The average employee relies on a variety of software and applications to execute their job from office suites to project tools, messaging platforms, CRM and more. Nevertheless, using overly complex tools or ones misaligned to needs dramatically cuts productivity and performance. Research shows workers lose nearly 40% of time because of inadequate software. According to the folk at Opkalla, understanding how to assess requirements by work style and browsing the various Microsoft license types to match needs empowers people to reach full potential.
Start by Examining Workflows
Too often companies purchase software based on name recognition or vendor hype instead of real-world fit. Take time studying how individuals and teams complete core tasks during the average week. Document the employee journey, including challenges, with current tools, broken processes, and desired improvements. Determine needs around mobility, functionality, access, security and integrations upfront through this workflow mapping to prevent productivity drains long term.
Simplify the Software Stack
Complexity breeds frustration and productivity loss across organizations. The more disparate apps and systems employees juggle, the harder work becomes. Study software usage analytics and surveys to identify redundant or niche programs used minimally by the broader organization. Set a policy limiting standalone tools and prioritizing consolidated platforms like Microsoft 365 with license types spanning needs. The depth of functionality consolidated into core apps like Teams, SharePoint, Outlook and Office raise individuals’ and teams’ potential a lot thanks to everything integrating seamlessly via single sign-on access.
Make Mobile Seamless
Today’s digitally connected teams require consistent access and experience across devices from traditional computers to smartphones and tablets. Yet difficulties working mobile because of limited functionality, formatting errors with documents or data access issues hampers agility. Evaluating software against mobile usage needs is now imperative with remote and hybrid work models. Microsoft 365 builds for mobile first, recognizing that convenience and reliability working outside the office raises productivity substantially. Intuitive interfaces carry over along with functionality like co-authoring, cloud syncing, and offline accessibility.
Scale With Growth
Growth spells success but also challenges if software and access limits scale. Nothing destroys productivity like workers hitting ceilings with programs governing daily tasks as organizations expand. Look at scenarios for team, storage and data requirements over multi-year horizons. Factor both business expansion plans and organic employee growth. Selecting cloud-based platforms like Microsoft 365 with usage-based license types and geographic expansion support prevents turmoil nurturing productivity.
Automate Manual Work
Despite sophisticated software at their fingertips, workers lose productivity manually moving data between systems, producing reports in spreadsheets and other repetitive duties syphoning time. Intelligent automation presents an opportunity for teams to digitally transform manual efforts. Beyond just workflows, robots integrate natively with platforms like Microsoft Power Platform and 365 to handle data transfers, updates, report production and more. This automation keeps employees focused on value-added work.
Securely Support Collaboration
Without adequate security protocols for access and external sharing, many refrain from collaborating to minimize risk. However, without collaboration, productivity and innovation stagnate. Evaluating tools balancing air tight security controls with the ability to freely engage beyond company walls offers a competitive edge. Microsoft 365 licensing solutions satisfy wide-ranging business collaboration needs with enterprise-grade security layers, conditional access policies and permissions tools. This fuels secure information sharing and seamless partnership impossible through manual methods.
Conclusion
Optimizing productivity in the digital age requires accepting that software sits central to personal, team and organizational success. From first time licenses to renewals, taking a meticulous approach to software selection based on real-world work patterns and future plans unlocks growth potential. Consolidation, automation and collaboration within solutions ultimately dictates the pace of execution. Employee productivity compounds when powered by personalized software experiences meeting specialized needs.
