6 Ways Online Businesses Can Save Time & Boost Results

Working remotely is not necessarily that easy, particularly for someone who has to manage multiple members under their supervision.

The obstacle of not interacting with employees in person leaves more room for errors. And that is only one example of potential problems that arise when most of the work is done from home.

Ultimately, the goal of a business, whether it is online or not, is to find a strategy that produces good results without wasting resources. And one could argue that time is the most valuable resource of them all.

The purpose of this article is to provide information on how online businesses can save more time and increase productivity.

Make Sure Employees Have Optimized Work Tools

Let’s start with the obvious. Working in a poorly optimized setup is not ideal if you are looking to save time.

Take computers, for example. If you rely on a device for the majority of your work, it is natural that you want one that performs with no or as few faults as possible.

Some of the most common computer problems include:

• Overheating from too much dust inside
• Screen flickers from the lack of system updates and hardware failure
• Battery issues on a laptop from poor resource management
• Overall sluggish performance from drive clutter and potentially corrupted files

Even if a person is using a computer for work, it does not necessarily mean that they are tech-savvy enough to solve the problems on their own. As such, employers need to pay attention to concerns employees express and react accordingly.

If someone needs help from a tech-savvy person or access to MS Windows or Mac cleaning software to optimize their computer, then such a request should be granted. 

Invest In Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is one of those trends that seem to be gaining more momentum each passing year. Some people still call it a bit too gimmick for their tastes, but there is no denying that AI is already making an impact.

When it comes to saving time, there are two great examples of how artificial intelligence can do that for an online business—chatbots and data processing.

#1 – Chatbots

Replacing customer support employees with chatbots is a great way to cut the expenses (long-term) and save time. Chatbots are smart enough to respond to question queries immediately. 

Moreover, so long as everything is fine, chatbots are available 24/7, meaning that you do not have to worry about finding enough customer support reps to fill all the time slots. 

#2 – Data Processing

Data processing is another example of how AI helps businesses save time. Whether you want to research the competition or analyze your own data, processing vast amounts of information manually is inefficient, to say the least.

This is where AI tools come in, lending you a hand and doing the majority of the work for you, which simplifies the process and saves a lot of time.

Use Customer Relationship Management Systems

Finding new leads and turning them into customers is just the tip of the iceberg. You also need to maintain a strong relationship with them, and that can be quite problematic as far as resource consumption goes.

More and more businesses are investing in customer relationship management systems. Here are some examples of how CRMs benefit online businesses:

• Customer knowledge: businesses can store customer information in one place and access the database when they want to personalize communication and get in touch.
• Segmentation: CRMs let you break down data and segment customers into different categories for tailor-made campaigns.
• Better communication: ready-to-use communication templates for emails, newsletters, letters, and other documents make for speedier communication.

Optimize Social Media Content Strategies

It is no secret that many businesses rely on social media. Some even consider it a cornerstone for their marketing and brand awareness campaigns.

If a business has an established strategy, then there might not be that much room to improve the process, particularly when it comes to cutting time.

On the other hand, if a business is not that experienced at handling social media marketing, then the odds are that it can introduce more productivity.

For instance, creating multiple content pieces in advance and scheduling them with Hootsuite or another similar tool can save time.

Working with influencers is also something to note. If you can find an agreement and leave content creation to the influencer rather than someone from in-house, it means one less thing to worry about.

Outsource & Consolidate Certain Tasks

The purpose of task consolidation is to introduce a more efficient work environment. Some employees might have more free time than one expects, or their tasks are redundant and can be assigned to someone else.

If the situation is the opposite and there is too much of the work to take care of for those who are already working, then hiring extra people or outsourcing to talent abroad is a worthwhile consideration.

Since we are talking about online businesses, you do not have to limit the search to those available locally. So long as a potential candidate can do the work on time and ensure quality, it does not really matter what part of the world they are from, right?

Motivate Employees To Nurture Their Productivity

Motivating and keeping employees happy might not seem like a direct way an online business can save time. However, when you consider the difference in productivity between happy and unhappy employees, it is clear that the former produces better results.

Sure, skills play an important part, but motivated employees will put effort into their work and try their best to finish everything on time while not doing a half-assed job. 

The important thing is to figure out what works for different employees. Some might want training opportunities to improve as professionals or access to software that helps them better organize themselves. These can be, for example, productivity tools or email account management apps. Others might be more interested in perks like gym memberships, extra days off, recognition among peers, or an increase in salary.

Of course, it is crucial to avoid going overboard and spoiling employees too much because it might backfire. Too much praise and bowing down to every wish might get into employees’ heads, which leads them to think that they are untouchable and perfectly fine to slack off.

Conclusion

All in all, online businesses can save time and have more productive workers by making sure that the employees are happy and that they have the necessary tools to carry out their work. Automating certain processes and outsourcing tasks work as well.

Ultimately, it comes down to how a business wishes to approach the problem, but finding a solution and implementing it in the company should not be an issue, especially when there are multiple different methods available.