If you use technology in the right way at the right time, you can save yourself time and money, reduce everyday hassles, and boost productivity.  But that’s not all it can do.  Technology can also serve as a tool for collaboration, as an efficient way to track team progress, and as an exciting way to communicate.

In other words, technology is pretty awesome.

But what exactly does this constitute?  What type of technology do you need to do more and to be better?  Here are a few tips for you.

Meeting Technology

It’s time to overthrow the traditional meeting where everyone quietly assembles to discuss open tasks and upcoming projects, handwriting notes and manually tracking time in the process.  These meetings do nothing for you or anyone involved.

Instead, try out these simple, yet modern improvements.

  • Utilize a Mondopad, or large touchscreen monitor, to display significant developments that everyone can easily see.
  • Utilize applications (like these) that give you the ability to create digital agendas, record meetings, and take notes.

These improvements will work to capture and, subsequently, maintain the attention of attendees, as well as encourage team members to collaborate and actively involve themselves in the meeting process.

Team Technology

One of the most vexing aspects of working would have to be teamwork.  Even if you enjoy working with other people, it can be extremely difficult to remain on the same page, to communicate effectively, and to share new ideas.  Because of this, you need a few things:

  • Communication
    • You and your team should have the means to communicate on many different levels, no matter where they are. This means you need a unique combination of instant messaging, emailing, video conferencing, and calendar sharing.
  • File-Sharing
    • It’s difficult to get things done if you’re always waiting for another document, another image, and another report, or if you’re always sorting through your inbox trying to find that one thing from that one person. Instead, use a file-sharing application like Dropbox or Google Drive.  These cloud-connected applications allow your team to easily create shared folders that can be separated by project, team members, or client.
  • Project Tracker
    • File-sharing will only get you so far. If you don’t know what’s done, what’s in progress, and what hasn’t even been started, you won’t know what to look for.  To combat this hurdle, use a project database or team management platform such as Trello or Asana.  Look for a platform that allows you to communicate inside the application and to easily track individual progress, as well as the overall progress of the team.

 

These are just a few ways technology can improve the quality of your workday.  And just because the blog stops here, doesn’t mean you should stop, as well.  Find the right technology and distribute it in the right ways, and you won’t regret it.