The more effective and efficient your team is, the more productive it ultimately will be. As Ferrari Energy explains, finishing assignments requires teams to complete many small tasks along the way.
Finding ways to shorten and simplify these tasks is a great way to become more efficient and effective while keeping team members fresh and ready to go. One of the best ways to do this is by adopting shortcuts, many of which can be powered by technology.
Here are some tech shortcuts you can implement to improve your productivity while reducing time spent on tasks.
Create Templates
Employees spend a lot of time doing the same tasks repeatedly, with only slight modifications. Examples include your customer service team members responding to email inquiries, or your admin team members preparing certain standard documents for contracts or communication.
Instead of starting from scratch each time, you can create templates. These templates would serve as the base content for whatever tasks need to be completed. Then, the employee would simply need to customize the text to the particular task at hand, rather than typing anew every time.
Shared Cloud Storage
One of the biggest time-sucks at work is coming up with a proper file management system, and then ensuring that everyone has access to the files they need when they need them. When you store files locally — whether it be by paper or digital — it takes time and explanation for people to find what they need.
A great tech shortcut is to use shared cloud storage folders. Instead of employees storing files locally on their own computer and then uploading them to a locally based server, they would instead upload them to the cloud.
The biggest advantage of this is it allows employees to access the files quickly and easily they need from wherever they work. This proved an essential service at the height of the pandemic, and its value will remain long after the pandemic is over.
Use Shared Document Editors
Another great tech shortcut is to use shared document editors. There are many different tools available, with Google’s suite of document editors among the most popular.
These shared document editors allow multiple members of your team to work on the same document, without the need to send it back and forth. You can even easily track changes automatically and see what was updated when and by whom.
This tech shortcut saves invaluable time and mistakes in the process. You will always have the peace of mind knowing you’re working on the latest version of a document — and that others have seen, reviewed, and chimed in where they need to.
Sharing documents and giving proper permissions is also as easy as a few button clicks.
Project Management Software
A final tech shortcut you can employ for your teams is project management software. Again, there are many different versions available today, some of which are completely free to use.
As Adam Ferrari, CEO of Ferrari Energy explains, these tools allow you to create and assign small tasks to certain users, all of which can tie into a larger project or initiative. The software allows all members of the team to see the progress right in front of them, eliminating the need for multiple status update meetings.
When team members are able to see their assigned tasks in front of them and have them update in real-time as progress is made, more time is spent on completing tasks rather than communicating and updating team members on them.
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