How to increase productivity: Tips from OneDesk

According to the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, productivity here in Canada is at it’s lowest in five years. Given the highly competitive state of today’s bustling economic environment, organizations can’t afford to bear the consequences brought on by lack of productivity: incomplete assignments, missed deadlines, poorly communicated projects, going over-budget, duplicated tasks, and so on. Thus, many are wondering how to increase productivity in the workplace.

So…How to increase productivity?

We at OneDesk are always willing to give tips on how to increase productivity. After all, that was the foundation of the software. While there is no right answer on how to increase productivity, we took into account that the way people work these days isn’t the same as it used to be, mostly due to technological advancements.

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that a report by the McKinsly Quarterly suggest that the secret as to how to increase productivity in the workplace is to use new Web 2.0 technologies.

Some tips on how to increase productivity

Don’t waste time in conversation; instead of using back and forth email and phone calls, engage in productive discussions about the work at hand.

Tip: Use collaboration tools – discussion forums, blogs and chat to communicate. OneDesk offers these built-in features so that all team members can always be in contact.

Provide a way for customers to easily submit ideas and feedback, and for internal organization members to access them.

Tip: Use a feedback tool that helps gather all feedback in one place. For example, with OneDesk’s customer portal you don’t need to collect feedback from surveys, emails, or make hundreds of phone calls. Simply send customers the link to the portal, or embed it in your website.

Have some context into what you are working on and understand why each project or task was created.

Tip: This can take up a lot of time, especially if you are working on many tasks, with a big team. It’s best to use software that lets you trace items back to their origins.

Have a centralized place for important documents to avoid the time lost looking for them.

Tip: Store attachments online and always have the most recent versions. With OneDesk, attachments can be added to support item descriptions, and details can be written to elaborate on them.

Automate recurring tasks, e.g. follow up emails.

Tip: Use automation software to set up workflows that will allow you take some workload off you. OneDesk has a built-in automation engine that allows for this.

Find a better way to keep up your tasks – and your teammates’ tasks.

Tip: Software allows you to share your calendar and task list with your team effectively solves this problem. OneDesk’s shared calendars, to-do lists and assignment scheduler allows you to stay up-to-date on your own tasks, as well as everyone else’s tasks.

Outsource…but tighten collaboration
Many companies choose to outsouce and hire cheaper labour. However, since these employees are not in-house, their level of motivation may not be be as high as you expect it to be.

Tip: Collaborate and follow-up with them regularly. Be available to support them whenever they need. With OneDesk, team members can be in touch 24/7, and can enter details and start discussions whenever they need clarification.

Got tips on how to increase productivity? Let us know!