How Tech Makes The Workplace More Efficient

As in all aspects of our lives, tech is transforming the workplace, helping to streamline and simplify tasks and allowing businesses to develop in new directions. Among the many benefits that tech can offer, it can also help make the workplace more efficient. By assisting with or taking over tasks, it can reduce the manpower and time needed for their completion. By freeing up your employees' time, it allows you to use their skills and effort in other areas of the work, making your company more competitive and effective. As tech advances, the areas it can help seem endless, there are some key areas whereby the technology is well established and already making a huge difference.

Accountancy software

Managing a company's finances is a key area of business and one that it is essential to get right. But it can also be a laborious task on its own and does not do anything to make the business more profitable or effective. Accountancy software can change that. As well as speeding up the process of record keeping and payroll, it also eliminates human errors that can so easily occur when finances are managed manually. Accounting software ensures that the information needed for tax purposes is up to date and correct.

As accountancy software has advanced, it has been able to achieve more, making it easier to analyze the financial data to inform business strategies. There is a vast range of software available, often with different versions to suit different business types with cheaper, and even free, versions that make it affordable even for small businesses to use. There is also nonprofit accounting software that is specifically designed for charities and other nonprofit organizations to efficiently manage their expenses, donations and other financial matters, freeing up their staff for other matters.

Communication

From video conferencing software to an array of chat apps, technology is transforming how we communicate. It is no longer necessary for employees to congregate in one place. Instead, participants can simply log in at the appointed time for the meeting to begin. Even within a business, this saves the time needed for employees to leave their offices and workstations to gather in one place, something that can soon add up in large premises. For example, where employees are conducting off-premises meetings or they are working across multiple sites, considerable time is spent travelling to the location. However, with modern communication technology, no travel time is needed at all with individuals from across the country or even across the world able to attend.

File sharing

When you have several people working on a project, there can be a frequent need to share information and work completed. In the past this could result in a lot of wasted time. For example, someone would have to take the time to email a colleague asking for the required file and then wait for them to respond. If they are busy, it might take minutes or even hours for them to respond. Or they may be off on the day of the request, adding additional waiting time. Once the request is received, the response will involve taking time out of schedule to locate and send the information to the recipient. File sharing tools eliminate this, with the necessary documents all in one place that the entire team can access at any time. It also saves time if the employee needs to access the documents when they are off the premises. No longer do they have to wait until they return to check the information - they can do it from anywhere with an internet connection.

Automation

Automation reduces the number of tasks assigned to an employee - particularly the small, repetitive tasks that can take up so much time. Ways this can help include the automation of email marketing that can be programmed to maximum efficiency. Another good example of this is the chatbot which can help with customer queries, directing them to where they can find the information they require without employee action. This then frees up the customer service staff to help with the more complicated queries where the chatbot cannot assist. Automation can help in many areas of staff management, from sifting through job applications to compiling a shortlist, to managing employee leave and vacation requests and analyzing data to help with performance management and staff retention. None of this takes away the need for a human employee or manager, but it enables them to use their time more effectively, concentrating on the tasks only a human can achieve well.

As technology advances, businesses will be keen to take advantage of all new developments and use them to increase workplace efficiency.