5 Techniques to Boost Productivity Through Technology Integration

Early technology adopters often reap the rewards of taking a chance.

Let’s take a look at artificial intelligence (AI), for instance.

According to a study by IBM, 42% of IT professionals at large companies say that they are actively using AI. Of that group, the majority are accelerating their investment as they’re already seeing the benefits, including reducing costs, automating time-consuming processes, and overall, boosting productivity. 

Adopting new technology can improve the workflow of your entire company, from marketing to project management—as long as you’re integrating it strategically.

Why Boost Productivity?

We’ve all heard the term “time is money,” and this cliché is not only true but directly ties into why you need to focus on boosting productivity. Productivity is all about doing more with the time and tools you’ve already invested. 

According to research by Bain & Company, the best-performing companies are 40% more productive than the rest. And they found that productivity links directly to higher revenue, with the companies having operating margins that are 30% to 50% higher than their industry peers. 

5 Tips to Integrate Technology to Increase Productivity

1. Management technology cuts time-wasting habits

Micromanagers can create a toxic work environment driven by anxiety and frustration, which can also decrease workplace productivity.

You might think that looking over an employee’s shoulder will give them motivation to do their work quickly and correctly—but it actually does the opposite.

One study looked at three groups of people while they performed specific tasks. Researchers asked the first group to simply try their best, while they told the second group that they would earn more if they performed at a certain speed and accuracy. Researchers told the final group that they would be videotaped while they performed their tasks and that others would later be watching the tapes.

Of the three groups, the last one did the worst on their assigned tasks, citing an increase in pressure that ultimately hurt their performance. Watching workers like a hawk is a waste of time that will eventually lead to your company’s productivity suffering. 

But certain technologies can help managers let go and learn to take a step back. Through the use of project management software, for example, managers can gain insight into what their team members are working on without having to hover. And communication tools like Slack can keep team members connected, reducing the need for frequent check-ins and meetings that can delay employees’ work.

2. Data management tools increase speed and shareability

Poor quality or inaccurate data costs your company—literally.

According to Gartner’s research, bad data costs organizations an average of $12.9 million per year. Maintaining high data quality allows you to make better decisions, which prevents you from wasting time and money going in the wrong direction.

Data management tooling can help automate your data management strategy, speeding up the procurement of clean data; making it easily accessible to everyone who has to work with it; and keeping it accurate so it can be deployed in marketing, business operations, and beyond at a moment’s notice. 

3. Automated communication delivers on customer support

Your relationships with your customers matter. That’s because acquiring a new customer is costlier than retaining a current one. It’s vital to dedicate resources to making your current customers happy. 

This is where your customer success (CS) team comes in. 

In today’s world where you can plug a question into a search engine and get a response immediately, people expect their questions to be answered quickly, efficiently, and around the clock. That 24/7 support may not be possible with your current operating budget, and you also don’t want to burn out your CS team by pulling them in too many different directions.

According to a survey by Hiver, customers still appreciate a human touch, but many also recognize the value of a combination of human and AI-driven customer support. About 43% of organizations are investing in AI for pieces of the customer support puzzle, particularly when it comes to offering 24-hour support. 

Even 44% of customer support professionals say AI is ideal for data-driven responses, as it processes information and is consistent in its responses in a way that’s more challenging for human support agents.

By introducing AI tools such as chatbots on your website to automate elements of support, you can take some work off the plates of your agents and allow them to focus on other tasks and improve their productivity.

4. Marketing analytics enable more impactful campaigns

When you put time and money toward marketing, it’s crucial to know if you’re getting the return you need.

That’s why it’s so critical that marketing teams track their analytics on everything from the click-through rate of email campaigns to the ROI of influencer marketing.

All that tracking, especially when running multiple campaigns across different mediums at once, can feel like a full-time job all on its own. With marketing analytics software, your team can do all that analytical tracking automatically instead of manually. 

Marketing analytics tools make it easy to gain insight into marketing efforts. Some even turn that data into AI-generated ideas and information, such as by offering marketers content topics or telling them what their best time to post is on various platforms. 

5. Accounting software paves the way for deep, productive work

Accounting technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing company productivity by first and foremost streamlining time-consuming processes. 

Most modern accounting software is built to automate common tasks, such as data entry, invoice generation, and financial reporting. It also handles important and time-heavy to-dos such as compliance and security. 

Not only does this reduce the effort accounting pros have to spend on simpler tasks, it gives them more time to focus on more productive, strategic activities like analysis and business decision-making.

Today’s Tech and Your Business’s Productivity

Technology is advancing quickly, which means that it’s time to get on board or risk falling behind your competitors. Today’s tech can boost productivity for your marketing, CS, engineering, and financial teams. 

And that productivity boost means a bump in your revenue, as well as your reputation, customer relationships, workplace happiness, and more. Tech integration can take time, but with the right strategy, you’ll find your company is on a path to being more productive.