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When you’re running your own company, or are a key decision maker in one, you’re endlessly carrying out cost/benefit analyses – weighing up whether certain investments are worth the expense. Is now the right time, for example, to invest in new IT equipment; should you – given today’s new world of work – consider downsizing your space; and are there services that, despite a small, regular outlay, would make everyone’s lives easier? So, what can subscription-based business support packages offer your SME?
The right platform will feature a whole host of tools and services – think emails, calendars, drives, sheets and video calls – that you and your employees can easily access as and when you all need them. This means a smoother way of working – no matter where everyone is based on any given day – and less time spent trying to find the app that you need next.
Tip: Look for a package that allows users to seamlessly transition across devices – such as mobile, tablets and desktops, as needed.
The majority of businesses are still adjusting to this new world of work – one where a hybrid approach is the norm. The chances are, on most days of the week you’ll have some people in the office and some elsewhere – on the move, in a workspace local to them or at home. This continues to be a challenge for businesses – how can teams who are based in a range of locations come together as one – and as they did pre-2020 – to do great work? The key here is to have the right solutions and apps in place – ones that encourage and enable collaborative ways of working, including content management, file sharing and working on the same document without issues.
Research found that one in five employees feel lonely at work on a typical working day, and almost a quarter agreed that feeling lonely at work has affected their mental health. For these reasons, it’s an extremely good idea to consider a package that has a range of communication tools – like chat, email, voice and video calling – at its heart. This should help employees stay connected to each other, feel less alone and know that someone is on hand and reachable should they need them.
Tip: When contemplating packages, think about the recognisable tools and apps that your employees already know and love.
Low levels of productivity can cost a business of any shape and size time and money – but, there’s a wealth of ways that you ensure that this isn’t the case within your SME. The right support can help with the beast that is version control, and can enable employees to edit the same sentence in the same document with total ease. Can, tech be harnessed to help with autocorrections, and could people be sent automated appointments or lists to ensure that they aren’t missed or overlooked?
Tip: Consider AI, and the different ways that it might be able to support you and your employees – from intelligent suggestions and content created at speed, to data-driven decisions.
‘Work’ is no longer the location it used to be. Now, the office is where we can be as productive as possible – and, as mentioned above, this could vary on a day-to-day basis. This means that today, your security needs are entirely different to what they used to be. The right subscription-based business support package should, therefore, not only provide you with intuitive apps and industry-leading tech, it should also offer you enhanced safety, proactive protections to help keep users safe and intelligent security insights that reduce risks.
Tip: Consider a provider that is cloud-native – meaning that it started on the cloud and is run on the cloud. These partners will fully understand the complex nature of running your business this way and therefore offer you and your company a highly secure, reliable environment.
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