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Office 365

February 18, 2021

Power BI helps you make better business decisions

People have always been intrigued by what the future holds. But while seers use crystal balls and tarot cards to get a glimpse of what’s to come, business leaders shouldn’t have to base their business forecasts on pseudoscience. Instead, they should use a scientific tool that collects and analyzes data to do reliable predictive forecasting, such as Microsoft’s Power BI.

Power BI is a separate Microsoft product on its own, but if you have a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 subscription, then you can avail of Power BI for Microsoft 365. Both versions use a variety of statistical techniques, such as modeling and data mining, to analyze current and previous information to make accurate predictions. Power BI also provides users with the ability to generate reports, interactive charts, and 3D visualizations of business performance.

What’s more, Power BI’s built-in predictive forecasting models can automatically detect data seasonality, allowing users to immediately see the annual, regular, and predictable changes in data. It also enables users to see how results are affected by certain parameters. All they have to do is set parameters such as the time or the confidence interval according to their preferred configuration, and the software will analyze data accordingly. Simply put, users can perform advanced forecasting without the complexity that usually accompanies these kinds of processes.

Power BI’s predictive forecasting can also help fill in gaps with data. Power View, an interactive data exploration and presentation tool, fills in missing values from a data set before carrying out a forecast for a more accurate result.

Get started with Power BI for Microsoft 365 predictive forecasting by doing the following:

  1. Upload a workbook with a Power View time series line chart to Power BI for Microsoft 365.
  2. Open the file in Power BI.
  3. Click on the forecast arrow or drag the forecast dot in the line chart to make the forecasting parameters appear in the Analytics pane at the right of your report. To get your desired forecast or projection, configure the following parameters:
    • Forecast length – This lets you look as far into the future as you wish, be it in days, months, or years.
    • Confidence interval – This parameter allows you to indicate the probability of how close predicted values will be to the actual numbers. For instance, you can set the parameter at 80% to be certain that next year’s actual sales figures will be 80% within the range of your forecast. The higher the confidence interval, the closer the prediction is to the actual results.
    • Ignore last – Outliers in data sets can distort averages and forecasts. For instance, you want to look into sales for the past 12 months, but you know that the data of every month goes through adjustments before being locked in. With this parameter, you can take out data from the most recent month if the numbers haven’t been adjusted yet.
    • Seasonality – A data set is said to exhibit seasonality when a pattern can be discerned from the data values over cycles of time. If you anticipate seasonality in a particular workbook, you can specify the pattern to occur monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

Predictive forecasting, if used properly, can immensely help with the overall strategic planning, market penetration, and operations of your business.

Looking to learn more about Microsoft 365 and its features? Call Net Activity today for a chat.

By admin
January 18, 2021

Big Changes Coming To Microsoft Outlook In Coming Years

Microsoft has been moving toward a unified “single version” of Outlook that would offer a seamless user experience across all platforms and devices. Unfortunately, thus far, that objective has remained elusive.

In late 2020, however, the company announced “Project Monarch” which seeks to create a new email/calendar client that will finally accomplish the company’s long-stated goal.

Their goal is providing the same look, feel and functionality, no matter what type of device you log in from, and regardless of the OS that device runs on.

The company has provided a mock-up of the “One Outlook” dashboard on the Project Monarch blog. However, based on the information we’ve been able to glean about the initiative thus far, it’s unlikely that Windows 10 users will be able to see it in action until mid to late 2022. Having said that, Windows Insiders will likely get an early preview of the client toward the end of 2021, but this preview won’t replace the mail and calendar apps in Windows 10 right away.

Even though the finished product appears to be quite some distance out, this is big news and welcome indeed. Although far from perfect, Outlook is a wildly popular email platform with legions of users. Creating a unified user experience is a very big deal, because increasingly, consumers use a wide range of devices that are often powered by different OS’s. It’s not at all uncommon for a user to have a Windows-based PC, an Android-based smartphone, and a MacOS-based laptop they use at home and on the weekends. Being able to have the same user experience across all of those devices is invaluable.

Kudos to Microsoft for finally putting some teeth into the idea, and for providing a road map and a time frame for when we’ll finally see “One Outlook.”

By admin
October 21, 2020

New Updates For Office 365 Will Include Phishing Protection

Are you an Office 365 user? If so, be aware that Microsoft is adding some powerful new protections to the software suite, designed to make you safer.

Hackers commonly target Office 365 users with a type of attack known as “Consent Phishing.” That basically means that the hacker in question will use a variety of social engineering techniques to try and trick a target victim into giving up his or her Office 365 access, usually by way of an app that asks for permissions. If the user grants those permissions, the app can install all manner of malware on the target’s device.

The new security upgrades that Microsoft is rolling out makes users safer in three different ways:

  • First by a general tightening of app consent policies
  • Second, by placing a greater level of scrutiny on publishers of OAuth apps during the verification process
  • Third, by changing the rules surrounding user consent when consent is asked for by an unverified publisher

These changes are already in place, and since their initial rollout, Microsoft has verified more than 700 different app publishers and more than 1300 individual apps. Verified apps can be recognized by the small blue badge with a white check mark in its center. Those apps, you can install with confidence.

As a Microsoft representative explained:

“To reduce the risk of malicious applications attempting to trick users into granting them access to your organization’s data, we recommend that you allow user consent only for applications that have been published by a verified publisher.”

It’s good advice, and these are excellent (even if they’re somewhat overdue) changes to the company’s policies. Kudos to Microsoft for rolling out the upgrades to their processes, and to the legitimate publishers who are already moving to embrace the recent changes. This will help keep users safe, and that’s a very good thing.

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By admin
April 6, 2020

5 Reasons your Office 365 Migration Might Fail

Microsoft’s Office 365 is continually gaining popularity with the growing number of businesses implementing this cloud-based version of Office. However, before you follow suit, you should be aware of five potential problems that can cause the entire process to fail.

Slow internet connection speeds

Because Office 365 is primarily cloud-based, you’re going to need a solid bandwidth connection to use it. Migrating your files and system over to Office 365 consumes a large quantity of bandwidth, which can result in slower internet speeds during the migration process. If this is being carried out during business hours, employees might struggle to do tasks that require online connection.

Office 365 is most often delivered over an internet connection rather than in-house servers. This means that the day-to-day demand for bandwidth will increase. If you are already noticing slow speeds and service interruptions before implementing Office 365, these issues will likely worsen after implementation.

To avoid this, you should ask an Office 365 provider to test your existing network connection to ensure that it can handle the migration and day-to-day operation of Office 365. If not, your provider should be able to offer you a solution.

Mailboxes and files are too big

While the business versions of Office 365 come with 50 GB of email storage and over 1 TB of file storage per user, accessing your emails and files online could take a while, especially if you have users whose inboxes are approaching the storage limit.

Larger files will cause the migration process to slow down significantly, which is why you need to prepare for this to avoid disruptions at work. Encouraging your staff to archive their inboxes and delete large, unnecessary files is a good way to ensure the migration process goes smoothly.

Uninformed users

On average, migrating to Office 365 takes around one to three days to complete, depending on the size of your business and the amount of data being transferred.

Starting the migration without informing your users that their files and email will not be accessible can lead to productivity loss and resentment towards the new platform.

To avoid this, you should inform your employees about the migration and how long it’s going to take. You should train them how to use the new system to ensure that everyone is familiar with it before they start to use it. This will increase the overall chance that the platform migration and subsequent use will be successful.

Outdated software

While some versions of Office 365 come with subscriptions to the latest version of Microsoft Office, they also include built-in support for systems running older versions of Office. If your business is using a version of Office that is older than Office 2010 (e.g., Office 2003), you might have trouble using Office 365.

When it comes to web browsers, Chrome and Firefox won’t give you too many problems. However, if you’re utilizing their outdated versions, using Office 365 will be extremely difficult. Your provider should tell you if your existing software needs to be updated before migrating to Office 365.

Doing the process yourself

On paper, migrating to Office 365 may seem like a simple and straightforward process. This leads many businesses to believe that they can do the entire migration process without the assistance of experts. However, without proper guidance, you may run into problems that can harm vital business operations.

To ensure a smooth migration process from start to finish, contact us today. We’ll show you the proper way of migrating your system to Office 365 without affecting your day-to-day operations.

By admin
January 31, 2020

Microsoft Teams Empowers Your Employees to Work Remotely

Remote work is increasingly popular, and it’s no wonder why. Working remotely has many benefits for employers and employees alike. Still, there are some challenges that often need to be addressed, both within the office and its technology.

Remote workers can begin to feel disconnected from other employees, and they may have some difficulty working effectively with in-office workers. MS Teams can help.

The Advantages of Remote Work for Employers and Employees

Over the past decade, both employers and employees have seen the growing advantages of remote work. Employers can pull from a global pool of talent. And employees are able to work from where they feel most comfortable and productive. Today, offices can be entirely decentralized.

The advantages of remote work for employers include:

  • Gaining access to a wider talent pool. Employers are no longer confined to their geographical limitations. They can get employees from anywhere, including other countries. Employers may be able to acquire more affordable and specialized talent, as well as workers that fit best in their company culture.
  • Saving money on large, brick-and-mortar offices. Rather than having large physical offices, employers can instead maintain smaller offices and allow employees to work from home. That drastically reduces their costs.
  • Drawing in better talent. Remote work is highly desirable. High-value employees are more likely to work with companies that provide remote work. Employers don’t just get access to a wider talent pool: they also get access to an even better talent pool.

 

The advantages of remote work for employees include:

  • Achieving a healthier work-life balance. Employees are better able to take care of their home and their family when they can work from home. They don’t need to spend additional time getting to the office and getting settled. Work-life balance is more important to today’s employees, and it’s important for an employer to support.
  • Avoiding stressful commutes. Commutes can be upwards of an hour for some employees, and they dig into an employee’s personal time. Employees who commute to work end up stressed by the time that they arrive, and they become frustrated and upset when they’re at work. A stressful employee isn’t a productive employee.
  • Being more productive overall. Studies have shown that remote workers are more productive than in-office employees. When employees have complete control over their office space and are able to work as they desire, they can get more done. Likewise, when they don’t have to worry about things like a lengthy commute, or office hours, they can better focus.

 

Working from home is a win/win situation. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some challenges that have to be addressed before a company can begin remote initiatives.

Counter the Challenges Remote Work Creates with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft provides a breadth of work from home productivity tools, including MS Teams. Teams can connect employees seamlessly, regardless of whether they’re in a cubicle down the hall or on the other side of the country. With better Microsoft Team collaboration, teams will be able to work more effectively with each other, and they will be able to maintain a healthy rapport.

A few of the major features of Microsoft Teams:

  • Consolidated calendars. MS Teams integrates with the Exchange Calendar system. Employees can easily see their deadlines, meetings, and other events, so they’re never caught off guard. Meetings can even be launched from within calendars and scheduled seamlessly through the MS Teams platform.
  • Video conferencing. Remote workers can feel disconnected because they don’t have the type of face-to-face interactions that other employees do. Video conferencing allows for direct communication, including non-verbal cues. Through video conferencing, employees can feel closer to each other.
  • Group chats. A group chat makes it possible for all employees to remain on the same page, regardless of where they physically are. All employees are updated at the same time, and there’s always the option of one-on-one instant messaging for things that aren’t applicable to the whole group.
  • One-on-one instant messaging. Often, messaging is a fast, non-disruptive way to communicate. Employees working remotely are able to get answers quickly without having to disrupt the work of in-office employees, while in-office employees can get answers from remote workers without having to track them down.
  • Project management. Through project management integration MS Teams makes it possible for employees to quickly check a dashboard of their current projects and tasks. Employees will be able to review the tasks that they have yet to complete while also seeing what other employees are currently prioritizing.
  • Document management. One of the highlights of Microsoft Team collaboration lies in the Microsoft ecosystem. MS Teams makes it easy to trade information, such as sending documents to each other as attachments. Through Microsoft integration, documents such as PowerPoint files and Word files can be worked on together, and better collaboration can be achieved.

Through MS Teams, employees are able to work out of the office as though they are still in the office, gaining all the advantages of working from home without any of the negatives. They are able to better communicate and collaborate with other employees, while also getting easy access to the information, application, and other tools they need.

Are you ready to think about Microsoft Teams? Reach out to Net Activity to get started with Teams collaboration suite.

By admin
January 2, 2020

Office 365 Productivity Add-ons You Simply Must Use

Microsoft Office 365 is one of the most successful and popular apps in the world, currently with 180 million users and counting. To enhance the user experience, it also offers these time-saving, productivity-boosting add-ons.

#1. Teams

Teams is ideal for organizations that collaborate frequently. It’s an instant messaging and document-sharing platform which seamlessly integrates with Office 365 programs and services. Users can create channels to work on projects, discuss topics, hold meetings, and more. And like similar programs such as Slack and Google Hangouts, Teams is customizable and accessible across mobile devices.

#2. Office Tabs

Office Tabs allows you to open multiple files in one window, which saves you from having to go through each opened document until you find the right one. It also lets you save or close the list of tabs in a single click, with an additional option to close everything except the active document. You can also directly rename files by clicking Rename, instead of going through the tedious process of clicking Save As and then changing the file name of each file.

#3. Grammarly

The last thing you want to send your clients is a confusing, poorly written email or document. Grammarly solves this by performing rigorous grammar, spelling, and plagiarism checks. It then provides vocabulary suggestions and recommends writing style changes to polish your writing further. This add-on is available in Word and Outlook, and its Premium counterpart is priced at $11.66 per month (annual plan).

#4. Pexels

Professional documents and presentations require high-resolution, blemish-free images, and Pexels helps you get them easily. Its free stock images are under a Creative Commons Zero license, meaning you can search high-quality images and use them in all your documents for any purpose with no legal repercussions.

#5. DocuSign

DocuSign for Outlook and Word lets you or a recipient securely sign a document electronically and send it through email, save it in the app, or store it in your company’s server. DocuSign complies with eSignature legal standards and is secured with end-to-end Digital Transaction Management, ensuring your files will never be leaked or breached.

#6. FindTime

Setting up a meeting time is tedious and difficult, especially if your employees have different schedules. FindTime scours every attendee’s schedule to locate open slots, and creates meeting time options for everyone to vote on. A meeting will then be scheduled according to whichever slot gets the highest vote within a specified amount of time.

#7. Translator

Businesses that deal with foreign companies will find communication much easier with Translator. This add-on recognizes and translates more than 50 different languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Chinese. Not only will you spend less time deciphering foreign-language documents, but you’ll also be able to work with clients from various parts of the world.

Start improving work productivity and make the most out of your Office 365 with Microsoft productivity add-ons. To get started or to learn more about Office 365, Microsoft add-ons, or anything Microsoft Office related, contact us today.

By admin
May 13, 2019

4 Ways an Office 365 Migration can FAIL

Office 365, the cloud-based version of Office, is one of the most popular software suites used by small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) today. With an ever-increasing number of companies migrating to this solution, it’s not surprising that many others are considering making the move. However, there’s always a chance of migration failure. Learn how to avoid this by knowing the five most common ways that Office 365 migration can fail.1. Slow internet connection speedsTo avoid this, ask an Office 365 provider to test your existing network connections to ensure that your internet connection can handle the migration and day-to-day operation of Office 365. If not, they should be able to offer you a more efficient solution.Because Office 365 is primarily cloud-based, you are going to need a connection with a solid bandwidth. When migrating your files and system over to Office 365, you will likely need to consume a large quantity of bandwidth. This demand will often be enough to tax most small business lines, resulting in slower internet speeds all around during the process. Employees might struggle to do their jobs properly if they’re reliant on the internet, so it is recommended to do migrations during off hours.Beyond this, Office 365 is most often delivered over an internet connection, rather than in-house servers. This means that the day-to-day demand for bandwidth will increase. If you are already noticing slow speeds and service interruptions before implementing Office 365, you will likely see these issues compounded after implementation.2. Mailboxes and files are too bigWhile the business versions of Office 365 come with 100 GB of email storage and over 1 TB of file storage per user, getting your emails and files online could take a while, especially if you have users whose inboxes are approaching the storage limit.As a general rule of thumb, larger files will cause the migration of files to take longer. If you don’t prepare for this, then you could see migration affecting work or even causing recurring issues of unavailable data when it’s needed.To avoid this, encourage your staff to archive their email inboxes and either delete or remove emails with large attachments that aren’t necessary.3. Uninformed usersThe average Office 365 migration takes around one to three days, depending on the size of the business and the amount of data being carried over. If you start migration without informing users that some files and emails won’t be accessible during this period, or that some systems may not be working, you could end up with employees unable to do their jobs and creating resentment for the new platform.Instead, inform your employees about how the migration will run and what they can expect during the process. Beyond this, you should run training sessions on how to use the new systems to ensure that everyone is briefed before they start to use them. This will increase the overall chance that the platform migration and subsequent use will be successful.
  1. Older, less compatible software installed on systems
While many versions of Office 365 do come with subscriptions to the latest version of Microsoft Office, there’s built-in support for systems that are running slightly older versions of Office. If your business is using a version older than Office 2010 (e.g., Office 2003), you won’t be able to properly use Office 365.Beyond this, you’ll also need to use the latest version of your internet browser. If you use Chrome or Firefox, this won’t be a problem. However, if you use Internet Explorer, you may run into issues, as Microsoft has already discontinued the program in favor of Microsoft Edge.The good news about Office 365 is that actual systems requirements are low, so almost every business will be able to integrate it. We recommend that in order to be able to use all of Office 365’s features, ask your provider to ensure that your software and systems are compatible with it.5. DIY migrationsOn paper, migrating to Office 365 is a fairly simple and straightforward process. What many companies find when they do the migration themselves is that the process is much more difficult than expected. They come across unexpected issues that require an IT expert to solve.In order to ensure a smooth migration, it’s a good idea to work with an IT provider like us. We can ensure that your systems are ready and the migration is smooth. Contact Net Activity today to learn more.
By Netactivity
October 15, 2018

How to Get Started with Office 365 Collaboration Tools

The modern digital workplace is constantly evolving. Seemingly every day, a new tool or application is introduced that impacts the way we work. While these new tools empower us to interact and collaborate with greater speed, agility, and effectiveness, the breadth of options and customization’s has made it extremely difficult to decide which tools are the right one for you.

Microsoft Office 365 is one of the most popular ecosystems in which the rapid release of new and impressive technology is creating both exciting new opportunities, as well as increasing the amount of confusion day by day. Office 365 provides a complete collaboration tool set that can be scaled and customized to match the unique work style of each sub-team. However, the release of these new tools often come with little guidance to help businesses understand the intended purpose of these applications and decide which one to use and when.

SharePoint vs. Groups and Teams – What Should I Choose and When?

In an effort to help clear up some of the confusion around Office 365 collaboration tools, we’re taking a closer look at SharePoint vs. Groups and Teams. The goal of this comparison is to provide you with a high-level overview so that you can decide if you want to use one or the other (or both) depending on your individual needs and work styles.

SharePoint vs. Groups/Teams

Before we compare these two similar, but distinctly different, collaboration tools, let’s quickly define them:

  • SharePoint: A document management/collaboration platform, which also serves a number of other collaboration use cases, including managing data in lists, workflow approvals, and document publishing. Typically, SharePoint is used as a place to store and collaborate on files, but the actual discussion around those assets are done outside of SharePoint via email, Skype, or other preferred lines of communication.
  • Office 365 Groups and Teams: Groups act as a local hub for teams to communicate and collaborate. It serves as a home for dedicated content but is not typically used for organization-wide communication. Microsoft teams build on the foundation of Groups as a “chat-based workplace,” where all communication (whether in Skype, email, text, etc.) happens in one place.

Although both products have similar attributes, there are some key distinctions that will help you determine which tool is right for you.

When Should I Use SharePoint?

SharePoint offers firm governance, consistency, and structure around functionality, which tends to work best when you are communicating and collaborating with larger audiences. The features that standardize communication can also delay responses, so if you’re working with company-wide documents that don’t require an immediate response, such as training, policies, and templates, SharePoint is a great place to store and reference these types of documents.

Here are key reasons why you should choose SharePoint:

  • Governance, consistency, and structure are very important to you
  • You want to create several areas of publishing information (such as a series of HR onboarding guidelines with a main landing page and supporting subpages)
  • You want a site with specific configurations
  • You want integration between sites and rollup of information.

When Should I Use Groups or Teams?

While structure and governance are critical to many aspects of business success, too much structure and governance can hinder creativity when teams need to execute ad hoc collaboration on the fly. In response to this need, Microsoft has introduced Groups and Teams in Office 365 to offer more flexible collaboration. Users can join meetings, start conversations, add notes, and share documents all in a single platform. This allows for faster, more frequent communication, ideal for collaboration among smaller groups.

As new lines of communication become mainstream, it is increasingly difficult to keep track of the various channels: deep email threads, Skype conversations, text messages, voicemails, and so on. Groups and Teams solve this problem by creating a “chat-based” platform where all communication can happen in one place. Streamlining all lines of communication is especially beneficial for fast-paced organizations who are using collaboration as a tool to innovate and grow. For example, the sales team that identifies a new sales approach would want to use Groups or Teams to brainstorm how to quickly bring that new approach to life. Or, organizations undergoing a major upgrade to a new ERP system would use Groups or Teams as a way to track information and publish plans related to that effort.

Here are reasons why you should choose Groups and Teams:

  • You’re moving at a much faster tempo and need to chat with teams and individuals on the fly
  • You want to chat, create tasks, and share files within a subset of individuals
  • You’re dealing with documents that are only pertinent to smaller groups but not the organization at large
  • The communication you’re having between team members tends to be less formal and more conversational and timely
  • If the group membership is small, ad-hoc, or fluid
  • Groups enable any set of team members to collaborate on a topic without intervention from IT to maintain group memberships. Groups do not need to conform to AD structures.
  • Teams has also added the ability to share the team’s collaboration experience with users from outside your organization

What kind of communication and collaboration is your organization primarily dealing with? Are you sharing information with large groups that require more governance and standards? Or are you working with smaller groups where getting work done faster is the priority? Or, are you like most organizations, and are finding your business is dealing with a little bit of both?

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can ensure your business is leveraging the latest Office 365 collaboration tools, Contact Us to discuss what technology is best suited for the needs of your business and your way of working.

 

 

By Netactivity
September 5, 2018

Look out for the Latest O365 Cyberattack

Phishing scams disguise malicious links and emails as messages from trusted sources. The most recent scam to watch out for almost perfectly imitates a trusted invitation to collaborate through Microsoft SharePoint. It’s a three-step attack that’s easy to avoid if you know how it works.

Step 1 – Invitation to collaborate email

The first thing victims receive from hackers is a message that looks identical to an email from Microsoft’s file sharing platform SharePoint. It says, “John Doe has sent you a file, to view it click the link below…”

In most cases, the sender will be an unfamiliar name. However, some hackers research your organization to make the email more convincing.

Step 2 – Fake file sharing portal

Clicking the link opens a SharePoint file that looks like another trusted invitation from a Microsoft app, usually OneDrive. This is a big red flag since there’s no reason to send an email containing a link to a page with nothing but another link.

Step 2 allows hackers to evade Outlook’s security scans, which monitor links inside emails for possible phishing scams. But Outlook’s current features cannot scan the text within a file linked in the email. Once you’ve opened the file, SharePoint has almost no way to flag suspicious links.

Step 3 – Fake Office 365 login page

The malicious link in Step 2 leads to an almost perfect replica of an Office 365 login page, managed by whoever sent the email in Step 1. If you enter your username and password on this page, all your Office 365 documents will be compromised.

Microsoft has designed hundreds of cybersecurity features to prevent phishing scams and a solution to this problem is likely on the way. Until then, you can stay safe with these simple rules:

  • Check the sender’s address every time you receive an email. You might not notice the number one in this email at first glance: johndoe@gma1l.com.
  • Confirm with the sender that the links inside the shared document are safe.
  • Open cloud files by typing in the correct address and checking your sharing notifications to avoid fake collaboration invitations.
  • Double check a site’s URL before entering your password. A zero can look very similar to the letter ‘o’ (e.g. 0ffice.com/signin).

Third-party IT solutions exist to prevent these types of scams, but setting them up and keeping them running requires a lot of time and attention. Give us a call today for information about our unlimited support plans for Microsoft products.

By Netactivity
July 25, 2018

The Dangers of App Overload in Businesses Today

Businesses today rely on countless apps and software for day-to-day operations. However, too many of these programs can do more harm than good. App overload brings confusion among employees, and a recent study shows that this costs more than companies realize.

How app confusion occurs
A new study conducted by CITE Research shows that a surplus of apps is causing a great deal of confusion in the workplace. Among the 2,000 workers from the US, UK, and Australia surveyed, 69% wasted as much as 32 days a year navigating between apps — that’s an hour of productivity lost every single day.

The same research — entitled From Work Chaos to Zen: How Application Overload Redefines the Digital Workplace — reveals the biggest problem is with communication apps and channels. On average, a single worker juggles four communication apps every day, which is pretty much like holding four conversations at one time. It’s even worse for 20% of the respondents who said they use six or more.

Furthermore, the average worker flips between apps as frequently as 10 times per hour, which means more time wasted. 56% of respondents felt that searching for information stored across different apps was disruptive while 31% said it caused them to lose their line of reasoning. It’s tempting to see each individual app as a problem-solver, but when looking at the bigger picture, it could be causing problems.

Coming up with a solution
Clearly, app overload has an immense effect on productivity, and the gap between executive perception and employee perception doesn’t help. Before signing up for yet another app, give your workflow a second look and consider the impacts of disruptive activities and employee preferences.

In the CITE Research study, workers agree that having only one communication app would clear up all the confusion. Regardless of what the best solution is, it’s probably more affordable than most small business owners realize. A managed IT services provider like Net Activity can provide guidance that puts you on track for long-term success. Give us a call today at 216-503-5150 for more info.

 

By Netactivity

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