Exclusive insights, analysis and advice from the brightest minds in small business.
Laurie brings 25+ years of IT industry experience to her current role at SMB Group. She has earned widespread recognition for her insights into small and medium business (SMB) technology adoption, requirements and challenges. Laurie was also named Top 200 Thought Leaders in Big Data & Analytics by Analytics Week.
Straight from Laurie—
Mega-trends in SMB collaboration, communication and mobility:
Almost every employee in every company collaborates and communicates every day. In the past, most SMBs relied primarily on email, phone systems and sticky notes but today’s technology provides us digital solutions that enable us to work anytime, anywhere. Companies that use these solutions to collaboration can not only improve productivity, but also give employees more flexibility in terms of how, when, and where they work.
Here are the top 5 business trends shaping SMB collaboration, communication and mobility.
What's your strategy?
The SMBs who realized that using technology is a great way to help their employees do their jobs better are the businesses best positioned for growth and opportunity
Trend #1:
Technology is intertwined with business results
Only 15 years ago, small/medium businesses were technology laggers. They just didn’t feel they needed a lot of technology to make their businesses run well. Fast-forward to now and everything’s changed. The old mom-and-pop-shop technology lagger stereotype has all but vanished—replaced by a new breed of leaders who un-derstand swift tech adoption can determine real financial success.
Did you know...
Collaboration really is the application category that’s leading the cloud adoption curve because collaboration is the one thing that every one in the company has to do every day.
Trend #2:
Cloud Is The New Normal
The emergence of the cloud is fueling the SMB shift from tech-averse to early adopter. And for good reasons:
Did you know...
Trend #3:
Mobile is revolutionizing the way we do business
A whooping 67% of SMBs say that mobile solutions are changing how they communicate and collaborate. While the PC isn’t dead, people are doing more work on mobile devices, especially when it comes to collaboration and social media.
Check out these SMB stats:
Trend #5:
Baby boomers retire, millennials enter prime working years
Michael Parrish DuDell is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. He has been ranked as one of the top three most popular business authors by Amazon.com and named “one of nation’s leading Millennial voices” by IBM.
Straight from Michael—
3 seamless ways to create a culture of collaboration, increase workplace engagement, and boost employee morale
As technology flourishes and the workplace grows increasingly remote, collaboration and cultural challenges will only continue to mount. But where there’s challenge, there’s also opportunity.
In a 2014 survey, 86% of American employees and executives cited a lack of collaboration or ineffective communication as the primary culprit for workplace failures.
Here are3 simple ways your SMB can jumpstart the process of increasing engagement at every level.
Barry Moltz gets business owners growing again by unlocking their long forgotten potential. With decades of entrepreneurial experience in his own business ventures as well as consulting countless other entrepreneurs, Barry has discovered the formula to get stuck business owners unstuck and marching forward. Barry applies simple, strategic steps to facilitate change.
Straight from Barry—
80% of interruptions at work are considered trivial
Most people confuse being busy with productivity. Being busy is doing stuff, but being productive is getting the right stuff done. The one thing that small business owners have in common is that their to-do list keeps getting longer as the day gets shorter. This is because most people confuse being busy with being productive.
When it comes to increasing our own productivity, we are our worst enemies. We continue to do things wrong or inefficiently even though we know better.
Do any of these “so busy” symptoms seem familiar?
Here are actions small business owners can take to be 100% more productive:
Choose two tasks.
Use five minutes at the end of the day to make a prioritized list of two things that must get accomplished the next day. Do these first before opening up email, checking social media or doing anything else on your long to-do list.
Choose these two items by answering the question “What two tasks, if I completed them today, would make my day productive?” Use Any Do not only to sync any list with all your devices, but allows sharing with other team members to make sure they get their tasks done.
Turn off notifications.
Stop being reactive. Make sure you control the attention your electronic devices want and that they do not control you with nonstop notifications. Turn all these off including your phone for set periods during the day. If you work in an office, put up a sign to prevent interruptions at certain times.
Stop multitasking.
It is a myth that helps you to get more done. It actually allows you to partially complete more tasks poorly. The brain can really only focus on a single task well. Instead of completing two things with average proficiency, do one thing “fantastically” well. In this way, having a split focus makes you less productive. I have a sign on my computer that simple says “FOCUS” which has helped me a lot.
Schedule times.
Schedule certain routine tasks during the day when your energy is lower. Build your day around your best times for getting things done. If you are on top of your game in the mornings, set aside this time for focused work.
Do you get a drained 2:30 feeling? Plan an hour here for administrative and less mentally draining tasks. These are a good time to proactively check voice mail, email and social media feeds.