Are menial tasks draining your efficiency at work? Communications technology can help.

Do you live in a constant state of overload – trying to fit 100 hours of work into a 40 or 60 hour workweek? According to the Harvard Review, you are not alone. Since millions of jobs were lost to the 2007-2009 recession and their workload was redistributed among remaining employees, overwhelmed is the new normal. All of the menial, repetitive tasks that are a part of your job now can become an efficiency-draining black hole taking your attention and focus from more high impact projects. The good news is, business communications technology can automate some of these tasks and increase your efficiency.

You probably spend a chunk of each work day searching through a contact directory, dialing and re-dialing phone numbers and manually entering data. Features such as click-to-call or drag-and-drop dialing, as well as advanced directory and CRM integrations can significantly improve your efficiency, freeing up your time and energy for the projects that contribute most to your long-term goals, mission and values. Here’s how.

Streamline Communications with VoIP Desktop and Mobile Applications

Leading VoIP providers include mobile and desktop softphone applications into their offering. With innovative features being released every year, these apps have become true game changers. Connected to your company’s phone system, desktop or mobile apps enable you to make and receive calls from anywhere and any device, while also increasing your efficiency at the office.

• If your job includes making a number of calls each day, features such as click-to-call and drag-and-drop conferencing can really help. They allow you to start an individual or group conversation in seconds, so you can avoid the tedious task of looking up phone numbers and dialing.
• With the Presence feature, you can see when your colleagues are online, away or on a call. You can use the Call-on-Available feature to notify you when your co-worker is off their phone and automatically call them. Or you can send them a quick chat that they can reply to at their convenience. This increases your efficiency and lets you say goodbye to playing telephone tag for good.
• Leading VoIP softphone apps also integrate with your internet browsers, recognizing 10 digit numbers on any page and enabling you to place a call with a single click.
• To be the most efficient, you need to be able to work while on-the-go. With a VoIP app, you can place and receive calls from anywhere as if you were sitting at the office. You can even call colleagues, vendors or clients using your company extension and caller ID, so you can present a professional image.

Improve Your Productivity with CRM Integration

Data entry has become one of the most common, yet most dreaded, tasks for businesses. Detailed client records provide valuable insights and data that can be used to improve the quality of your service. But gathering and tracking all that data is no fun, to say the least. Integrating your CRM with your phone system can go a long way in reducing the manual data entry you need to complete and provides quick and easy access to all recorded information.

• With a VoIP – CRM integration, the days of scrambling to search through a client database are over. Screen pop-ups give you and your customer service team quick, automatic access to relevant information about each incoming caller. Any data saved to your CRM will be displayed – from contact data and customer service notes to call logs. This gives you the tools needed to answer a client call efficiently.
• Leading VoIP providers also enable you to save any new notes or contact information, straight from the pop-up window for added efficiency. You and your team will have a single, unified, universally accessible database for all your client data without the need to enter that information more than once.

Integrate Your Project Management Software for Added Efficiency

If your company already has a Project Management software, such as Microsoft Teams, a VoIP integration will function just like a VoIP softphone application. It enables you to place calls directly from the interface and manage a single directory of contacts, which can save you time and increase your efficiency.

• With the Click-to-Call functionality of a VoIP integration, you can start a conversation with any one of your colleagues in seconds. Looking through your contact database and dialing or mis-dialing their number will be a thing of the past.

• A VoIP Integration also brings all your company and email directories under one roof, making it easy to call coworkers, clients or vendors quickly and easily. A simple directory gives you access to all your professional, and if needed, personal contacts in one place, allowing you to call any of them with just a click.

• With a native keypad embedded in your project management tool, a VoIP integration also enables you to place external calls from anywhere. By using your company extension and caller ID, you will be able to maintain a professional image at all times.

Using a few of these simple VoIP communications tools can go a long way in decreasing the amount of menial work you perform each day and free up valuable time so you can complete the projects that matter most. When you are not spending your day dialing and re-dialing numbers or entering the same data in different systems, you’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish.