Technology Tools For Your Business

Work smarter rather than harder – and have fun doing it! Make it a point to incorporate technology that can help you and your design team be more productive in all areas of your business. You will find that there are programs out there that save you time (hence, money) while also creating a more professional system to operate your business.

First is Asana, offering an effective way your design teams can track their work while also getting results. Build a Gantt chart (a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule) easily and quickly, monitor the progress and status of significant initiatives, and see how much work your team members have across the projects.

Asana offers solutions both for teams and workflow. Plan and track marketing campaigns, create more clarity, and more easily achieve big goals. As far as workflow, Asana allows you to plan, track, and manage team projects from beginning to end as well as create custom processes that best fit your needs. Build team calendars to track the work needed to be done and manage the schedules. Asana can also help you and your team be more deliberate about how you manage your time – a common challenge for many designers.

Another program to seriously consider is Slack. You will find advantages listed as cutting email in half and a great team communication app – but it is so much more! It can act as a center for your firm’s internal communications, allowing you to integrate instant message, screen sharing, to-do lists, reminders, social media updates, file sharing, and on and on.

Beyond all of these advantages, it has grown so quickly in popularity because it is intuitive and easy for all to learn — and because it is just fun! In fact, that comment is often included when people talk about using Slack.

The creators list 3 reasons it’s so successful. It looks different with its vibrant colors, friendly icons, and emojis throughout. It also feels different. Just as designers create beautiful, inviting spaces, Slack’s creators state like a well-designed home, “great software focuses on giving its users hundreds of small satisfying interactions. And finally, it sounds different. Every piece of copy is popping with an injection of playfulness in quotes they use rather than a boring chat tool.

Then of course you need to be sure you are using the most effective, designer-friendly accounting software for your business. There are a number of choices available to evaluate what you are using to be sure it offers you the best value beyond just accounting management. Make a list of all that it offers your business – for example, if it does not also provide interior design project management, inventory management, project sharing, etc. you might want to update your accounting software to one that does offer more features to save time and improve your efficiency. Remember, if your firm is run more effectively and efficiently then you also provide more value to your clients.

Remember that embracing technology will not only improve your firm’s efficiency but will also enhance your client’s experience.

Read another article about small business trends and technology, What Small Business Owners Should Be Thankful For.