Work Together (Digital Style)
Back in the day, when people talked about working together, they meant physical collaboration of efforts. Holding meetings where every team member was present, brainstorming sessions and all-nighters, consolidating efforts through regular updates with the team to make sure that everyone is still on the same page — these are just some of the examples of how the traditional setup of working together used to be.
Years ago, collaborating efforts from different places meant a lot of logistical nightmares. Expensive overseas calls, fax messages (remember those?), packages (which usually contained important documents) being sent to different places — the problem of time difference and differences in geographical location proved to be more of a problem that hindered work because it slowed things down, got in the way of productivity, and basically was not a very conducive idea.
However, over the years, the idea of working together remotely has been gaining more popularity. Not only has technology enabled us to work together despite differences in time and locations, it has also given us the means to overcome the challenges that used to get in the way of remote work collaboration. Communication is no longer an issue because we now have more economical alternatives to very costly overseas calls. All of these alternatives — whether it is email, instant messaging, or video calls — have definitely contributed to making remote work possible.
Aside from the ease of communication that we now enjoy, there are also tools available that are geared specifically toward helping those who work remotely. However, despite these innovations, problems still arise and get in the way of work productivity. Take this scenario as an example: Jake, Rose, and Jim are all part of the same team, and they are all working remotely. Jake takes care of the sales process — so he sends the rest of the team his spreadsheets containing hot leads, sales forecasts, and strategies. Jim takes care of customer issues, while Rose works on a presentation showing how her team plans to execute sales conversion.
Although the three of them are working hard to accomplish their individual tasks, when it comes to consolidating their efforts, they tend to hit some snags. Each one of them has their own software or application to help them manage their tasks, and while these help them work more efficiently as individuals, as a team, it becomes a hindrance because reconciling the output each one has made becomes a tedious and painstaking process.
What if Jake, Rose, and Jim could make their team work easier? What if they could all be on the same page using one program or software that offered everything they would need to accomplish their tasks individually and as a team? From sales to marketing to customer service needs, what if there is one solution that will deliver all your working needs?
It is a reality these days that more and more people are choosing to work from the comfort of their own home (or wherever more convenient for them), but consolidating work efforts can be quite a challenge especially if you are part of a team. 8Force gives the perfect solution to dilemmas like that of Jake, Rose, and Jim. It is exactly what you and your team needs to be able to work more effectively and efficiently, boost performance, and increase productivity. Simply put, 8Force offers a multi-faceted solution for team effort and collaboration.
What exactly is 8Force? It features a suite of apps designed specifically to help businesses automate most day-to-day tasks for efficient work operations. Aside from this, it offers a two-pronged solution that aims to help small to medium business owners conduct their operations. 8Force Workspace, as the name implies, offers a collaborative environment that allows people to get together to work and accomplish tasks. It is an online platform wherein those working together can exchange ideas, messages, files, and collaborate on projects and give their feedback, all in real time. 8Force CRM, on the other hand, extends assistance to small business owners by letting them capture every conversation with leads, creating contacts, and associates them with resulting sales opportunities. All these information gathered are used to create or pitch solutions to customers which are responsive to their needs or the challenges they face.
The apps found on 8Force are all designed to optimize the remote work environment. 8Force CRM apps include Sales, Invoice, and the Helpdesk. The Sales app basically lets you run the sales process — from lead generation, to conversion, and retention — from one dashboard. The Sales app also has a product app that lets you store products and enter their descriptions for easier reference. This makes sending quotations easier, too, and with the help of the pull-down tools, figures such as prices and quantities are automatically tallied. 8Force Invoice allows you to send accurate invoices, even when you’re on the go. Helpdesk lets you receive and respond to customer inquiries and lets you create useful pages that share knowledge (FAQs, how-tos, tutorials, DIYs, etc).
8Force Workspace includes apps such as Newsfeed, Taskboard, Calendar, Contacts, and Phone. The Newsfeed, much like the Facebook newsfeed we all know and are familiar with, keeps us up to speed on what is happening with our contacts. Apps such as Calendar, Contacts, and Phone are all basic tools you need to get work done by letting you stay in touch with your teammates and communicate with them in a much faster and efficient environment.
And one more extra bit of information — 8Force is completely cloud-based. This means that the usual requirements for most software — such as regular updates, maintenance, the need for integration — are not necessary, which will save you time, effort, and of course, expenses. Cloud-based software will work with the existing hardware you have, without all the added extras.
To learn more, visit www.8force.com,sign up with the Better Way to Work Blog betterwaytowork.co or like 8forcePH on Facebook.
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Author Box:
The author, Gerald Corteza is the Sales & Marketing Director of 8force.com — a suite of cloud-based business apps designed for the small business owner. He has more than 15 years of solid B2B sales experience servicing small businesses mostly in the Philippines and Singapore. To know more, please like 8ForcePH on Facebook.
 
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 8Force Features Helpful Apps Designed to Boost Work Efficiency
