Improve Your Daily Workflow With Mobile Technology

Posted by Linda Simmons on July 20th, 2018

Getting more things done throughout the workday is something that we all wish for. We have our personal or corporate workflow and processes that more often aren’t as smooth as they could be. We are forced to use some outdated methods or practices which don’t keep up with the times, and at the same time, we are in the very fast-paced environment due to technology advancements.

It’s not strange that we tend to rely more and more on smartphones in order to get things done on the go. It gets easier to tell your voice assistant to set a reminder than writing it down on a sticky-note and sticking it on your desk. Any kind of communication is much faster on a phone, like messaging, voice and video calls, reading emails, etc.

On the other hand, the mobile phones are becoming also another source of distraction when we need to focus the most. When we try to multi-task and get more things done at the same time, we actually become slower. This is something you should sincerely avoid.

When we sum it up, there are few core pitfalls in our daily workflow which should be addressed in order to improve our efficiency at work and where mobile technology can help us:

• More efficient communication

• Automatization and outsourcing tasks

• Prioritizing and organizing tasks

• Focus and avoid multitasking

If you take some time to think about your daily routines and how you spend your day, you should find areas in which you can improve. If not, perfect! You are on the right path. But for the most of us, we should pull up our sleeves and get to work.

More efficient communication

The mobile phones have brought the communication to a whole new level. You can instantly get in touch with any person, group of people or share something with all of your coworkers at once. When you need a more personal touch, you can always set up a video call. The other important thing is that you carry your phone always with you, connecting with the world even when you are out of office.

Emails are still the one the most used methods of communication when talking with your boss or your clients, so it can’t be ignored. Certain email apps on your mobile phone can temporary mute all emails if you are having a meeting or a lunch break. You will still receive your emails when you have more time to deal with them, but they won’t distract you from tasks at hand. Another benefit of using mobile email client is that it can remind you when you have to reply to an important request, or they will mute unimportant emails.

Automatization and outsourcing tasks

We spend most of the day doing manual or unproductive tasks, like waiting in the line for a scanner, dealing with incomplete documentation or retyping and filling in forms, random spreadsheets, etc. These tasks may present a significant part of your job, but let’s face it, they are repetitive and boring. Integrating mobile apps in these tasks can greatly help you with their automatization.

Instead of going to the scanner and waiting in line, you can use your phone and some of the scanner apps to scan these documents. Practically, you can get the same quality of scan as if you made it with a desktop scanner. If these documents require you to e-sign them, there is an app for that as well.

When dealing with PDF documents on your phone, you need to have a tool that will allow you to convert PDF documents to another file type, like MS Word. To avoid retyping the old document from scratch, it is better to reuse your old file. You can save a lot of time by outsourcing these tasks to your mobile phone.

Prioritizing and organizing tasks

Successful and most productive people tend to finish the most daunting tasks first. By making them a first thing to do on their to-do lists, it gives them more energy for other smaller tasks that come after. With mobile apps, you can identify more easily what is the hardest thing that you need to complete for today. Just ask your voice assistant, first thing in the morning, to tell you about the tasks scheduled for that day in your calendar. It will help you prepare better for the upcoming events.

Adding and crossing things from your to-do list is also much easier with your phone. We mentioned that having sticky notes is good, but you need to be in front of your desk to read them. By creating useful to-do lists on your mobile phone, you can add images, progress, and to help you remember the important things wherever you are. You can even set reminders to buy something when you are near the store.

Focus and avoid multitasking

Social media and mobile phones have caused the modern disease called multitasking. Our brains are wired to be in constant fear of missing out, so we check our mobile phones or social media every 10 to 15 minutes. If you are a busy professional, add on the list constant need to check your emails and messages. All this makes focusing on one task very hard, but also the overall quality of our work goes down. Researchers have found out that our overall productivity while multitasking goes down by 40%.

To avoid these negative effects of being available 24/7, you can use the focus timer apps, which will block all other distractions from your phone. Leaving you to focus only on most important things. This app can be also used as a chrome plugin, making your browser distraction-free as well. For better focus, you can also check some mindfulness app which can help you with being more present and focused at work by a guided meditation.

In the end

There is no magic formula that will help every person become more productive, but there are certain guidelines that will give you a hand. You can greatly improve your daily workflow by following these tips and deploying mobile technology more in your work life. Smartphones can help you finish your work from anywhere, communicate better, outsource tasks and manage your tasks more efficiently. It comes to every individual to test what works for them.