Productivity in business can be defined as the extent of efficiency within the business. It can be expressed as the ratio of output to inputs used in the production process. Increased productivity therefore means that a company’s employees or workers are putting out products more quickly or completing services at a more rapid rate than before. In the modern business world, time and efficiency are very essential factors in business growth and thus the need to increase productivity and find more ways to monitor the productivity and employee progress.
In a business, technology can be used for communication, manufacturing, packaging, quality control, record keeping, accounting, human resource management, data security, decision making, used to improve customer service, all these which boost a company’s productivity.
The following are ways to employ the use of technology to increase productivity.
1.Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is computing based on the internet. It involves the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data, rather than using a local server or computer. Cloud computing offers many advantages that businesses can exploit in an effort to increase productivity such as:
Access To Information
Information stored in the cloud can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection and does not require the user to be in a specific location in order to access it. This means employees can work from anywhere as long as they have devices that have internet connection. This flexibility positively affects the employees’ work-balance and productivity.
Collaboration Efficiency
Collaboration in a cloud environment gives the business the ability to communicate and share more easily outside of the traditional methods. For example, if the company leaders are working on a project across different locations, they could use cloud computing to give employees, contractors and third parties access to the same files. This goes a long way in increasing efficiency within the business.
Using the cloud also allows the company’s applications to interact and communicate seamlessly.
Reduced Costs
Companies may find that cloud computing allows them to reduce the cost of information management, since they are not required to own their own servers and can use capacity leased from third parties.. Rather than purchasing expensive systems and equipment for the business, company leaders can reduce the costs by using the resources of cloud computing. It enables companies to consume compute resources as a utility rather than having to build and maintain computing infrastructures in-house.
Cloud computing solutions allow the management and employees to focus on the business while the cloud provider proactively monitors, maintains, and upgrades their hosted programs and applications. This helps save on the time and resources that would otherwise have been channeled to the maintenance process, thus boosting the company’s productivity.
2. Web Based Project Management Systems
Due to the mobile nature of many modern businesses, it makes little sense to maintain paper-based files and calendars to keep track of information and to-do lists. There are hundreds of web-based project management systems, which can be accessed from any laptop, tablet computer, or mobile device with an internet connection.
A company can choose simple web based project management systems that simply create to-do lists for the employees that they can access wherever they are to stay on task. There are also systems with a complete suite of management tools like a calendar, projects organized by client, to do lists that allow multiple users to receive tasks and assignments, time sheets to track time spent per project or per client.
3. CRM Software and Data Analysis
A Customer relationship management (CRM) software allows a company to mine the customer data gathered in order to discover untapped business opportunities. These insights can give vital information such as who the best customers are, which sales and marketing techniques are most successful, and where the management could improve its customer service. Examples of benefits of using CRM software include increased sales revenues, shorter sales cycles, higher lead conversion rates, increased customer retention, and decreased sales and marketing costs.
Once data is captured and processed, it can be analysed and used to perform various decision-making tasks.
4. Online and Mobile Banking
Online banking services provide a convenient way to manage accounts, pay invoices and bills, transfer funds, and serve other needs. With the advances in mobile technology, managing business finances on the go is much simpler than it used to be. Mobile banking allows the management to monitor accounts, so that they can easily see their current balances, check which deposits have posted, and identify whether cheques have cleared.
5. Financial Management Software
Financial management software can help track sales and expenses, monitor inventory purchases, manage cash flow, monitor payroll, track receivables, and other purposes. Spreadsheets can be a valuable tool to help manage business finances, whether for regular daily needs or for doing specific analysis.
6. Employee Sensors
With advancements in technology, there are electronic sensors that can be placed in employee identification badges. The sensors that gather real-time information to help company’s measure productivity. They identify a person’s tone of voice, movement and even their posture when communicating with others. Other sensors analyze motion and time that are involved in completing a task, and then give the operator or user more information.
Manufacturing companies can for example, use GPS-enabled smart watches onto employees to hassle them if their smoke breaks are too long. Nurses can wear a sensor on their clothing that detects heart rate and helps them fight off fatigue on long shifts.
These sensors have tracking and communication capabilities and the information gathered using them can be used to suggest how employees and the company as a whole, can work more efficiently.
However, there are privacy and legal issues in regard to using the sensors on employees.
