Business productivity is something that you can trace back to an organization’s ability to successfully execute on overall strategy. Success requires engaged and highly productive employees who execute goals that are aligned with your company’s strategic objectives. This demonstrates how important a role execution plays in running a successful business so now all you need to know is what steps you must take to increase your business productivity so you can increase the execution of your strategic goals. This is where business productivity software plays an important role.
What Business Productivity Software Is
What Is defines productivity software as a category of application programs that help you produce things like documents, databases, graphs, worksheets and presentations – mainly things that are intended for business use. Some examples of office productivity software include word processors, database management systems (DBMS), graphics software and spreadsheet applications. Today this category also includes any type of application that’s used to help you do your job, including collaboration and communication programs.
This type of productivity is interchangeably known as both employee and workforce productivity. It determines just how efficient a worker, or a group of workers is. The software that’s used here helps increase this efficiency by facilitating people’s tasks. For instance, when you use a word processing application (e.g. Microsoft Word) to create digital files, it becomes much more efficient to not only create, but also edit, store, and share these documents throughout your organization. Another great example of productivity software comes in the form of database management systems. These are used by many businesses today who want to greatly simplify their work when it comes to storing, retrieving and working with data. This same software will also greatly expand your capabilities when it comes to manipulating and analyzing the data you’ve entered into them.
As you might well expect, today’s productivity software is becoming increasingly more available for use on mobile devices – which is true for most types of applications now. However, the majority of these mobile productivity apps are only useful for very basic tasks like sending and receiving e-mail, taking notes, and updating your calendar. They’re not as useful when it comes to more substantial tasks like word processing, but many people feel that they’ll be useful here as well in the future.
Business Productivity Software’s Greatest Benefits
Success Factors says that by using technology you don’t only maximize your business productivity, but you also create a platform on which to build a truly successful business. This is something that business productivity software can help you with. It’s also something that the use of corporate phone systems will help you with. These phone systems can make it easier to execute tasks, which will help take your company’s productivity graph to a whole new level – a feature that’s offered by most of the other software that’s also found within this category.
When you use business productivity software you’ll know for certain that your company has the tools it needs for overcoming any challenges it faces when it tries to execute new strategies and prosper in today’s economy. Increased business productivity is also linked to the automation of processes so you can communicate your strategies faster, spend more time spent on strategic priorities, and complete more of your projects. As if this wasn’t enough, here are some additional ways business productivity software drives business processes more efficiently so you gain optimal results:
- Create an open and communicative environment by centrally locating your performance appraisal information within a formal online framework. This also allows you to create measurable goals for your employees that will support your business’ overall objectives; offers greater visibility so your employees can see the whole picture and understand better how your goals fit into the “big picture.” This both energizes and engages your employees, which in turn makes the company more productive.
- You can connect teams virtually within your company by creating employee portals and team sites to help people work productively throughout your organization regardless of where they’re located or what team they’re on. This lets your employees work together as they collaborate on similar projects or try to find help getting answers to their questions.
- Use technology to motivate your employees. You can do this by using the information you gather through online performance evaluations to see whether they’re ready to advance to a new position or receive some other type recognition or reward throughout the year. This is also useful in helping you redirect employees to different departments if you feel their business productivity would do better there. Removing impediments to great performance and providing resources or additional training is very beneficial for all involved.
- Monitor business productivity and how your employees are progressing toward reaching your company’s goals. With this software you can easily track progress during every phase as you work to meet your goals. This is also a great way to offer immediate reinforcement or coaching so that your deadlines remain on track. Doing so will also increase your business productivity since your company’s employees are continually learning new skills and being challenged to do their very best. This is exactly what you want since alert, motivated, and happy employees have been shown to work harder and be more productive. You can encourage your staff to act in this fashion by offering both monetary and non-monetary incentives as rewards.
- Use today’s technology to analyze your employees’ performance. With its advanced reporting and business analysis capabilities you’ll be able to gain a deep understanding of business performance, customer preferences, and market trends. This technology will also let your executives and business managers access performance metrics and analytical reports. The information they gather here can be used to create and redesign strategies.
The Bottom Line
Generally speaking, most employees want to be appreciated for their hard work. Business productivity software can help you bridge any gaps in your communication and convey to each member of your team that you honestly value their hard work and dedication. When everyone works at their highest capabilities and your business becomes aligned from top-to-bottom, you’ll have created a workforce that’s engaged, productive, and loyal to your brand. The key here lies in feeling valued. It really does lead to greater business productivity.
