Technology is often seen as a double-edged sword – and this is true most of the time. While the development of new technologies has brought many perks with it, it also came with a variety of disadvantages. The most prevailing opinion is that technology is to blame for people being detached from one another, as well as using it as a distraction. Usually, technology is connected to the reasons for procrastination.
However, this does not need to be the case. Using technology in a smart way can lead to many successes and amazing developments. If you are an entrepreneur, for example, there are many ways in which you can use technology to improve your startup efficiency. By streamlining your operations and improving parts of the business with technological advancements, you can boost your production. With it, your business will grow, and you will start making more money – which is always a great thing. Today, we take a look at the main ways in which you can use technology to boost your efficiency.
Get your systems talking to each other
Usually, companies are made of multiple sectors – even as a startup. All of these are often interconnected, but not well enough. And while you are busy boosting the systems places in each of your departments, you often forget making sure that the systems can communicate with each other.
This way, companies lose a lot of time transferring information from one department to another. You need to get the output of one department, transcribe it into something another one might use and then input it into that system. By integrating all these together, you will improve your startup efficiency by a huge margin.
Doing so is not something out of a science fiction novel. All you need is a tool that connects software applications! Using it, you will gain an amazing overview of the whole business and all of its parts. What’s more, by automating this process, you will speed up your startup workflow even more!
Improve your startup efficiency by managing projects well
One of the keys of all startup workflows is how well you can handle a multitude of projects. Creating a project workflow is easy when you are a startup. The real challenge comes when your business starts growing and developing, and your team is faced with a couple of them at the same time. Usually, you won’t have as many employees as bigger companies, and the workload will keep growing. This is why a lot of businesses have great benefits of project portfolio management, which can be done with various tools.
With these tools, you will be able to monitor all projects at once. This way, you will always be aware of timetables, and any changes that need to happen to them. You will gain a lot of flexibility with your workflow, which is highly important in the business world that changes day to day
An added bonus is that everyone in the team can have easy access to a plethora of information using these tools. They can share data with each other, but also with the clients. These tools can also include client management platforms that lead to happy clients who can monitor how their project is going and get immediate feedback.
Manage your time well to boost the startup productivity
When people think about improving their startup efficiency, the first thing they usually think about is time management. As you can see, this might not be the biggest priority – but it is still a very important skill to develop.
As your business grows and you get more clients, a need will appear to work with them simultaneously. You will not be able to do this without a smart time schedule and a way to track the time you spend with them. Fortunately, there are many tools that offer exactly this for all startups.
So, start tracking time you spend working with clients early on. This will benefit your startup in many ways. First, you will not be getting underpaid for your work. Instead, both you and your clients will know exactly how long you spent working on their project, which can lead to a better understanding of the resources you need. Secondly, your clients will be able to plan for the future better. Tracking time will make it easy for you to report back to them and give them a breakdown of your activities, which will inform their further decisions and moves.
Use cloud storage whenever you can
There are a lot of myths about cloud storage, and it has been one of the main topics of many futuristic tales. This is due to its popularity – which cloud storage has rightfully earned. We cannot stress just how important it is to have a backup of all your data. However, placing it on hard drives is quite dangerous. These are prone to corruption and theft – and so, losing important data is a risk.
On the other hand, cloud storage offers unlimited space for all your information. It is also ecologically friendly, since you do not need to have physical records in a basement, a storage unit or on a server in your office. And even though some people might worry about their security, cloud storage is actually very good in this regard. Without a proper authorization, no one can access them. So, by going digital, you will save a lot of time since you will not be running around looking through records or for your drives.
Read also: Here’s How Cloud Based Services are Ideal for Businesses
Another benefit of using this type of storage is that they are amazing for sharing data. All it takes is a couple of clicks, and the person in need will have what they require. When you integrate this well with your project management software, you will have a startup with an efficient and smooth workflow, which is able to solve problems in record time.
Boost communication to improve your startup efficiency
What many people do not realize is just how important good communication is to a startup’s efficiency. Without it, your team can be confused about what to do and thus take much longer to finish a task. Additionally, they might not understand exactly what their task was, so they might need to go back and redo everything, which only takes more time.
To stop this from happening, you can use communication tools – many of which you can find online for free! Using them, your team can keep in touch as well as get both the overview and the details of their project, and get the job done on time.
However, the perks of using this type of technology don’t end here. Using communication tools, you will also be able to work with your clients. Getting instant feedback is always good and will lead to customer satisfaction, especially when you are working online or with remote clients, which is more and more the case with startups these days.
Update your technology for smoother operations
Finally, the advent of technology has brought many efficient machines into our homes. What it also did is put many of the older, legacy ones out of work – at least in productive companies. If you want to improve your startup efficiency, then you will need to switch from using legacy devices to new iterations.
So, think about the fax machines, landlines and printers that you have with you. These will often be incompatible with newer systems, and they just work slower than the new devices. However, getting them will cost less.
This is a fine line you need to walk – balancing between technological innovations and your budget. However, in a long term plan, replacing the legacy models with the new ones is always the right choice. You will spend a lot of money maintaining the older machines over time, while digital solutions can easily change in size as you develop your business more and more.
About the author
Content writer at Nifty, a New-wave Project Management tool. Petar is a math student working to become a professional novel writer. In the meantime, learning about online writing, content optimization and boosting the website users’ experience.
Photos courtesy of gettyimages.com
