The following are simple ways you could use gadgets to improve your productivity at work:
1. Online Faxing
In the old times, you used to keep a bulky fax machine in your office that needed a dedicated phone line. To send a fax, you place the documents along with the cover sheet in the feeder tray, dial the recipient’s fax number, and then press the ‘send’ or ‘fax’ button. It would take a while for the device to scan each page before printing out a confirmation report. To receive a fax, you have to wait for the machine to finish printing each page. Traditional faxing is a tedious and time-consuming process. Thankfully, you can now ditch the fax machine and use your smartphone to scan documents, attach a digital signature, and send them digitally. The fax machine as we know it has been replaced by online fax services such as that offered by eFax.com. Since online faxing has made the process easier, faster, and more convenient, you can devote more time to crucial tasks, improving your work performance.
2. Speech Recognition Apps
Sometimes the work environment is too hectic, and your creative ideas flow faster than you can type or write them down. At other times, you can be too preoccupied to find the time to sit and type out a document. Well, that’s where speech recognition could come in handy. Technology has paved the way for significant improvements in speech recognition accuracy. Using speech recognition applications, you can record your words in a fraction of the time it takes to type them out. This not only saves time, but it could also make your job a lot easier and more efficient. Speech recognition also has the advantage of helping you multitask, therefore making you more productive at work.
3. Noise-Cancelling Headphones
The workplace is hardly ever really quiet. Typically, there are noises from chatting colleagues, the photocopier, music, and other distractions that could make your focus on work somewhat challenging. And, with the new normal brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, you could find yourself working from home. Working from home may have its unique disturbances. Nonetheless, to help you get in the zone, you could invest in gadgets like noise-canceling headphones. These gadgets help improve your work performance by shutting out any noise disturbance, enabling you to reach the optimal level of focus and total engagement.
4. Wireless File Transfer
One thing that can be frustrating and waste a lot of time at work is file sharing. If you have a poor internet connection, sending large files could be an unnecessary headache. Of course, you could use an external hard drive, but that would require you to walk over to your colleague’s workstation to do the file transfer. Thankfully, modern gadgets can now send files wirelessly, even without an internet connection. And most importantly you can also track the data being consumed effortlessly using a data transfer calculator to efficiently manage data. What’s more, some apps allow you to send personal contact details and notes to your colleagues with just a few clicks. This improves your efficiency, saves time, and enables you to interact more freely with your team members.
5. Digital Calendar
Instead of relying on your personal assistant or secretary to remind you of the things you need to do, you could invest in a bit of gadgetry. You can use a digital calendar like an alarm to wake you up in the morning. Aside from that, it can boost your productivity in the following ways:
Help you schedule your tasksKeep track of what needs to be doneFacilitate collaboration when you share your calendar with colleaguesRemind you of meetings and appointments
6. Digital Assistant
You might want to invest in a digital assistant. This comes in many forms, including smartphone applications. A digital assistant can obey simple commands like ordering food and making calls. It also allows you to focus on important things while taking care of mundane tasks that would otherwise distract you from your core business.
7. Portable Battery Charger
The smartphone has taken center stage for most working professionals. Because you need your smartphone to communicate all day and use work-related apps, chances are your battery will run out when you least expect it. To avoid this inconvenience and ensure peak performance at work, you could invest in a portable battery charger.
Conclusion
In this fast-paced digital environment, you can’t afford to slacken at work. You have to keep improving your performance and that of your team. And with the recent advancements in technology, enhancing work performance is made easy. You just need to find the gadgets or software ideal for your work environment and needs.
