Productivity Archives - NuTech Services LLC

Dec, 2022

Look to These Technologies to Help Keep Your Workforce Focused

Business can get stressful. Not only for the people tasked with managing an organization, but for the workforce as a whole. Fortunately, businesses are identifying that technology can go a long way toward making all this work less stressful. Let’s go through some of the innovative technology that is being used to keep employees engaged.

Before we start it has to be said that without proper training, most technology will be as much of a headache for users as not having any at all. That’s why the IT professionals at Omega Technical Solutions make it a point to not only get the technology that your company needs in place, we can help you develop the training regimens crucial to get the rapid ROI you are looking for from any investment.

Communications

Improving your business’ communications can go a long way toward building an efficient business. Every business needs to employ some degree of communications. The smallest business needs a telephone number and management software to help them manage the scheduling, time entries, sales, and other tasks. These basic tools offer communications options that are often in real time. These include automated schedule reminders, time mandates, task lists, and client interactions.

With improved communication, collaboration becomes simpler as well. Today, there are lots of collaboration tools that serve to automate rote operational tasks while also providing fast access to a lot of tools that can help spur on productivity. These include video conferencing, project management, and other tools designed specifically to move business along faster.

Security Balance

By now, you know that keeping your business secure from security threats is a teamwide effort. What you may not understand is that it has to be a balance between robust security tactics and solutions and attempts to shield your staff from near-constant exposure to that security. You see, while there are people in your organization that completely understand why they are inundated with security prompts and authentication, many won’t and will get “fatigued” by the near ceaseless focus on organizational security. This security fatigue can actually make your organization less secure as the more people are confronted with attempts to maintain security, the less they will consider these things important.

In order to keep your employees engaged in your security policies, you need to balance the use of tactics with robust security tools designed to work in the background. Now, we are definitely proponents of doing whatever you need to do to keep your organization’s data safe, but there are ways to keep your employees from having to constantly lose focus because of organizational security.

Workplace Flexibility

When speaking of workplace flexibility, it covers both the strategies you use as far as remote working as well as the tools you utilize while maintaining an office. For those businesses that have staff that can work from home, but don’t really like them to, it may be time to look at the productivity metrics without bias. The main argument out there against remote work is that the business loses control over the employees. Managers at these businesses don’t believe that their staff works as diligently while out of the office, and they worry that the company culture they work hard to cultivate will go by the wayside.

Most studies suggest that while employees may be more distracted working from home, they also are much more productive when they do work. In fact, one study found that overall, people work more and are up to 47% more productive working from home than they are in a traditional office environment. Also, there is nothing to say that you can’t implement a hybrid work strategy that has your staff in the office on certain days and able to work remotely on others. Today’s employees are more cognizant of their work/life balance than at any other time in western history, so remote work is also a solid retention strategy.

If you do require in-house work, you need to have strategies in place that allow workers the flexibility to work the way they need to be most productive. This often means having a dynamic Wi-Fi network in place that allows people to move around the office and collaborate with their contemporaries. Since most employees now carry smartphones, integrating tools that can be accessed from mobile devices is also a solid strategy to help keep their staff engaged.

In order for your company to function the way you’d like it to, you have to consider adjusting to the ways your staff can be most productive. The IT experts at NuTech Services can help you strategize policies that can maximize operational productivity and procure technologies designed to build the most productive workforce. Give us a call today at 810.230.9455.

Nov, 2022

Hybrid Work Has Led to a Decrease in Necessary Office Space

With the COVID pandemic still affecting businesses all over the world, many are still considering remote and hybrid work operations. In fact, there are many employees who have yet to step back into the workplace in any capacity, meaning that workspaces previously well-populated are being underutilized.

According to a 2022 Office Space survey conducted by Robin Powered, businesses are struggling to make effective use of their office space due to a number of factors. These factors include the ongoing pandemic, the Great Resignation, and the simple adoption of remote or hybrid work policies in general. Here are some of the results and numbers from the report:

46% of respondents surveyed in July don’t use any more than half of their available office space.
A paltry 11% utilize all of their available office space.
48% of respondents claim their use of available office space has decreased since the start of the pandemic.
60% of those currently using half or less of their current office space had already downsized pre-pandemic.
46% of those surveyed plan to reduce their office space in 2023.
59% of those surveyed plan to cut their office space by half or more.

The reason behind these numbers makes perfect sense. 83% of respondents claim that they have made the above changes to save money, whereas 73% of them have plans to move in the direction of hybrid operations before they would consider layoffs or other cost-saving measures.

The interesting part of the survey is how employees respond to these new policies. Here are some of the results:

37% of employees working for surveyed companies work in-house full-time.
61% of employees are working in hybrid accommodations.
87% of hybrid employees spend two or more days a week at the office.

So, if your employees are spending time away from the office, you should be shifting your focus to how you can best support your employees during their remote and hybrid work times. After all, you’re saving money from the arrangement, so why not reinvest those assets into making the experience better and more meaningful for your employees?

If you work with a technology provider like NuTech Services to handle the implementation and management of your remote work needs, then you’ll know for sure that your infrastructure can handle this shift for long-term success. To get started, call us today at 810.230.9455.

Oct, 2022

4 Useful Video Conferencing Etiquette Tips

For the remote worker, video conferencing is an essential tool. Regardless if you are a veteran of using video conferencing or if you are a new remote worker, there are some tips that can help you be a more effective member of a remote team. Let’s go through four today.

Test Your Connection and Hardware Before You Meet

Nothing is more annoying than being in a virtual meeting only to have one of your team members constantly cutting out and dropping their connection. Not only is it annoying, but it can easily cause severe miscommunications or hold up the meeting as people are asked to repeat themselves over and over again. Taking a few brief moments to test your equipment and the stability of your connection will help make your meeting significantly more productive.

Stay on Topic

If there’s been an agenda shared for the meeting (which is something we recommend), do everything you can to stick to it. If something mentioned reminds you of something off-topic that needs to be addressed, make a note of it and follow up afterward.

The same goes if someone happens to join the meeting late. Instead of spending time circling back to bring them up to speed, make sure that someone is prepared to fill them in on what they missed afterward—if it’s something that pertains to them at all. You only have so long to meet, don’t spend that time reiterating what you’ve already covered.

Mute Yourself Unless You’re Speaking

This one is just about being polite, but even if you’re not intentionally making any noise, a live mic can pick up more than you’d expect. Clearing your throat, sneezing, background noise…all of it can distract from the topic at hand, and most of it can be pretty gross to hear if we’re being honest. Why allow the chance of interrupting the meeting when you can eliminate it by muting yourself? Your teammates would much rather have to remind you that you’re muted than listen to the potential alternative.

That being said, you’re still on video, so try and minimize visual distractions as well. If you have a coughing fit, for instance, politely cover your mouth, or even kill your video feed until the moment has passed. Your team would much rather you vanish for a moment than watch you blow your nose, trust us.

Take Notes

Whether or not someone is delegated the responsibility of taking notes during your conference, it is always a good idea to take notes for yourself, as well. This will help you keep track of whatever responsibilities were assigned to you specifically while also giving greater context to what has been discussed.

We Hope This Helps You Make the Most of Your Video Conferences

Reach out for more assistance, including a network audit to ensure that you have what you need to support successful conferencing. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to get started!

Sep, 2022

Technology Can Fuel a Much More Productive Business

Would you describe your business as “productive?” Without setting a specific standard for productivity, you can’t answer this question. A basic way to measure productivity for your business is how effectively your employees use the tools at their disposal in conjunction with each individual’s capacity to get work done. Let’s take a look at some technology built specifically for your employees to be more productive throughout the workday.

The Different Levels of Business Technology

The technology solutions your business implements all have various uses that directly tie into its levels of productivity. Here are three notable categories for any kind of digital transformation you implement for your business:

Operational – This includes all business management applications, productivity, and communications.
Supply Chain – This technology improves business through data collection based on your business’ procurement, processing, and distribution processes.
Digital Platforms – This technology is implemented to promote or sell goods and services and provides a lot of actionable information.

Let’s examine how each of these contributes to a productive business environment.

Operational Technology

Your workforce will be more productive if they are using effective technology. You’ll likely have to add new technology to your infrastructure in the process, and with careful planning and consideration, you can use it to improve productivity. Solutions like customer relationship management (CRM) software can help you keep track of tasks, time, progress, and customer interactions, while communication tools like VoIP, email, and video conferencing all go a long way to help your team collaborate. Productivity tools like Microsoft Office and Google Workspace can also provide exceptional productivity apps with built-in communication tools. There are even specialized collaboration suites that you can use to give your team all the tools they need in one effective package.

Supply Chain Technology

Your business’ supply chain will undoubtedly remain an important part of its operations and productivity. Whether your organization provides products or components or not, there is no question that your company is at the mercy of the supply chain—even when it comes to procuring new equipment for your own business’ operational needs. Technology brings transparency to the supply chain, whether it’s through inventory management, Internet of Things devices, shipping and management of goods, etc. These interconnected systems give businesses the ability to be more productive and transparent with their resources.

Digital Platform Technology

Doing business involves an online presence in most, if not all circumstances. Most businesses have implemented online applications that allow their team and their customers to do business more efficiently, whether it’s through a CRM, file sharing, digital collaboration platforms, or even something as simple as a webpage or social media presence. All of these digital platforms give businesses the ability to be more productive, provided they are used appropriately.

How does your business handle technology solutions? Could you use a hand with the management and upkeep of your IT systems? Outsourcing this responsibility is one big way you can improve operations and productivity for your organization. To learn more, contact us today at 810.230.9455.

Sep, 2022

Burnout Needs to Be Addressed Seriously…4 Essential Steps

There are struggles that the workplace inherently presents to most people (whether that workplace is in the traditional office space or in the home) that can lead to the too-familiar-to-some feelings of burnout. As these struggles aren’t likely going to go away at any point (never mind anytime soon), it is important that you have strategies to help minimize their impacts.

Let’s go over a few things you can encourage your team members to do so they can accomplish this for themselves.

How to Help Minimize Burnout

There are a few ways that you can reduce the amount of burnout that you and your team experience. For instance:

Take a Moment and Refocus Yourself

Mounting pressure can easily take you off your game, which should be seen as a signal that it is time for a break. However, not all breaks are as beneficial as others. Rather than pulling up your social media feeds and mindlessly scrolling, try taking some slow, deep breaths and clearing your mind for a few minutes until you’re ready to return to full productivity. Properly recovering from these moments will help.

Build Communications Between Teams

You know the old saying, “no man is an island,” that refers to the fact that each and every person relies on the network of people around them? While it’s a pretty safe bet that John Donne wasn’t thinking of the modern workplace when he wrote those words back in the 17th century, the same concept holds true. It is important that your different employees and even departments have the confidence that they can rely on one another as needed, so establishing the precedent of communication is crucial.

Basically, you want to take it upon yourself to encourage your employees to work with one another at every available opportunity. Not only will this help to lighten the workload on the team as a whole, but it will help form bonds between your team members that will help to reduce the likelihood of burnout.

Pick Up a Low-Pressure Hobby

A major contributor to feelings of burnout is the tendency many have to take the pressures associated with work into personal time—after all, if you never get any relief from stress, that stress is going to wear down on you faster.

To resolve that, recommend that your team members pick up personal hobbies or pursue interests—anything that gets their mind off of work, really—as these kinds of hobbies can help you recharge your batteries.

Establish Procedures to Reduce Stress

One of the nice things about workplace processes is that they tend to largely be the same each time you carry them out. This means that these processes can be streamlined and ideally automated, taking pressure off of your team members and simplifying their workflows. Both of these effects can benefit workplace engagement and slow down the “burn” of burnout.

Fighting Burnout is a Prescient Business Need

If you aren’t actively working to keep your team engaged, burnout will almost certainly start to creep in and negatively impact your operations. In addition to the above efforts, the right IT can help to keep your team engaged and effective—and we’ll help you put them in place. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to learn more about the business solutions we have to offer.

Sep, 2022

Boost Your Business’ Confidence with Iron-Clad IT

Businesses have a lot of troubles to manage, one of which is their technology breaking down and interrupting their operations. You have options to ensure these circumstances do not influence your operations to the degree they once may have. Let’s discuss some of the ways you can address malfunctioning IT before it impacts your productivity.

Technology Should Work for You, Not Against You

Technology malfunctions are not uncommon in the business world, and one poll goes so far as to suggest that the average United States office worker wastes around 20 minutes a day with some technology issue or another. Much of that time could be associated with social media, the Internet, and phones, while some of it can be attributed to their technology not working correctly.

To make sure your staff isn’t dealing with issues related to their technology, you should work to make sure your IT is managed in a proactive and appropriate way. You’ll need to monitor your systems so you can catch issues and inconsistencies before they become major problems.

Update and Manage Your Software

Your business lives and dies by its software solutions, and if you can’t access it, then you’ll have issues with operations. The problem is that businesses tend to use a lot of different software solutions, between 20 and 800 at a time, and most of them need to be patched and updated to stay effective and secure.

The reason for this is cybersecurity, as hackers and other threats are quick to leverage vulnerabilities to their advantage. If you don’t shore up defenses for your business in an appropriate way, you could be leaving a critical flaw unaddressed on your network. NuTech Services can use software management tools to help you with procurement, managing licenses, updates, patches, and so much more.

Redundancy is the Opposite of Waste (in Business)

Redundancy often has a negative connotation, i.e. doing the same thing over and over again, or having more than what you need. This is a good thing for businesses in most cases, as you want your data infrastructure and backup systems to be redundant. It means you are protected and that you are prepared to handle negative circumstances your organization might be thrust into.

With so many issues that could arise, not limited to cybercrime, component failure, natural disasters, and so much more, you need to be ready to tackle these issues as they occur. With a comprehensive data backup and recovery system in place, you can ensure operations are uninterrupted, or at least interrupted as little as possible, by potential technology issues you might face.

To learn more, contact us at 810.230.9455 today.

Aug, 2022

How You Can Help Keep Your Employees Healthy in the Workplace?

Looking back at the past few years, it’s little wonder that many people have become more concerned about their health—particularly when it comes to the workplace and spending extended amounts of time in the vicinity of other people. This makes it important that you do everything you can to make your workplace a healthier and safer-feeling place to work… but how?

Fortunately, the technology available today gives you a few different options. Let’s touch on them to see what would work effectively for your needs.

What Can I Do to Help Ensure My Employees Remain Healthy?

Depending on the processes you’ve established for your workplace procedures, the right technology can facilitate more health-conscious practices. For instance, the fewer the number of people actually in the office, the less likely it is that a pathogen will be carried in and spread.

Remote/Hybrid Work Offers Health Advantages

Like we said, the fewer people that are in the office at any one time, the less likely it is that a germ is being carried inside. Remote and hybrid work allows your team to remain productive while spending at least some of their work time outside the office—so, while you’re keeping a germ from spreading through your workforce, you aren’t necessarily losing valuable time. Honestly, it’s a win-win.

Taking advantage of this win-win situation, however, will require some preparation. Namely, you need to ensure that your team members and business have access to the technology that remote work relies on, and that you have policies that address these options specifically.

Refurnish Your Office (and Reconsider How You Use It)

Changing workplace conditions is nothing new—it’s why computer mice are increasingly molded to better fit in one’s hand, and more and more focus has gone into break rooms and other amenities. Lately, people have been questioning how healthy it is to spend so much time seated at a desk, or seated in general. Studies have shown that remaining seated for such long periods can increase the chance of a heart attack… yikes.

Nowadays, standing and convertible desks are available to help encourage employees to stand every now and again. Likewise, you can also change the way that you carry out certain business functions. Maybe that regular meeting you have with one or two people can transition into a walking meeting.

Mental Health is Health, Too

It isn’t uncommon for people to focus on physical health—the size of their gut or the pain in their backs—over the needs of their mental health, despite the latter being a major aspect of their health overall. Having safeguards in place to ensure that your employees’ mental health is well taken care of is therefore a wise investment. Develop a positively-charged workplace and give them the support they need (seeking out feedback so you can do so effectively) to see some real benefits in their work and work lives.

Health and Safety Leads to Productivity

If you were able to improve your business’ success through simply making it a safer and healthier place to work, why wouldn’t you? NuTech Services can help you ensure your team remains healthy in any form by providing the technology that enables their operations either in the office or remotely. Find out more about our managed services by calling 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2022

How a Small Business Can Benefit from a Customer Relationship Management Platform

While it can be too easy to assume that specialized software, like customer relationship management (CRM) software is reserved exclusively for massive companies, there are a lot of benefits that small businesses can see from using it. Let’s take a look at some of these benefits now.

A CRM Helps You Track (and Increase!) Your Profitability

Bet you weren’t expecting that to be the first benefit we brought up! Not only do many CRM programs feature bookkeeping functions and automated costs and discounts, which allow your financial department to spend more time on other tasks, they can help you identify points of failure in your sales process that you can then adjust for success.

Can you close a sale effectively, but your follow-through falls short enough to dissuade repeat customers? Your CRM can not only identify this, it can also help you fix the problem through automated reminders and outreach steps.

A CRM Makes Data Management Easier

How long does it take each employee to manually put in the data that you include in your customer profiles? A CRM makes this process far simpler and faster through automation, as well as making it easier for your sales and customer service teams to access this data as it is needed.

A CRM Helps You Narrow Down and Specify Your Customer Base

It’s important that you focus your business and its efforts on the right people—the ones who need your services and are a good fit for your delivery of them. A CRM can help you segment your prospects into different groups based on a variety of categories, whether it’s the industry they serve, their position in their company, or where they are located. Going further, your CRM can be used to build a profile of each prospect and client, enabling you to meet their needs more precisely than you could otherwise… at least, at the ease that the CRM provides.

A CRM Helps to Expedite Your Sales

Sales quotas are critical for any business’ success, and the CRM clearly provides the tools that make the process more efficient. As an added bonus, the CRM also works the other way in the supply chain by allowing your business to keep track of your own vendors and contacts. As a result, using a customer relationship management platform assists your sales processes as both vendor and customer.

We’re Here to Help You Make the Most of Your CRM…

…and the rest of your business’ IT, for that matter. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to put the professionals of NuTech Services to work for you.

Jul, 2022

Creating Productive Workspaces Keeps Business Comfortable

Whether you are in the office or working remotely, there are many distractions that can derail your productivity. To set yourself up for success, we recommend that you follow the tips outlined in this blog. You might be surprised by how just a few simple adjustments can make a world of difference for your productivity.

Focus On What You Can Control

Your workspace is limited in its size, and in many cases, your office constraints will work against you. Some businesses have cubicles or an open floor plan, and depending on the approach, it could be designed to help you better interact with your coworkers. You might not be able to control the office layout, but you can control your desk space.

Do you keep a clean or messy desk? More clutter means less productivity. Make sure you have a system in place to keep your desk’s organization in check.

The temperature of your office can also factor into workplace productivity. Cornell University published a study that indicates a warmer office can improve typing speed by as much as 150 percent, all while reducing the amount of errors by 44 percent. The target range should be about 71º Fahrenheit.

Finally, consider the light levels in your office. Dimmer light can improve creative work, whereas brighter workspaces can increase analytical work. Natural light should be utilized whenever possible, as it can improve productivity and employee satisfaction. If natural light isn’t an option, we recommend you take breaks to get away from your screens from time to time.

Remove Discomfort

It might be a bit of a depressing reality check, but we spend at least a quarter and up to a third of our lives at work. This can naturally take its toll on your body in ways you might not have anticipated. Productivity is directly linked to how well you feel, so you will want to keep your body and mind sharp to optimize your productivity. Let’s take a look at how you can do this, even from your office.

Get Up and Move

That’s right—it’s time to discuss desk-ercises. These will help you get your blood pumping a little bit while also stretching out your muscles. If possible, you can also take a short walk around the block or the parking lot, and take the stairs whenever possible. If you can’t break free of your desk, here are three exercises that can help to improve your comfort at work:

Neck rolls – Relax and lean your head forward and slowly rotate in a circle for 10 seconds. Repeat it by doing it in the opposite direction.
Chair squats – Stand up at your desk and just lower your body down until you almost reach your chair. Do this 10-15 times.
Wrist and finger stretch – Place both hands on your desk with your palms down and your fingers pointed toward your body, lean slightly forward and hold for five seconds.

It’s also important to exercise your brain, especially if you are responsible for several tasks throughout the day that could be mentally draining you. Here are some ways you can refocus your mind:

Meditate – The easiest way to meditate is to simply sit back in your chair, close your eyes for a couple of seconds, and focus on your breathing. Breathe in through your nose, counting to four, hold it four seconds, then breathe out to the same four-count. Hold for four seconds with no air in your lungs, then repeat.
Change it up – Making small adjustments to your daily routine can make big differences in your mindset. You can try sitting in new places to get work done, shift your priorities around, or spend some time developing your networking skills. Breaking out of the routine can be a major way to transform your workday.
Fundamental skill development – Practicing the fundamental skills of running a business can help you in your day-to-day tasks. Simple things like working on your memory, typing skills, software skills, or even communication skills, can all help shake things up a bit throughout the day.

We know that work can be stressful, but if you approach it mindfully and incorporate the above techniques, you can make for a more comfortable and productive existence. What are some of your favorite ways to make your workday more productive and enjoyable? Let us know in the comments.

Jun, 2022

Avoid Productivity Speedbumps with the Right Software

Productivity is at the heart of running a successful business, but it’s not always apparent to employees how their effort translates into value for the company. Is there a way to use technology to help fuel productivity and ensure employees understand the value that their productivity provides to your organization? The right tools can eliminate barriers to productivity and allow your employees to reach their full potential.

That said, technology can often be a big challenge for some companies to implement. On one hand, refusing to implement more advanced tools means you cannot compete with your competitors. On the other hand, the costs of running a business are higher than ever, and technology is not as easily attainable as a result, particularly for small businesses. Certain tools, however, are both affordable and feasible for businesses to implement. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Customer Relationship Management

With management software, you can eliminate the need to multitask as frequently, allowing employees to better schedule and spend their time throughout the workday. Multitasking divides the attention of your employees and causes problems in quality of work performed. Research has shown that employees work best when they can focus on one task at a time.

One tool that is great for eliminating multitasking is a customer relationship management tool, or CRM solution. CRMs come with built-in automation that allows you to track every task set to them, and they can integrate with just about all parts of your business. A CRM is great for freeing up more time for you to focus on other tasks, as they automate so much of the sales and marketing funnel.

Cloud-Hosted VoIP/Email

If you have a home phone system, chances are you are using a VoIP system that comes through your cable modem. Modern businesses must utilize the same communication technology if they want to remain competitive. VoIP systems allow businesses constant access to the tools they need to succeed, including solutions built for both desktop and smartphone use, along with other features like instant messaging and conference calling to meet the ever-changing needs of the workplace.

A great cloud-hosted email system can also be a powerful asset. With cloud-hosted email, you can provide access to a fast-syncing solution that integrates well with messaging and other productivity tools. With the right email system, you’ll find your business can be more productive and efficient, and you’ll find that most enterprise-level email providers can help you build their offerings in a cloud environment.

Mobile Device Management

The modern workforce is armed with one of the most powerful productivity tools out there: the smartphone. It’s a fact that people are going to use their smartphones, so you should do what you can to build how they use their smartphones into your business strategy. Some companies even give their employees time to use their phones for calling, messaging, and social media, while others are much more liberal in allowing the use of these devices. Others eliminate the unpredictable nature of smartphones by implementing BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device.

A comprehensive BYOD policy backed up by a mobile device management tool gives your business insights into how your employees are using their personal smartphones while on the clock. This means that you don’t have to overtly deny your employees the use of their devices, but more importantly, it means that your team will be using devices protected and reinforced by security measures.

NuTech Services can help you eliminate and move past these productivity roadblocks through the use of technology solutions. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

May, 2022

You Can Use Software to Vastly Improve Your Customer Relationships

Customer relationships are at the heart of any business that sells a service or goods, making a technology solution like a CRM a powerful way to jumpstart operations. Let’s review what some of the benefits of using a CRM are and how your organization might use one to the best of its ability.

Let’s break down the features that you want your CRM to come with.

What Features Should My CRM Platform Offer?

Workflow Automation

The more of the CRM workflow that can be automated, the better. In short, the less time you have to spend managing these processes, the more time you can dedicate to other responsibilities and initiatives. You save time, but you also save the possibility of user error from getting in the way of your processes. Faster results and greater accuracy make for an excellent combination under any circumstances.

Integrations

Similarly, if you have multiple software solutions and platforms that integrate with your CRM, you can take advantage of additional functionality that can save you a ton of time in terms of workflow. You should look for integrations like marketing automation, chat, call center, support, and web analytics; trust us when we say that these tools will pay for themselves in the long term.

Contact Management

Staying in touch with your clientele or customers is extremely important, especially when you are trying to turn prospects into actual customers. A high-quality CRM can make this as easy as can be.

Lead Management

Keeping track of leads, including contacts that your team have had with them, can be beneficial for your business. The importance of being able to turn these numbers into actionable metrics cannot be understated. A CRM gives you ways to grow your pool of prospects and it gives you an idea of which ones might be most lucrative to form a relationship with.

This only scratches the surface of what a CRM can do for your business. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Apr, 2022

Tip of the Week: 3 Things You Can Do to Boost Collaboration Effectiveness

Business is a collaborative effort, and no one individual putting in all the work will create the same results as a well-oiled group fueled by cooperative collaboration. To help your organization build this type of productive collaboration, we’ve put together three tips you can implement to maximize your team’s willingness and capabilities to work together.

Promote a Culture of Collaboration

Employees can get so preoccupied with their work that they might be unaware of what the rest of the office is caught up with. When teams are siloed and don’t know what is going on elsewhere in the business, it can be a problem in the long term. If you want to promote collaboration in the workplace, you should make sure that collaboration is not only expected, but also encouraged. Creating this culture of collaboration can be challenging, but it can lead to a higher degree of fulfillment, satisfaction, and engagement within your workforce.

Hold Regular Staff Meetings

If your staff see each other every so often, but not regularly, they might be more reluctant to collaborate. Regular staff meetings give your team members a chance to catch up with everyone else on what each department is doing and how they are all working together toward the same goals. If you give your team more opportunities to get engaged and involved in this way, you can facilitate better collaboration moving forward.

Implement Collaborative Technology Solutions

It is hard to encourage collaboration if your team doesn’t have the tools to make it happen in a remote or hybrid environment. Plus, depending on the size of your workforce, it might be hard to gather everyone in one place for a staff meeting. Software tools that allow for meetings and collaboration are more accessible now than they have ever been before. Video conferencing, instant messaging, file sharing, and more are all staples in the collaborative space, and any organization hoping to make it happen without them will be in for a rude awakening.

How does your business handle its collaborative efforts? You can take things up a notch by working with NuTech Services. We can equip your business with all of the best tools to make collaboration easy and less of a pain. To learn more about what we can do for your business, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Apr, 2022

Automation Can Remove Your Business’ Training Wheels

Automation as a concept is on the rise, and so too is its practice. Even before COVID-19 created considerable problems for several businesses, it was in use, and there is no reason for it to fall out of fashion now. There are plenty of ways your organization can implement automation to improve operations moving forward.

First, we need to define what automation is; then we can discuss how it can be utilized to your business’ benefit.

What is Automation in the First Place?

Automation is when you take the responsibility for a certain task off of an employee’s schedule and give it to a computing system to handle instead. Machines are now capable of handling certain tasks with incredible speed and efficiency, or at the very least, much faster and more efficiently than the average—or even above average—worker could hope to pull off. Thus, it actually benefits an organization to implement automation for this specific task. While this can save your business time and resources, it’s important to know if and when it is appropriate to automate tasks.

When is Automation the Right Move?

Generally speaking, the following signals could mean that implementing automated solutions for your specified tasks is the right call. Be sure to watch for the following:

Your Team is Spending a Lot of Time Moving Data Between Applications

The only thing worse than entering data once is entering it for a second or even a third time. These types of mind-numbing tasks, moving data from one location to another, can only be described as a chore. Automation can make this a thing of the past and save you countless hours. Just think of all the great things your team can accomplish with all of that saved time and effort.

The Task is Inherently Dull, or Detracts from Your Priorities

Mindless tasks are perfect to automate, as they can often take a lot of time away from your staff that could be better spent. Imagine how much time your business could save if these tasks were automated.

The Task is Endlessly Repetitive, Regular, or Both

How often do you have repetitive tasks that must be completed? If you can predict and plan the process out, you can automate that task.

We Can Help You Automate Your Business Processes

If you want to streamline your processes and make things more efficient as a whole for your business, NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Mar, 2022

Tip of the Week: How to Stay Focused at Work

It can be difficult to stay focused in the workplace, especially with a litany of distractions at our fingertips at just about any point in the workday. What are some strategies you can use to keep your distractions to a minimum? We’ve outlined three great tips you can utilize to stay focused on the tasks at hand and be more productive with your time in the office.

Don’t Ignore Distractions

Have you ever tried to ignore something that is bothering you for a long period of time? Let’s say you are trying to write an email, but people keep barging into your office with all manner of issues to address. Sure, you could allow them to keep distracting you, but it will only take you twice as long to finish that email. Instead of just resigning yourself to the distractions, it’s better to accept them and address them in an appropriate way, like closing your office door and locking it until you have finished the task at hand. The same can be said for just about any other distractions out there, like phone calls or emails. Acknowledge the distractions, then take steps to minimize them.

Focus on Being Proactive

When you are going about your responsibilities at the workplace, how often are you responding to things that other people are doing or putting out fires, so to speak? Sometimes it can be difficult to get to your own tasks if you are too busy helping people who ask you for help. Instead of going about your day in a reactive way, responding to issues that need your attention or tasks that get thrown at you last-minute, focus instead on being proactive with your time. Take measures to ensure that you can intentionally approach the tasks you have been assigned to complete or the ones that require your attention. Forgive us for making this analogy, but compare it to IT maintenance–-it’s easier and more budget-friendly to keep a computer in proper working order than to fix one that is already broken down.

Minimize Digital Distractions Whenever Possible

Technology is wonderful for helping you get your work done, but on the other side of the aisle, it can distract you from getting it done. Services like social media, near-constant notifications for emails, text messages, phone calls, and everything else under the sun can distract you from your daily tasks. You can mitigate some of these challenges by disabling notifications for non-essential apps or services, as well as simply removing the temptation to check these websites by setting up website blockers or keeping your phone out of sight.

We know how hard it can be to focus on your day-to-day responsibilities when you have so much on your plate. Distractions come in so many different forms, but you don’t have to let them completely derail your productivity. To find out how we can help you implement technology solutions designed to enhance productivity, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Feb, 2022

Learn to Get Through Distractions to Be More Productive

Productivity can be a challenging thing to measure and maintain, especially in a world full of distractions. Sometimes the distractions come from the nature of the work itself, and understanding this can become the key to overcoming them. Here are five tips you can use to overcome any workplace distractions and become more productive in the workplace.

Plan Your Route

Planning ahead can make your next workday much easier, and it doesn’t involve spending some time at home preparing for the morning after. We recommend that you take some time at the end of each workday to plan the next; you might find that you’re less likely to get distracted by the countless possibilities of the workday if you do so, and you will be more focused on the task at hand.

Put Your Phone Away

Sometimes notifications can distract you from getting work done–especially if these notifications are work-related. Sometimes the best course of action is to either silence your notifications or put your phone away so you can focus on whatever you happen to be working on at that time. More often than not, push notifications are not going to be urgent, so we recommend either limiting the notifications that pop up on your phone during work hours or just turning them off altogether. After all, if something is truly urgent, you can expect to be contacted in a different way than a text message or an email, right?

Don’t Overpromise

A deadline can make all the difference in productivity (depending on the individual), but there are often cases where people might overpromise on something they can’t simply deliver on. Even if these deadlines can be met, the work involved might suffer, so it’s best to give yourself some leeway so that these types of problems don’t surface in the first place.

Set Smaller Goals

Small goals are not just easier to accomplish; they also provide you with the appropriate forward momentum to stay positive about work throughout the day. Large tasks can be broken up into smaller chunks to make them less intimidating and more manageable, too.

Reward Yourself

If you can make work satisfying for yourself, then you can make it more productive. One way you can do this is by giving yourself rewards for accomplishing tasks, like a short break or something sweet to eat. If you want to be both satisfied and productive, taking a step back when necessary to appreciate yourself and the hard work you invest can be helpful.

What are some tips you have to stay productive in the workplace? Be sure to share them with us in the comments.

Dec, 2021

Avoiding Network Bottlenecks Can Help Your Business Be More Productive

As time passes and your business accomplishes great things, you might find yourself in positions where your network cannot handle its normal everyday workload. When there is so much network traffic and data transference, it can be difficult to identify where and why this slowdown occurs. What is a network bottleneck, and how can you resolve this issue?

Look at the design of a bottle with its rounded top and the neck of the bottle growing more narrow as you approach the top. The design is meant to help limit the amount of fluid passing through it, allowing you to drink the contents without the rest of it spilling out. Too quickly.

Here’s another analogy using a two-lane highway on a busy day. Both lanes are filled with cars heading toward the same destination, but only one of the lanes is functioning correctly. Maybe there is a pothole in one lane or there is construction going on. If the traffic is restricted to one lane, then the same amount of traffic designed for two lanes will reach their destinations much more slowly.

A network bottleneck works in the same way; the flow of network traffic is restricted by the design or limitations of the container, in this case the network itself. The flow of data throughout your network is governed by the bandwidth and capabilities of your hardware. If the network is trying to transfer more data than it is designed to, a bottleneck can occur and slow everything down. Here are some of the hardware reasons why a network bottleneck might surface.

CPUs
Graphical processing units
RAM shortages

Bottlenecks can create significant problems for network efficiency, especially for productivity. Without the right amount of resources to transport data, the network might experience significant slowdown that keeps it from performing its tasks. Everyday tasks might take much longer to pull off, preventing your organization from sticking to a budget or keeping it from getting things done in general. In fact, sometimes tasks might get skipped over simply because it is too inconvenient to get them done.

Depending on the design of your network, your bottlenecks might have existed from your network’s conception, and they have only surfaced recently due to increases in traffic or unforeseen circumstances. You need to actively look for network bottlenecks so that they don’t take you by surprise or linger longer than they have to. With our help, you can identify these issues and address them accordingly.

NuTech Services can help to monitor network traffic for bottlenecks and other problems. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Dec, 2021

Considering the Optimal IT Experience

As cliche as it sounds, one of the best ways to create a more positive workplace is to simply put more positivity into it. Let’s exercise this for a moment by setting the often-talked-about worst-case scenario to the side, and focus on what the optimal experience could be with the right technology management in place.

Let’s set the scene: it’s the Monday after a nice weekend. You’re feeling chipper and motivated to get down to business, and your computer responds in kind as you log in. Rather than chugging along through the login process, you’re looking at your desktop in a matter of moments. A quick password and multi-factor authentication code later, and the programs you’ll need are up and ready to go.

First thing’s first, you check your email. While the email inboxes of many business workers can quickly become swamped, particularly after a weekend or a day off, your inbox is divided up and sorted automatically, giving you a clear view of your priorities in the short and long-term.

Once your email’s been reviewed and responded to as appropriate, you pull up the applications you need to check off the items on your itinerary. The comprehensive toolset that your productivity suite provides gives you the ability to fulfill it all with minimal added effort. With the up-to-date and patched version of each program ready for you, you have everything you need to do your job right there and working.

Whoops… maybe you spoke too soon. Your workstation’s monitor is starting to flicker. Fortunately, help is just a quick call or email to your outsourced managed service provider’s help desk away. A quick diagnostic scan later, and it’s confirmed to be a hardware issue. No worries, though—the MSP is on it, either sending a tech out there with a replacement or working with your internal IT department to get the problematic piece of hardware switched out.

As a result, your issue is resolved that much faster, allowing you to get everything you need to do done.

Of course, not every issue will be resolved so smoothly. To expect differently is simply unrealistic, but the fact remains that managed services can make a lot of troublesome issues far less so for your business and employees. Efficiency and productivity are thereby elevated, simply because functioning technology makes it easier to focus on your goals, not on the worry that your tools will fail you.

We’re in the business of ensuring that businesses have the IT they need and that it works for them. To find out what we can do for you, give us a call at 810.230.9455 today.

Nov, 2021

What are the Pros and Cons of a “Workation?”

Remote work has become more legitimate than ever before to the point that people can now work effectively anywhere and not just their homes. This brings up an interesting question, however, as this trend means that one could effectively work while they’re on a vacation.

Let’s examine this trend of the “workation.”

What is a Workation?

While a working vacation is by no means a new concept, the surge in remote work’s popularity has resulted in a similar surge in the concept of simply working remotely from a vacation destination. For instance, someone who works remotely could do so while at a beachside resort rather than in their home. As its name suggests, it’s a hybrid of the concepts of working and vacationing: a person can still accomplish their work-related tasks while also gaining many of the benefits that a vacation brings.

To be frank, a workation is a break from your typical workspace, not from work itself. It’s also not a replacement for actual time off, but it can be pretty nice to change the scenery every so often.

The benefits of a workation are pretty straightforward:

By allowing the employee to engage in recreational activities when they aren’t working, they are able to be more relaxed when they are. Even the change in environment can have a positive impact on overall productivity.
Offering the capability to partake in a workation can be a significant draw for new employees.
A workation can also expand on the perspective that an employee has, not only refreshing them and their productivity but giving them new ideas to implement.

Having said that, there are a few drawbacks to the concept. For instance, there can often be delays in communication when people are working remotely—especially when they are on a vacation. Plus, the workation itself can create more challenges in terms of lining up schedules and effectively collaborating.

While the choice of whether or not to enact workations into your policies is your decision, we wanted to give you a few tips to help make these workations (or any remote work, for that matter) as effective as possible.

How to Ensure That Your Workation is Secure

Regardless of where this workation is taking place, your business’ security needs to be held in the utmost importance. That’s why we recommend a few basics you should implement for your benefit:

Use a VPN – You want to ensure that your business’ communications remain secure, regardless of where your team members are working from. A virtual private network can help you accomplish as much.
Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication – Multi-Factor Authentication (or MFA) is a great way to double-down on the protections that are afforded to you by your typical username-password authentication.
Educate Your Team – Your team members will be your biggest vulnerability against cyberthreats, unless you train them to be an asset. Making sure they know how to spot threats, and how they should react when they do, will be crucial to preventing issues from arising… particularly while working remotely.

So, what’s your take on the workation? As a business owner, have you ever tried switching up the scenery while still getting work done? We can help you do so. To learn more, give us a call at 810.230.9455 today.

Nov, 2021

It’s Possible to Change Your Bad Habits. Today, We Explain

Have you ever wondered how it is that people can build up bad habits over time, yet break them and establish better ones? Have you also noticed how difficult it can be to break habits that have been ingrained into the very fibers of our being over an extended period of time? Believe it or not, people can change, and the science behind it—neuroplasticity—can provide some valuable insights into how to make it happen.

Neuroplasticity is an umbrella term which refers to the brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to various stimuli. This is not a simple reframing of mindset or something of the sort—this is physical, neural change which occurs in the brain. Such is the power of our experiences; they literally shape the way we see the world, view opportunities, and adapt to change. The neural networks within the brain actively rewire themselves in response to what you experience throughout life.

The idea of a growth mindset is grounded in the concept of neuroplasticity, that things are not as set-in-stone as you might think. Dr. Carol Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, speaks of the concept of a growth mindset in her TED Talk on the topic, making the case for how such a mindset shift is critical for today’s youth in learning environments.

In essence, Dweck claims that the growth mindset levels the playing field and makes knowledge infinitely more accessible. This concept of “not yet” versus “not good enough” or “failure” is incredibly empowering, as it implies a trajectory for growth rather than the static trajectory implied by the fixed mindset, where your skills remain the same and you have to simply learn to deal with your shortcomings.

You can see how this mindset shift can impact business operations as well as personal habit-building or learning. By simply saying “not yet,” you suddenly have a goal and a means to meet that goal. With an action plan in place, you can move forward with purpose, which is better than saying “I can’t do this” or “I’m not good enough.”

The thing about neuroplasticity that you must keep in mind is that the brain cannot rewrite habits and restructure tendencies overnight—this is a gradual process that can take place over a long span of time. Therefore, if you truly mean to use the concept of neuroplasticity to change the way you look at various parts of your life or business model, it is going to take time. You must be patient to see real change occur.

As for immediate change, we might recommend that you implement technology solutions designed to enhance productivity. You might find that your shifted mindset will allow you to leverage your new and improved technology in the most meaningful way. NuTech Services can help with the acquisition of new technology, from conception to reality and beyond. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Oct, 2021

5 Useful Technology Tips Your Business Should Consider

In order to get the most value out of your business technology, it’s important to understand best practices and how they can figure into your business operations. Let’s examine some of the most effective practices that you should include in your day-to-day operations and how they can benefit your organization.

Emphasize Security

Security should be a top priority for your company. Considering the fact that you can rarely turn on the news without seeing headlines of some major cybersecurity breach, you simply cannot underestimate hackers. Hackers consider data to be incredibly valuable, so you should treat it with the same value by protecting it as best you can. Plus, hackers who want to steal your data can do so from anywhere in the world under the right circumstances.

Your company absolutely needs to have sufficient IT protections in place to keep threats away, and your team should also be security-minded if you want to have any hopes of challenging these hackers. This is especially important as the world moves forward with remote and hybrid workplace policies.

Adopt Cloud Computing

Cloud-based options further augment your organization’s ability to handle remote work. Cloud-based options give you the ability to access data, solutions to process and utilize it, collaboration tools to stay in touch while out of the office, and so much more. The cloud can even help with business continuity through the use of cloud-based backups. There is no shortage of benefits to using the cloud in everyday business.

You would think that these options would cost a premium, but you can take advantage of the cloud with little-to-no maintenance needs for a small monthly fee that is easy to fit in any budget.

Automate What You Can

In terms of productivity, nothing helps more than automating specific processes so that they can occur more quickly and more accurately. Automation gives your business the ability to take many traditionally rote responsibilities and remove the human resource aspect of them, replacing them with computing resources.

Unfortunately, the term “automation” is often associated with downsizing and replacing workers with machines. We urge you to shift your mindset and instead consider it as an opportunity to free valuable human resources for other, more valuable tasks. In other words, you are using non-human resources to give people more opportunities to flourish within your organization.

Communicate

Whether you are streaming a video online or using your business’ Voice over IP phone system, your organization is using bandwidth, meaning that this resource will be incredibly valuable for you as you move forward. That said, bandwidth-demanding communication applications are notorious for eating up too much unless you take action to stop them from doing so. You must work with an IT provider like NuTech Services to ensure that your business’ bandwidth needs are being met.

Don’t Sacrifice Quality for Costs’ Sake

The most important takeaway for this blog is the following: make sure you get value out of your technology investments. This does not mean sacrificing quality for the sake of cutting costs. What we’re trying to say is that IT can be expensive, so you want to make sure that any new investments in hardware or other external resources will yield a return on your investment. Instead of cutting costs and settling for less-than-stellar resources, choose to identify inefficiencies and redundancies that can be addressed through implementation of new IT resources.

You can rest assured that NuTech Services is the best value out there for your business’s IT needs. To learn more about what we can do to help your business establish the above best practices, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.