Macro Systems Blog

One thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us is that a worker's environment may not have as big of an effect on productivity as we once thought. However, many businesses that were forced to disperse their workforces as stay-at-home orders were put in place, have seen their overall productivity drop by about one percent, depending on who you ask, which considering all the variables is a win for any business that needed to go that route. Some employees are so much more productive than they are at the office that now that many businesses can reopen, there is a decision to be made. Discussed below is how imperative your productivity figures are to your business and how it may have an effect on your management style moving forward.

If you were to look at any businesses' list of priorities, “productivity” could probably be found somewhere at the top. Current circumstances being what they are and many processes shifting as a result, this productivity is probably more of a challenge than usual. Any bit of saved time can enhance productivity, so this week’s tip focuses on a minor change you can make to accomplish this goal.

With so many tasks to be accomplished each day, it helps to have all the information required to complete these tasks. If a task has no context assigned to it or no insight into how to approach it, productivity and morale are going to suffer. To circumvent this, you need to properly task out your team’s goals. Listed below are some practices to help.

Microsoft Outlook has some cool, overlooked features to help reduce the time you spend managing your email. Listed below are two tips on this subject.

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, more business than ever are now conducted via video chat. You may be using it yourself as a tool to work remotely. Nevertheless, while these conversations may help keep your team connected to one another, the experience certainly isn’t the same as what would be found in the office conference room. There is one specific trait that can help video conferencing be as smooth as possible for everyone, though. 

Over the past months millions of people have been working remotely; those people may or may not have a dedicated space to work from in their residences. If you haven’t gotten around to creating a home office space for yourself and still work from the kitchen table, you’re in luck. Listed below is a look at what makes a modern office built for productivity.

Cloud solutions can help support your office’s productivity; especially now, when it isn’t recommended that anyone congregate in the office. Thus, we wanted to go over how you can help even your remote workforce be more productive by utilizing cloud technology.

A lot of employees have been working from home for the better part of a month, but the rise of the remote worker was happening long before the COVID-19 pandemic demanded people work from home. Modern business owners that wouldn’t usually be in favor of a remote workforce are starting to come around as they see comparable productivity and less overhead costs than normal. With their remote workforce doing pretty well, one issue that these business owners are seeing is periodic miscommunication. Listed below is a look at how to enhance your company’s remote communications with technology you probably already have access to. 

Business efficiency can be helped by putting a concrete process in place, which is why it feels natural to develop one in the workplace. Naturally, these processes should also come into play when working remotely. What makes a routine so advantageous, and how you can develop one to optimize your success?

There are many reasons that your employees may need to work from home, and there are many reasons to allow them to do so. A 2019 survey by OwlLabs indicated that 71 % of remote workers are happy with their job compared to 55 percent of on-site workers; remote workers responded that they are 13 % more likely than onsite workers to stay in their current job for five more years than onsite workers will; and when respondents claimed to be working longer than 40 hours per week, onsite workers were doing so out of necessity, while remote workers did so out of desire and enjoyment.

It’s not uncommon where a situation arises that results in you working from home. To make this work, it is critical that you keep a few additional issues in mind so that you can make the most of it. Listed below are a few simple best practices that you should keep in mind as you operate remotely.

Because of the coronavirus, many office workers are working remotely. For many, this can feel like a nice change of scenery, while others might have additional anxiety from it. Regardless of where you stand, working remotely can be both effective and productive, if done properly.

Productivity improves as time management improves. It seems like a simple notion, but if you aren’t deliberate about managing your time, there isn’t much positive movement that is going to be had in the productivity meter. Listed below are a few strategies that will work to enhance your employees’ productivity. 

As the coronavirus outbreak continues creating global health concerns, Macro Systems wants to address how it could affect businesses that lack the preparations required to account for such an event. More specifically, we wanted to discuss why events like these add even more reasons that a file share and sync solution is a critical addition to your IT resources.

Today's smartphone has a ton of computing power, enough to be a dynamic tool for modern workers. However, it can also be a major distraction. Listed below are a couple tips that will help you be more productive with your smartphone. 

For small businesses and startups, it is extremely imperative to select the collaboration tools your business needs to meet consumer demand. It is often the case where members of your team are going to be asked to work together toward the successful conclusion in the delivery of a service or the creation of a product. Listed below are some considerations that decision makers need to sort through in order to find collaboration solutions that will help meet their business’ goals. 

If they are doing their job well, a business’ decision makers are always looking for methods to enhance efficiency. For years, businesses were looking to their human resources to improve, but modern technology can now fill in the gaps more effectively. A culture of automation is proving to be a powerful strategy for all kinds of tasks. 

One of the most common file types you probably come across is the Portable Document Format file, simply known as a PDF. PDFs are so popular because they are the best way to save a document so that, regardless of the device it is viewed on, the file will always appear the same. Did you know that you can do more than just look at a PDF? Below are some tips on how you can make your PDFs work for you.

It would be difficult to find anyone who works on a computer who hasn’t utilized at least one of the applications in Microsoft Office. Office has been a staple for professionals, students, and home users for decades. Over the last few years, Microsoft has reinvented how businesses can collaboratively use Office to enhance productivity, security, and adhere to compliances.

Any project that your business tackles will have its success defined by the specific goals you have set for it. This means that each project will be unique, its own concerns and considerations coming into play. On the other hand, when it comes to managing these projects, most of them benefit from largely the same practices. Let's review three practices that every project should incorporate.