The Top 5 Trends In Office Administration Technology

The workplace is constantly evolving and changing. New technologies are continuing to surface to help fulfill the latest business requirements. It’s hard to keep up! One way to stay on top of things is to focus on tech trends that drive innovation. So, what are the current trends in office administrative technology that you should be keeping an eye out for? 

Here are five we think small and medium-sized businesses in Ontario should be aware of and considering: 

The cloud has been on everyone’s radar for years, but still many businesses are using traditional methods for storing their data and files. If you’re one of the many businesses delaying their move to the cloud, this is the time to make the move. 

The cloud can help streamline many processes, including: 

• Information backup
• Collaboration 
• Project management
• Data organization 

It is also more efficient and space saving than keeping paper files or storing data on local drives. Not to mention, it makes it harder to accidentally lose data. 

In addition to cloud storage, you can now also implement cloud phone solutions. Using this phone service, you can make calls over the internet. This solution can be scaled quickly, provides higher call quality, offers more innovative features, and will save you money. 

Process automation is a growing area in the tech industry. It can help speed up your workflow, improve accuracy and compliance and provide upper management with critical business indicators. 

While there are many areas where process automation can help your business make improvements, some of the most common are: 

• Inventory control – Process automation will help you monitor supply levels, forecast inventory needs and efficiently store and locate inventory. 
• Operating and capital expense procedures – Process automation will help make your approval and payables monitoring processes less cumbersome and time-consuming. It will ensure all of your payments are made seamlessly and on time and give you more control over costs associated with your fixed assets. 
• Quality assurance – Process automation will help ensure your quality measurement standards are met and that error and flaws are eliminated. 

Mobility was already a trending administrative technology years ago. But with the pandemic forcing many businesses to let their employees work from home, this sector has taken off. As we move back towards normalcy, hybrid working and remote workers are here to stay. If you want to have access to top talent, your business may need to adapt to this way of working. 

It’s even more important today for businesses to work towards implementing technology that allows employees to securely work from anywhere, including collaboration tools, home printers and copiers, and other mobile technologies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about touching shared surfaces. The office of 2022 will include touchless technology. Automatic doors, hands-free light switches, voice-activated temperature controls and other technologies that reduce contact in shared spaces will become commonplace.

That means the way teams use shared hardware will change as well. We expect to see a shift towards touchless printing and copying. Tools such as mobile print release, swipe cards and voice recognition will be used to limit contact on shared office administration technologies. 

An electronic document management system (DMS) helps you store your documents digitally. While there are some similarities between the cloud and a DMS, the two are different. 

The cloud stores your files offsite, which keeps them protected from loss. A DMS can use the cloud or an onsite solution to store documents. What a DMS really is, is a software that helps you manage your documents. This includes storage as well as change tracking, document signing and more. 

By using a centralized location to store a large volume of digital documents, you can benefit from the quick retrieval, management, storage and use of your important documents. You’ll even be able to integrate those documents into your company’s existing system. 

If you have questions about any of these technologies, or want to chat about opportunities to improve your office administration, please contact us today.