Check Out These Four Must-Have Office Automations

An incredible amount of progress has been made thanks to technology in just the past couple of decades. Workspaces are constantly in shift, with both employees and employers feeling the effects. Some of these changes are positive, while others are negative – but all are affecting how we do business.

Office spaces are increasingly under pressure to automate and improve overall efficiency. This pressure can sometimes be too much to handle, especially when it affects the bottom line. In keeping with the times, here are four must-have office automation solutions that any workspace should consider implementing or adopting pronto.

Enterprise Resource Planning

The more your office can be integrated and automated, the more efficient most processes and tasks become. One hot new way to bring the office closer together is through the use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Not only does ERP help automate a variety of office-related tasks, but it also connects departments, devices and processes more seamlessly to ensure faster completion and better organization.

Some of the best ERP implementations have helped boost office productivity by as much as 50 percent. For any office space that dreams of getting more done with less, it’s difficult to justify ignoring this critical automation system.

Visitor Management Systems

When people come to your office, how are they greeted? Did the receptionist know they were planning on coming? How do your visitors disrupt (or enable) day-to-day office work?

Visitor management systems are automated solutions that can help filter through the disruptions of people showing up to your office. Not only can  VMS help schedule visitors in advance and assist them in finding the right person in-office, but similar systems can also be used to coordinate when each employee arrives or leave every day. Many businesses have eliminated their traditional receptionist positions altogether with VMS solutions.

Energy Efficient Heating and Cooling

Anybody who has worked in an office for a while understands that office politics surrounding the thermostat is a real thing. Some people are too hot, while others are too cold. Heating and cooling is one of the biggest recurring expenditures tied directly to the office space itself. Moving toward a more efficient solution is key.

An increasing number of offices have installed climate-controlled, automated systems that balance both cold and warmth to produce more efficient work environments. Some systems even allow for personal customizations at each employee’s desk, helping to reduce discomfort and improve productivity.

Shared Document Systems

Spreadsheets, presentations and conference call summaries: these are just a few of the many items businesses and offices have to keep track of on a daily basis. Any office wanting to pursue efficient automation should highly consider the use of shared document systems – many of which are free.

Examples include Evernote and Google Drive, both of which allow for the seamless sharing of documents, easy storage, specific permissions/access options, and real-time editing which can be accessed from anywhere. Any changes are automatically synced and available to anybody with permissions to view them. There really isn’t any excuse to have offline documents at this point, especially when they need to be shared throughout the office.

With literally hundreds of potential automation ideas and optimizations to be made around the office, it’s hard to know where to begin. Bit by bit, you can make changes to the office environment that’ll be minimally disruptive and still provide improvements. These four automation ideas are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s possible.

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