As a business owner, it’s normal to worry that employees’ cellphone use might create a lag in productivity. However, by incorporating smartphone use into a business model, your employees’ handhelds turn into traveling management desktops.
Give your office on-the-go power. Here are a few ways to turn your employees’ cellphones into productivity platforms instead of distraction drainers:
The Word Processor App
For the businessman or businesswoman who frequently travels, you probably access word processing documents and spreadsheets from a laptop. As such, you probably know that hauling a laptop around becomes increasingly cumbersome when frequently packed, unpacked, opened, and closed. Luckily, numerous word processors allow easier access, creation, and editing of documents while in-transit.
With an Office 365 subscription, cloud storage support comes in tow that links to the Office Mobile app for viewing documents on an Apple or Android smartphone that were saved to an office desktop. Workers that take work home occasionally or travel often benefit from the ability to not only edit documents, but to save changes and create new documents from any location. All images, charts, and formatting from the original also show on the smartphone app. Other popular word processor apps include Evernote, the perfect solution to sticky-note over-infestation, and Google’s Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Photographic Documentation
Smartphones continue to prioritize camera quality with each redesign and update. Simple as it may seem, mobile cameras help both employees and clients better communicate and convey information. Photographs from a phone provide instant documentation and authority. For example, insurance companies greatly benefit from cameras to demonstrate the extent of injury or damage, as in auto accidents.
Plus, business owners find smartphone cameras, connected with social media platforms like Instagram, help boost product knowledge without compromising a professional appearance. No need to hire a professional photographer for every social media post; affordable smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S5, for instance, have a 16MP camera and quality filters that produce a solid image every time.
Furthermore, apps exist that convert smartphone photographs into PDFs. CamScanner, for instance, automatically straightens, corrects, and clarifies photographs for PDF conversion. Especially convenient, the app offers text recognition software, ensuring that any PDF created via phone meets proper sharing qualification, and that you can search the document easily for quicker navigation. With CamScanner, you can add notes, edits, and annotations wherever necessary. Best of all, the app automatically shifts any PDFs created to the cloud for 100 percent coverage and back-up.
Back-up Modem Capabilities
Internet connectivity does not follow the rules. You need it; you want it, yet, it fails you. But when Wi-Fi disconnects, smartphones can keep the office running at full capacity. Setting up your smartphone as a tethering hotspot proves quite simple. First, make sure your software is up-to-date. Then, find the wireless and networks heading under Settings and select “Set-up Wi-Fi hotspot,” or some equivalent under the ‘More’ subsection. When enabling the hotspot, make sure all employees secure their networks with a password. Either wirelessly tether over Bluetooth or through a USB to connect to desktops. Then, employees don’t miss a beat, and clients won’t see you sweat.
Manage Business Connections
Social media powers business connections. Sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook help businesses connect to potential, new, and long-standing clients or customers. Skype and Elance also help eliminate communication gaps. Any communications specialist benefits from having these sites’ apps on his or her smartphone. If you’re working on your phone, you can network and keep business profiles fresh and updated during the crucial pre- and post- 9a.m to 5p.m. work period.
Virtual Assistance
Mobile virtual assistants available via Apple or Android software respond to R commands to instantly answer any questions without wasting time surfing the internet or scrolling through calendars and appointments. In addition, virtual assistants help eliminate errors in mobile conducted correspondence. With a simple command, the assistant dictates any email or text message.
Next time you plan a profit and productivity meeting, consider incorporating smartphone education. Instead of feeling cut off from the mobile world in the workplace, your employees will stay connected with your goals both in the office and out.
