We have Smartphones and smart watches, plus smart homes filled with smart objects. Isn’t it past time we create the smart office for a smarter workplace with greater productivity? Here are five ideas for transforming your office space into something quite a bit smarter:
Smarter Sign-in
When it comes to building a smarter office, your sign-in sheet is your weakest link, by far. This is especially true if your office is a medical office. Not only is your sign-in sheet a weak link, it is borderline criminal. By law, medical information is supposed to be a matter of doctor/patient confidentiality. Advertising your client list to anyone who happens into the office is a very bad idea, especially if you are a mental health professional.
Do yourself a favor. Throw away the clipboard. And replace it with an iPad. From there you can choose from a number of packages like digital sign in app to keep the visitor sign-in process secure. Each person is present with a custom welcome screen, followed by information fields of your choosing. You can even include special offers. Best of all, they never see the information for any other client. The information is stored on a secured server, so the iPad doesn’t become a liability if it falls into the wrong hands. Update the sign-in process, and your office becomes significantly more efficient.
Smarter OS
With Microsoft’s Windows 10, there is plenty to complain about. But there is even more to complain about in previous versions of the OS. If you are waiting for the perfect version of Windows to come out before upgrading those Windows XP boxes, you will be waiting for a long time. But if only for compatibility with newer software, peripherals, and security definitions, Windows 10 is ready for business.
Smarter Workstations
The best way to upgrade to Windows 10 is to upgrade your workstations. Something about old wine and new wineskins comes to mind. You can probably get away with spending $200 per seat on new desktops for the cube farm. They have to surf the web and run Office. That doesn’t require much these days. But a new machine is going to be exponentially faster than the older units still in service.
Your failing, malfunctioning machines drive your employees mad. They also make for a poor customer experience when clients have to be told to wait because the computer is really slow, or is acting funny again. It’s not cute. It’s unprofessional. And no body wants to work under those conditions for long. Make the smart move and upgrade your workstations.
Smarter Printers
Let’s face it, even your small business isn’t going paperless anytime soon. Why anyone thought that was a realistic possibility that was just around the corner, I have no idea. You probably need something more than the home printer that guzzles ink faster than you can feed it cartridges. But you might not need a $2,000 office printer either.
The new line of Epson EcoTank printers may be just what you need. They run about $400 up front. But come loaded with 20 times the amount of ink as a standard, $100 printer. That is instant savings out of the box. When it is time for a refill in a few years, you will find the ink very inexpensive. Not changing ink cartridges is both good for office productivity, and the environment. Now that’s smart
Smarter Telephony
If you have never heard of SIP trunking, it’s time you spoke to someone about upgrading your business communications. You can save a considerable amount of money over the traditional PBX you are probably running. Additionally, you will be able to convert the personal smartphones of your employees into trusted, business communications devices. You can even turn their desktops into phones to save money on handsets.
Smarter telephony, printers, workstations, operating systems, and sign-in sheets can turn your office into a smart office overnight.