It has never been easier to operate a remote business with a dispersed workforce. What makes all the difference today is an ever-growing collection of flexible tech tools that simplify and streamline workflows, making employees and employers alike more productive and responsive than ever.
These tech tools also improve workflows in traditional business settings too. Whether you run a one-person firm with dreams of big growth or an established enterprise with hundreds of employees and contractors at HQ and thousands more dispersed around the planet, you know that your team can’t do everything the old-fashioned way.
You may already use some of these tech tools in your workplace, dispersed or otherwise. If not, it’s time to examine their value and begin planning to deploy them across your organization. The business world is just too competitive for you to willingly handicap your enterprise any longer.
1. Flexible Payroll Services for Dispersed Workforces
Does your organization employ workers or hire contractors in more than one location?
In more than one country?
If you answered “yes” to either, you need a flexible payroll service that can actually accommodate your company’s complex needs. You can’t rely on a legacy system that’s just “good enough” to make do.
This is especially important if you have a multinational team. To compensate your far-flung employees and contractors, you’ll need an international payroll platform that’s finely tuned to the needs of transnational workforces. And you’ll need one that does more than just the bare minimum — one that anticipates and doubles down on future growth into new markets.
2. Project Management Software That Adapts to Your Needs
Stop using spreadsheets to manage complex projects. Just stop.
Instead, invest in a flexible, sophisticated project management platform that adapts to the needs of individual teams within your organization while accommodating the objectives of the organization as a whole. Your preferred platform might be part of a larger suite of productivity tools or a more focused tool that does one thing — project management — really well.
Either way, it’s past time to make the switch.
3. Accounting Software That Scales With Your Business
How do you stay on top of your company’s cash flows? Its accounts payable and receivable? Its petty cash? Its expense accounts?
Your company should use a cloud accounting software system that provides visibility into all these aspects of your organization’s finances, and probably more. It should not continue to rely on clunky bank software or too-light budgeting tools that can’t adequately grasp the tax and regulatory implications of your corporate activities.
4. Workplace Chat Tools That Focus, Not Distract
Some entrepreneurs still see workplace chat as a distraction, not a productivity enhancer. They have a point. It’s easy for employees looking for excuses not to work to get lost in side conversations and interest groups that don’t contribute to the company’s success.
But a sophisticated workplace chat solution can address this issue. With strong admin controls, you can ensure that your workforce uses chat as it’s intended — to get work done. Not to shoot the breeze.
- 5. Cloud Storage That Keeps Your Files Safe and Secure
Every business needs a secure, flexible cloud storage platform that can grow with its needs. Every single one. If you’re still using hard drives and external storage solutions to keep track of the documents and files your entire team needs to do its job, you’re simply not going to be as productive as you could be.
6. Cloud Document Creation Software That’s As Creative As Your Team
This solution might come as an add-on to your cloud storage platform, or vice versa. Google Docs and Microsoft Office are both market leaders, ones you’ve undoubtedly heard of. Whichever you choose, ditch the out-of-the-box, machine-based document creation tools as soon as you can.
7. Secure Document Exchange and Signing Without Lawyers
You shouldn’t have to call on a lawyer (in-house or otherwise) every time you need to sign important documents. Nor should you need to rely on an external vendor to create and share secure PDFs.
And you no longer have to. Thanks to advances in encryption capabilities and secure, cloud-based file-sharing tools, secure document creation and exchange is easier than ever. Choose a solution that fits your company’s needs, and say goodbye to cumbersome or insecure methods of sealing the deal.
8. A Note-Taking App That Keeps You on Top of It All
Finally, your team needs a simple but elegant solution to stay on top of the processes it can’t easily automate. A calendar app is a good start, but busy enterprises need something more. While this “something” need not be fancy or overly complex, and might be built into a project management platform, it should be robust enough to allow for a variety of use cases — from transcription to reminders to who knows what else.
Simplify Your Workflow Today
You might not think about your business workflow much from day to day, which is understandable. A well-calibrated workflow is mostly silent, operating in the background as your team works on more important, visible processes.
That doesn’t mean you can “set and forget” your business workflow. Quite the opposite, in fact. If you aren’t periodically checking in on your workflow to ensure it’s working as efficiently as possible, your enterprise is almost certain to be less productive and profitable than it could be.
Don’t let your business suffer because of a poorly calibrated workflow. Use these tech tools, along with any others you prefer, to improve its functioning and take control of how work gets done within your organization. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll find yourself truly amazed by the results.