With more and more heavy restrictions on work and travel, you’ve probably had some issues with adapting to remote work. As face-to-face becomes impossible, and leaving the house for anything other than essentials, the way you work needs to change.
37% of companies think going digital will help productivity and a whole host of other benefits, so, now is the time to take the plunge and adapt not only to the current situation, but also make a change for the future of the company.
But don’t feel daunted, we’ve curated some of the top solutions we feel every business should consider. Plus, they won’t just save you now, but they’ll also keep you on top of things when you eventually return to normal business.
1. How to send and sign documents electronically
Imagine your usual process of obtaining signatures. You print, send, wait for the signee to send the document back, and file. Or you meet them in person with a witness, they sign and you file the document.
Sending the document or contract electronically cuts out most of these steps from your traditional process. Meaning you can send, receive a signed document and file that document before lunch, without ever leaving your desk (or kitchen table if you’re like us!).
This is what makes electronic signatures a huge productivity booster, especially when you’re out of office. You’re able to send as many documents as you need to anywhere in the world, instantly and securely.
Simply upload your document to an eSignature platform, like Signable. Insert the signing parties’ email addresses. Use our tool to add fillable fields onto your document (Text fields, date, signature, tick boxes & more) and hit send!
Then you wait for the party to sign and submit the document (you can send reminders if you want). You’ll then receive an email with the signed document in (If you’re using Signable this document will be saved in your account automatically.)
That’s it.
2. How to communicate with your customers without phone lines
Enter LiveChat.
But, what is LiveChat? It’s a web application that helps visitors on your site chat live with your customer support team. It helps us with customers who have support questions around the product, or potential customers who need guidance before signing up.
If you’re a tech or SaaS company you’ll know how important it is to offer ways for your customers to get in touch with you.
LiveChat is also great for avoiding distractions – so by taking on this solution, it means that both staff and customers can multi-task between chats and their day-to-day tasks. Only having to check-in when they hear the “ping” of a notification.
LiveChat can also be integrated with your internal comms, like Slack. Which means you can see when a chat has been completed and scored. This helps keep on top of internal feedback, as well as clarifying info with a team member when help is needed with a conversation. By centralising customer chats, it makes it easy to search customer history. So, you can share information with your team transparently, as well as helping the customer as best you can. This means that chat logs can be provided in case any issues arise in the future.
So check it out! By offering customers a variety of channels you’ll be sure none of them slip through the cracks whilst they’re waiting for questions to be answered. And as a result, you’ll see an increase in sales as well as positive feedback. Win win.
3. How to do team collaboration outside the office
You’ve probably been on one of those infamous team calls, whether it’s on Google Meet or Zoom or god forbid, an old fashioned conference call! Everyone inevitably speaks over each other and there’s always that awkward silence where no one wants to speak in case they start at the same time as someone else… It’s hard!
Easily cut through the faff with a project collaboration tool like Trello.
What is Trello? It’s essentially a software tool that helps you make lists on boards dedicated to various teams or projects. For example, you can create boards specific to each department or project and within them have sections of lists for work that’s planned. These lists have individual cards with tasks, and these can be assigned to team members as needed. Within these teams can have conversations specific to that task, or add comments & updates.
By having work planned out in a shareable and interactive way helps organise what each team is working on. It also helps team members collaborate and gives a transparent view of everyone’s work schedules.
So; check it out! Encourage communication & collaboration within your team, whilst helping everyone organise their activity. Winning.
4. How to make conversations happen naturally
Slack. It’s literally a life-saver when you’re stuck at home for most of the day. Slack (if you’ve not been hit over the head with it yet), is an internal communication tool, kind of like a workplace WhatsApp. With it, you can create groups for each team and even for specific events and projects. We recommend you have one main chat with everyone from the company in, so it’s easy to speak to everyone at once. But, the options are truly limitless!
When you strip it back to the bare bones, Slack is brilliant for getting distributed teams collaborating naturally. You’re creating a culture where communication is completely open, so we promise your company’s productivity will improve and as a result. Plus, you’ll experience a boost in your team’s morale.
Having one central point for all your company-wide information also means that you keep everything searchable and written down. It’s also essential if you like to allow your team space to get their head down – so, they get to prioritise their work over being distracted.
As a result, you’ll be relying a lot less on internal email, which means cutting individuals out is kept to a minimum. It also gives your teams the option to work remotely or from the office (when the option is there of course!). Giving your team that freedom means you’ll have a far happy team (if we’re anything to go by, anyway).
Taking a transparent approach will reassure staff that you have nothing to hide, encourage them to voice their opinions more and ensure everyone is kept informed. Plus you can send gifs to boost morale with the ‘/giphy[wordhere]’ command.
So, no matter where you’re working right now, make sure you’re making the most of the tech solutions that are out there. It’s a time for effective communication more than ever before, so keep your teams informed, as well as your customers and you’ll breed loyalty across the board.
