of the business, and key metrics that can be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the business.
It is a useful metric that can be used to identify places in your business that could benefit from adjustments to increase productivity as well. Furthermore, managers could see which specific employees need more support in a certain area, or if there is a problem that needs to be addressed at a higher level.
Making sure that these goals and the business are as transparent as possible allows for increased productivity, accountability, information regarding the health of the business, and key metrics that can be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the business.
It is a useful metric that can be used to identify places in your business that could benefit from adjustments to increase productivity as well. Furthermore, managers could see which specific employees need more support in a certain area, or if there is a problem that needs to be addressed at a higher level.
Making sure that these goals and the business are as transparent as possible allows for increased productivity, accountability, information regarding the health of the business, and key metrics that can be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the business.
It is a useful metric that can be used to identify places in your business that could benefit from adjustments to increase productivity as well. Furthermore, managers could see which specific employees need more support in a certain area, or if there is a problem that needs to be addressed at a higher level.
Making sure that these goals and the business are as transparent as possible allows for increased productivity, accountability, information regarding the health of the business, and key metrics that can be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the business.
Now more than ever customers are communicating via electronic services or over the phone. Understanding when and why customers are reaching out, then subsequently having the ability to communicate with them effectively and efficiently are key places that can impact the productivity of employees and your business.
It’s important to look at every customer interaction and try to analyze it from a high level before moving in. Regardless of whether the interaction is a problem, sales opportunity, or question, drawing connections between every customer interaction and looking for patterns can lead to meaningful insights that can powerfully impact the productivity of customer-facing employees and the efficiency of the entire business.
Relating back to the first part about understanding how to measure and monitor productivity, using metrics that take both the big and the smaller picture into account are integral to not just solving problems that arise, but understanding and reacting to why the problem existed in the first place.
These customer interaction patterns can also lead to possible opportunities that might have recently been presented by the recent work from home mass migration. If you have customers consistently calling asking if you offer X, which you do not, then it might be a good idea to develop or begin offering X. Although this does not necessarily change productivity, new business offerings and markets allow your business to grow and increase revenue, allowing you to invest in more services and software that can improve the productivity of your workforce and the total output of your business.
Now more than ever customers are communicating via electronic services or over the phone. Understanding when and why customers are reaching out, then subsequently having the ability to communicate with them effectively and efficiently are key places that can impact the productivity of employees and your business.
It’s important to look at every customer interaction and try to analyze it from a high level before moving in. Regardless of whether the interaction is a problem, sales opportunity, or question, drawing connections between every customer interaction and looking for patterns can lead to meaningful insights that can powerfully impact the productivity of customer-facing employees and the efficiency of the entire business.
Relating back to the first part about understanding how to measure and monitor productivity, using metrics that take both the big and the smaller picture into account are integral to not just solving problems that arise, but understanding and reacting to why the problem existed in the first place.
These customer interaction patterns can also lead to possible opportunities that might have recently been presented by the recent work from home mass migration. If you have customers consistently calling asking if you offer X, which you do not, then it might be a good idea to develop or begin offering X. Although this does not necessarily change productivity, new business offerings and markets allow your business to grow and increase revenue, allowing you to invest in more services and software that can improve the productivity of your workforce and the total output of your business.
Now more than ever customers are communicating via electronic services or over the phone. Understanding when and why customers are reaching out, then subsequently having the ability to communicate with them effectively and efficiently are key places that can impact the productivity of employees and your business.
It’s important to look at every customer interaction and try to analyze it from a high level before moving in. Regardless of whether the interaction is a problem, sales opportunity, or question, drawing connections between every customer interaction and looking for patterns can lead to meaningful insights that can powerfully impact the productivity of customer-facing employees and the efficiency of the entire business.
Relating back to the first part about understanding how to measure and monitor productivity, using metrics that take both the big and the smaller picture into account are integral to not just solving problems that arise, but understanding and reacting to why the problem existed in the first place.
These customer interaction patterns can also lead to possible opportunities that might have recently been presented by the recent work from home mass migration. If you have customers consistently calling asking if you offer X, which you do not, then it might be a good idea to develop or begin offering X. Although this does not necessarily change productivity, new business offerings and markets allow your business to grow and increase revenue, allowing you to invest in more services and software that can improve the productivity of your workforce and the total output of your business.
Now more than ever customers are communicating via electronic services or over the phone. Understanding when and why customers are reaching out, then subsequently having the ability to communicate with them effectively and efficiently are key places that can impact the productivity of employees and your business.
It’s important to look at every customer interaction and try to analyze it from a high level before moving in. Regardless of whether the interaction is a problem, sales opportunity, or question, drawing connections between every customer interaction and looking for patterns can lead to meaningful insights that can powerfully impact the productivity of customer-facing employees and the efficiency of the entire business.
Relating back to the first part about understanding how to measure and monitor productivity, using metrics that take both the big and the smaller picture into account are integral to not just solving problems that arise, but understanding and reacting to why the problem existed in the first place.
These customer interaction patterns can also lead to possible opportunities that might have recently been presented by the recent work from home mass migration. If you have customers consistently calling asking if you offer X, which you do not, then it might be a good idea to develop or begin offering X. Although this does not necessarily change productivity, new business offerings and markets allow your business to grow and increase revenue, allowing you to invest in more services and software that can improve the productivity of your workforce and the total output of your business.
Next Steps
In this chapter, we learned about the different steps you can take to help improve productivity for your business. Productivity improvements include understanding and responding to challenges that employees are facing when working from home, investing in cloud technologies that streamline business processes and investing in automation.
Chapter 5 Preview
In Chapter 5, we will dive more into how to develop a solid work-from-anywhere policy to help drive greater efficiencies and productivity as your business continues to navigate and thrive in the new business paradigm.