Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Leverage Technology to Make your Work Life Easier

Whether or not you’re a Type A personality (like me) navigating this less-than-predictable pandemic, you have most likely experienced the desire to exert control over even the most minute aspects of your life last year. For those of us whose home life and work-life unexpectedly collided, it was easy to feel overwhelmed with the massive changes.

However, we faced those challenges head-on. We developed new coping skills to manage school at home. We threw together ‘cloffices’ (office in a closet) and learned how to Zoom like a boss. And while we may be starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, we must forge ahead. It’s time to embrace our newfound tenacity and see where else these capabilities can take us.

Here at Atrómitos, we decided 2021 was the year to Work Smarter Not Harder.

This goal was in no small part predicated by the fact that we have experienced significant growth both on our team and with new partners (clients) over the past year and that we project a continuation of this upward trajectory in 2021. All great news, to be sure, but we knew that we also needed to step up our internal processes if we were going to successfully manage this growth. So, we set out to identify how we could leverage technology to improve our operations.

Like most small businesses, Atrómitos does not have a vault of cash to dip into, so we engaged in a deliberate and thoughtful approach to identifying technology platforms that would not just make our lives easier, but that also made financial sense. And before you stop reading because your 2021 budget is set for the year… the great news is that for every costly, brand name app out there, there are three others that can do it cheaper and may even offer a free, skinnied-down version that can better suit your needs.

So, in the hopes that our experience may help your organization (start-up, small business, nonprofit) to work smarter and not harder, we have penned this article as a “how-to” guide with six simple steps for success!

1. Assess your pain points and prioritize them.

There is a myriad of applications and software that tout their ability to improve your work life, but only you and your team really know what your organization needs. Therefore, your process should start with an internal assessment of your pain points. What is really keeping you up at night? What processes are you performing manually? What are the greatest risks to your organization? For the Atrómitos team, we decided that we needed to find a way to improve our internal communications, stop conducting our accounting manually on excel spreadsheets, and build stronger human resources practices.

The assessment can be done formally through a capacity assessment or informally via a staff meeting or team survey. We used the free CNCS Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool for partner projects as it provides a practical method of organizational self-assessment that can be used to acknowledge strengths, clarify different perceptions, and plan strategies to enhance capacity in identified areas.

Regardless of the tool, we always encourage assessments to leverage a collaborative approach, as you will have better buy-in from staff upon the implementation of solutions. Ultimately, you’ll also identify those operational areas that are creating the most significant challenges for your team, which may even include a few issues of which management is not intimately aware.

Additionally, it is critical that in this process you dig deep to understand what your “must-haves” are versus your “nice-to-haves.” For example, do you need an accounting system that performs simple tasks like tracking income and expenses, or do you also need more sophisticated inventory tracking capabilities? We will talk more about this in the next step of our process.

While our “issues” list was longer than the three I have identified above, as experts in organizational management, we know that change is hard and, sometimes (most times), change needs to be implemented in manageable bites or phases. Therefore, after identifying all our pain points, we prioritized our needs to identify those areas that we would tackle first and those that would be addressed in a later phase. This enabled us to establish a balance that would ensure we leveraged each new technology to its maximum potential before incorporating another new process/application.

2. Research, research, and then research.

This will be the most time-consuming step of the process and the most important. During this phase, you will be combing through a lot of information including a great deal of marketing propaganda. So, you should go into the process with your list of “must-haves” so that you can keep your eyes on the prize. You would never walk into a car dealership without knowing what you need! Apply that same logic to your search for new technologies.

In some cases, the individual conducting the research may not be an expert in the operational area that is the focus of the research. That’s ok—don’t let that scare you off, just be prepared. This is why it is so important to identify your needs as specifically as possible upfront in the assessment phase with the support of your full team.

Here is how I went about organizing and conducting the research with the goal of arming myself and leadership with information specific to our needs as an organization. Each step was taken to further narrow the list of possible options while keeping at top of mind our “must-haves” and the associated cost.

USER EXPERIENCE/EXPERT RATINGS

If you aren’t sure where to start, I can tell you that a Google search for customer relationship management (CRM) systems, for example, can return a massive list of apps with little differentiation. None of us have time for that.

I quickly learned that, as a novice in CRMs, I needed a little expert guidance. Here is where your team can come in handy. As part of that assessment in Step 1, don’t forget to ask the all-important question: Have you used any systems in past jobs? Before I began the research phase, I sent out a survey to get feedback from our team on applications they had experience with and we asked for the good, the bad, and the ugly. No sense in wasting your time if someone can shorten your list before you get started!

I then looked to experts in the business field, using comparison sites like Capterra, the blueprint, and FinancesOnline. Often you can find ratings and comparisons that are specifically geared to the size of your organization because, let’s face it, small teams like Atrómitos don’t have the same needs (nor pocketbook) as a Fortune 500 company. Use these experts to understand the general capabilities of the applications and develop your initial list of five to seven vendors.

CAPABILITIES

Once you have selected five to seven possible vendors, let your “must-haves” list guide you as you review each vendor’s website. Create a spreadsheet that will allow you to do a quick assessment of each application to ensure it meets your “must-haves.” Many applications today have a primary function, whether it be e-signatures, accounting, timekeeping, invoicing, project management, etc. But in addition, you will find that, like many businesses, these applications have expanded and added on new service lines which may be nice to have. Keep track of those as well (because you may wish to expand your capabilities in the future) but don’t let them blind you from your original task. Remember to also keep track of your questions during this phase of the process as these will be important to get answers to during the upcoming demo phase.

PRICING TIERS

This is where you can really start to narrow down your list. Pricing tiers for most software are based on an additive set of capabilities and the number of licenses you need (how many people will need unique access). Often the entry-level pricing is for a single license and comes at a reduced cost so you can get a good deal if you only require a single license. You should know upfront whether you plan to have a single person manage the use of this app or if you will roll it out to your whole team. With several of Atrómitos’ software acquisitions, we have opted to start with a single license and use this initial experience to ensure we have made the right choice before further rolling out access. In other cases, a free trial can be enough to convince you to go full speed ahead.

Pricing levels are often presented in a side-by-side comparison with a clear distinction as to which capabilities are available with each level. You will be able to make determinations using your list of “must-haves” and comparing costs by vendor. In most cases, you will not need the highest or even the second-highest level options available as are generally designed for large companies that require extensive features and many licenses. And in most cases, application vendors will allow you to upgrade your license at any time. So, start off with the tier that gives you what you need, as you can always add more bells and whistles later once you have implemented the application and have ensured it meets your needs. 

In some cases, it can be difficult (at this stage) to fully assess which capabilities are available at each level. While a side-by-side comparison often accompanies the pricing levels, many descriptions of capabilities by task are lacking in detail. For example, reports may be a capability offered at all levels with the Basic Package providing “general” reports and the Essential Package providing “enhanced” reports. This is where it is critical to make your notes and develop a set of questions that will enable you to get granular about what you will receive at each level.

Take note of any discounts that may be available for purchasing an annual license as opposed to paying month-to-month. In some cases, this can mean as much as 10-20% in annual savings. However, when you budget for future years, be sure to account for the fact that these savings are often only good for the first year of your license.

INTEGRATIONS

Even if you are only considering acquiring a single software application, it is important to be strategic and think about future needs and capabilities. That means assessing how well the vendors you are considering have integrated their software capabilities with other platforms.

For instance, Atrómitos uses Box as our document management system and Slack as our primary internal communication platform. These companies have developed integrations that enable us to chat about a project in Slack and seamlessly access our Box files to share documents with our team members. This capability has significantly streamlined our communications.

Similarly, our accounting software has the capability to directly connect with our payroll application to reduce the risk of errors that occur with having to make entries in multiple systems.

PRIVACY & SECURITY

It is important to consider what data you will be sharing and ensure that it will be safe with the host entity through your use of their application. This ranges from the basic contact information of your employees and clients to any protected health information you may input or store within the application. You will need to conduct a more extensive review once you have selected a vendor but at this stage, it is important to review any publicly posted privacy and security policies the vendor has available. You can also conduct a cursory Google search to identify whether there have been any recent data breaches associated with the organization. As with earlier steps in this process, prepare questions on these topics if you find the publicly available information does not meet your needs.

3. Free trials and demos are a must.

Here is where you get your questions answered and confirm your understanding of how the application works in real-time. Ideally, your research has helped you create a shortlist of 2-3 viable vendors and after this stage, you will be able to make a recommendation for the best solution for your organization.

While you may have watched some recorded demos available online, it is critical that you request a live demo. Remember: Those recorded demos are marketing material and often show off the best features of the application which may not be available in the tier that you are looking to purchase. So get a sales representative on the phone and walk through your needs and confirm they will be met in the plan you have identified as the best fit. Additionally, many vendors offer a 30-day free trial if you are willing to provide your basic contact information. This is where you can ensure the application is user-friendly and works within your current day-to-day processes.

If you are not going to be the primary user of the application, this is where you need to engage those members of your team who will be the end-user. Do not let this opportunity pass you by, a little time testing options upfront will save you the headache later when you must end a contract because an application doesn’t work as expected.

4. Document your recommendations and decisions.

You will have a lot of information gathered after you make your way through this process. A well-organized brief that lays out your process and the criteria that led to your recommendation will ensure that leadership and other key members of your organization can get up to speed and make an informed decision. This should include an explanation of features that you think have the potential to be useful to the organization as it grows but may not be necessary to include in the initial purchase of the license.

5. Train and develop guidance prior to implementation.

Once the decision has been made and the license purchased, it is time to plan how you are going to roll out access. While the excitement might be difficult to contain and you want to get the life-changing technology into the hands of those who will benefit from it, it is important to ensure that your team understands the intended and expected uses of the application. A premature rollout can lead to challenges that may ultimately inhibit engagement and buy-in. So, take the time to learn the tool, properly train your team, and develop the supporting policies and procedures that will facilitate compliance with organizational expectations.

6. Go Live!!!

If you are like me, you love to adopt new technology that allows you to work smarter not harder. But I know that may not be everyone’s perspective. Learning new ways of doing things can take more time and effort before they become routine and more efficient, so consider how you can make go-live fun and rewarding for your team. Whether it be a simple thank you email from leadership recognizing those who submitted their timesheets on time in the new timekeeping application or gifting a small Starbucks gift card to the individual who had the most activity in your new document management system in the first week. Recognition of such efforts is the key to continued use and quicker adoption.

We’re all about sharing best practices and processes for working smarter and not harder because let’s face it, we can appreciate a little extra bandwidth these days. Do you have any other tips or tricks for working smarter that you would add to this list? We would love to hear them! Or if you could use some help implementing a system change at your organization, reach out to us today.