21st Nov 2018

How To Choose The Right Technology For Your Office

Choosing the right technology for your office can transform your workplace and allow your people to thrive. But where do you start?

Well, let’s start by asking that age old question: What’s your business’s most important asset?

Most of us would say “our people”, wouldn’t we?

Well, that’s nearly right…

It’s actually what your people know that’s of real value to your business.

Imagine if you prevented them from accessing, using and sharing their valuable knowledge and expertise. In the best case scenario, they’ll waste hours trying to find a workaround… Worst case, they’ll go somewhere where their talents are appreciated.

We’re sure you’ll agree that both of these scenarios are far from ideal, and this is where choosing the right technology for your office becomes important…

Now imagine your entire workforce, client base and supply chain completely connected and able to share information, plans and resources wherever they are, using efficient workplace tech solutions. The dream, right?

We do understand that for most this is much easier said than done, with technology changing and evolving at a lightning-fast pace. The good news for you is that our workplace tech experts live in this world, so can always keep you up to date.

So how do you go about choosing the right technologies to ensure your people are as well-equipped and motivated as they can be at work? Here’s how:

Do your research

Think of virtually any activity in the workplace and a quick internet search will bring up a wide selection of technologies to support it.

Video conferencing solutions alone range from Skype on a mobile phone through to a state-of-the-art Cisco TelePresence system in a dedicated conference suite. These technologies are suited to different situations, so research will help you to uncover the best options for your needs.

Take the video conferencing example. Do you simply need to make video calls, or would your employees benefit from the ability to share information and collaborate on documents in real time? How many participants are there in most of your video conferences? Are these meetings planned or does the technology need to support more impromptu collaboration?

Our workplace technology specialists can help you work through these sorts of questions, and our living offices at WorkLife Central offer some of the latest technologies for you to try

Involve your staff

Involving your staff in the process of upgrading your office technology systems is invaluable.

There will almost certainly be issues that your employees may not have raised previously but will offer up given the chance.

By engaging your workforce in identifying the tech-related issues they are experiencing, you can take the positive step of choosing the right solutions that will ultimately make their jobs easier and more fulfilling.

At Blueprint we are proud to be able to show you many of the available solutions in the flesh at our offices and showroom. Book a tour, and bring your staff along so that they can see how they can use the technology to their advantage rather than simply reading about it online.

Weigh the benefits with the costs

We’re not just talking the financial cost of an investment in technology here. The human cost of working with inefficient technologies can quickly mount up.

Let’s go back to our example of video conferencing. Being able to sit in a meeting room and connect to a colleague on a video call without hassle or stress should be the norm. If it’s a struggle to get connected every time a meeting comes around, it can very easily have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of your workforce and take the enjoyment out of work.

How much time does your business waste in these kind of situations? What is the financial cost? What impact is it having on the wellbeing of your employees? These are all essential questions to ask when weighing up the benefits with the costs.

Consider the bigger picture

Once you’ve installed your new video conferencing system, it doesn’t sit in an empty room.

Making adjustments to the design, furniture and acoustics of your meeting room could massively increase the benefits of installing this new technology by improving the sound quality of your video calls and ensuring the comfort and productivity of your staff during important meetings.

Experiencing it for yourself makes it much easier to visualise how a workplace really can be transformed with an investment in the right technology. WorkLife Central shows you exactly how clever office design and workplace technology can come together to hugely improve and complement your business’s ways of working. Come and visit us!