Employees at small and mid-size firms spend more than half their days on necessary but completely unproductive tasks, according to a survey by business phone system Fonality. Roughly 14 percent spent their time duplicating information, including forwarding emails, calling to confirm information and dealing with spam and unsolicited phone calls. With so much time wasted, it’s difficult to know how to streamline your day to stay as productive as possible. Here are a few automation and productivity hacks to help keep your office focused:
Organize internal communication
Some business believe there can never be too much internal communication. If your company falls into this category, streamline your system by carving out a time and space to share information. Hold a weekly staff meeting to discuss internal matters or set-up an account on Asana to keep conversation in one place. The software works to unify team members without endless emails. Managers can set up tasks, mark them for follow-up, approve them or set-up a calendar as needed. It keeps communication in one interface without circulating chain emails for weeks to get one thing accomplished.
Go paperless
According to PC World, printer ink alone runs a whopping $20 to $35 per cartridge. But how much documentation do you really need to store in your office? Scan old files, contracts and receipts and store them in a secure cloud system like Mozy. Such systems allow you to set security features and restrict file access to specific team members. Share links to download paperwork as needed or forward on to clients. Uploading paperwork to the cloud also serves as a back-up to your important documents and files.
Automate tasks
Which tasks do you find yourself doing over and over? Email marketing and correspondence often tops the list. Outsource your email marketing campaigns to AWeber or Mail Chimp to automatically deploy specific marketing messages when a customer buys a specific product or inquires about your services online. Consider hiring a remote, virtual assistant to deal with spam, common email questions and client requests to filter and organize into appropriate folders. Simply log in and field important correspondence without ever seeing the mess.
Lease equipment
Skip the hassle of finding a lender to purchase your office equipment and lease it instead. Negotiate a lease with a maintenance plan to save yourself time and money servicing your equipment and furniture repairs. Want the latest technology in your office? It may prove too expensive to purchase it yourself, but could be well within reach when leasing.
Hold yourself accountable
What are you really doing online at the office? Services like RescueTime can track and chart your daily habits online and time spent on applications. For example, it can tell you exactly how much time you spent on a client call or email, and generates reports to see exactly how you’ve spent your time. It also sets up alerts to let you know when you’ve spent a specific amount of time on an activity, and can even block distracting websites that might tempt you away from real work.
Kevin Norvell
Web Project Manager