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Category: productivity

  • Pilot, Document, Improve: A Smarter Way to Roll Out New Tech

    Rolling out new tools doesn’t have to be chaotic.

    Instead of launching everything at once, start with a pilot. Choose one process, test the tool, gather feedback, and refine. This is a great way to determine how it fits into your workflow. It’s a continuous learning process.

    Steps to Follow:

    • Pick a simple process to improve
    • Assign an owner and define success criteria
    • Document how the tool is used and where human review fits
    • Add quality checks where needed
    • Discuss wins and challenges in team meetings

    Why It Matters:

    An iterative approach builds trust. Your team works through errors and challenges. Errors are reduced. All of this helps your team adopt new tools with confidence.

    Want rollout strategies and QA tips?

    Read the full article here for practical advice.

  • Automation is More Than Emails: Part 2 –Driving Improvement with Proven Frameworks

    Efficiency is Essential

    Efficiency isn’t just a goal—it’s a necessity. This post will explore practical ways to boost business process efficiency. We will briefly discuss five common frameworks, their attributes, pros, and cons. We will provide examples of where they are commonly used. We’ll also discuss how TechHouse integrates these principles to drive our unique approach to business process efficiency.

    Common Ways to Tackle Process Improvement

    Reducing Waste and Variation: Focus on your data to make decisions that cut waste. This helps you find inefficiencies. Once in place, gathering enough data to spot issues and areas for improvement takes time. We often see this in large organizations with lots of data, like manufacturing, healthcare, and finance. This is a good approach to cut costs and boost quality. It can be complex and take time to set up.

    Iterative Development: Sometimes, knowing where to start is hard. We know there are problems, but it’s not clear where they are. This is common in fast-growing organizations where many people are new to the process. An iterative process lets us shift priorities as we learn more. This approach is common in small and fast-growing organizations. It is often used in areas with creative problem-solving skills, like product development and marketing. It requires a collaborative culture that can pivot quickly.

    Performance Measurement: This approach uses a scorecard to combine performance data from many areas and align it with set metrics. Mid-sized and large companies in finance, healthcare, and education use it. They have set their performance metrics but need help combining the data. Multiple departments must dedicate resources to set up and ongoing maintenance, which can be costly.

    Continuous Improvement: This approach focuses on ongoing improvement and customer satisfaction. The customer can be internal or external. Ensuring customer satisfaction requires engagement from all departments during setup and ongoing operations. For this reason, it’s often used in large enterprises or upper mid-market organizations and can be costly.

    Incremental Improvement: This framework is adaptable and collaborative. It focuses on small, ongoing changes. It’s used in mid-sized and large enterprises to achieve ongoing improvement across all organizational layers. It’s also effective in small, flat organizations that empower end users. Significant training and independent decision-making at all levels are needed, with controls to manage the freedom to make changes.

    The Right Fit for the Best Outcome

    At TechHouse, we know there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Focusing on the most essential elements is critical, especially when working with small—to mid-sized businesses growing from a few employees to hundreds. Our Empower My Data division delivers process efficiency by using the key parts of each framework right for your organization. Our SafetyPlus team helps ensure those digital assets are safe. Contact us to work together toward better efficiency for your organization.

    TechHouse

    Innovative Solutions. Practical Software. Friendly Support.

    Schedule a call  |  View Upcoming Events  |  Access our TechHouse Library of Articles

  • Automation is More Than Emails: Part 1 – Getting Started

    Efficiency is critical, but where do you start when juggling a million things? Let’s break down the process and roles needed to ensure it’s done right, efficiently, and in a way that makes sense for your organization.

    Four key concepts to understand before getting started are Project Triangle, Framework, Glossary, and the RACI model. Below is a summary of each.

    Project Triangle: Every project has three competing interests—time, budget, and features. Define the highest priorities and rank them 1, 2, and 3. Adjust as needed throughout the project, but remember that adjustments can increase cost and timeline and reduce features.

    Framework: Choose parts of frameworks that make sense for your business. You may have heard about Lean, Agile, and Balanced Scorecards – pick what fits your needs without overcomplicating things. Each provides a method to think about and solve problems (see our next post for more details on choosing the framework). For instance, Lean is great for manufacturing environments where waste reduction is key, while Agile is ideal for software development due to its iterative nature. Balanced Scorecards align what needs to be done with measures of what happened and how it affected the business.

    Glossary: Create a glossary of key terms for your business. Make sure everyone is on the same page. Even terms like “Total monthly sales” can mean different things to different people.

    RACI Model: Assign roles and enforce accountability. Early and often, communication is key. Clarifying R (Responsible) and A (Accountable) in smaller organizations can be tricky. R can have A, but A’s don’t always have R for that area – it’s more of an oversight role. C is a Consultant, and I is Informed. Changes in roles can affect the project triangle, so try to keep these stable.

    Real-World Examples: Over the years, we have found some common areas for improvement. One is refining the quote-to-cash process. This often involves a custom estimating process that starts highly manual, is not widely understood, and has poor visibility. By improving this process, multiple team members can see where the pipeline is, and operations can better understand what sales have committed to. Another common area is consolidating operational data to create meaningful invoices for clients. This often involves consolidating data from multiple entry points and systems. The process is typically manual and high-risk, again with limited visibility. By improving efficiency, there is more controlled transparency, accuracy, and efficiency – and clients are happier to receive richer invoices in a more timely fashion. These are just two examples of common improvements we see.

    Starting an efficiency or automation effort can seem daunting, especially when busy. To get started:

    • Identify the general area you would like to tackle
    • Work with an advisor to choose a practical framework
    • Prioritize your efforts with the project triangle
    • Clarify roles with the RACI Model

    Check out the next blog on this topic, where we dive into some of the different frameworks you can use to work through the efficiencies your organization needs. Ready to get started? Let’s make efficiency happen! Contact us today to learn how we can help you streamline your processes and achieve your business goals.

    TechHouse

    Innovative Solutions. Practical Software. Friendly Support.

    Schedule a call  |  View Upcoming Events  |  Access our TechHouse Library of Articles

  • Microsoft’s CoPilot Products: What You Need to Know

    Microsoft’s CoPilot Products: What You Need to Know

    Since their launch in September 2023, less than a year ago, CoPilot products have undergone significant changes and improvements. This post will give you a brief overview of each of the CoPilot products, their main features, and how they can help you achieve your goals. You will also learn how CoPilot products are not just plug-and-play solutions but require careful planning, preparation, and customization to fit your specific needs and goals.

    How CoPilot Can Enhance Your Productivity

    Copilot’s AI-powered tools help you solve problems, create content, and research information. Depending on your subscription level, you can access different CoPilot products that suit your needs and preferences. Here are the main CoPilot products and what they can do for you:

    CoPilot in a Browser

    CoPilot in a browser is a free tool that lets you use AI to chat with Copilot, ask questions, generate content, and more. You can access it as CoPilot in Bing.

    CoPilot with Microsoft 365 Standard and Business Licenses

    If you have a Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Standard subscription, you can sign in to use CoPilot with an extra layer of security and protect your prompts from unintentional reuse. You can also use AI in productivity apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. To learn more, please read our “CoPilot Productivity Apps” article.

    CoPilot for Microsoft 365

    CoPilot for Microsoft 365 is a premium product that connects to your Microsoft 365 tenant. It can access exclusive information only known to your organization, such as:

    • Data stored in SharePoint and Email
    • Insights from Microsoft Graph

    Microsoft CoPilot for Sales and Service: Your AI-Boosted Helpers

    Microsoft CoPilot for Sales and CoPilot for Service are AI helpers that can enhance the productivity of your sales and service teams. Here are some of the things they can do for you:

    • Boost Your Productivity
      • CoPilot for Sales can help you save time, generate innovative ideas, build strong customer relationships, and close more deals.
      • CoPilot for Service can work with your contact center’s content sources to provide real-time responses, improving agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
    • Work Smoothly
      • CoPilot for Sales can provide real-time call insights, AI-generated meeting summaries, post-call analyses, and action items in Microsoft Teams. It can also craft contextual email responses, summarize lengthy threads, and create Teams Collaboration Spaces in Microsoft Outlook.
      • CoPilot for Service can integrate seamlessly with your existing workflow, whether that involves the agent console, Microsoft Teams, websites, or other apps.
    • Personalize with Data
      • CoPilot for Sales can use data from CRM platforms, large language models, Microsoft Graph, Microsoft 365 apps, and the Internet to personalize every customer interaction.
      • CoPilot for Service can connect directly to third-party knowledge bases like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk. You can choose and manage the content sources that CoPilot for Service uses to provide real-time responses.
    • Streamline Your Workflow with AI
      • CoPilot for Sales can automatically connect external contacts to CRM contacts, streamlining your workflow and improving sales productivity.
      • CoPilot for Service can be extended with Microsoft CoPilot Studio. For example, you can boost your agent productivity even more with powerful CoPilot for Service actions. You can add more custom knowledge sources to the Copilot and set up authentication to ensure only authorized agents can use the Copilot to access information.

    Getting Started with CoPilot Products

    Like other business applications such as CRM or Accounting software, we recommend the following steps to get started with CoPilot products:

    • Select pilot and use scenarios for a staged rollout.
    • Prepare your tech platform, including data governance and cybersecurity.
    • Set up and configure your unique requirements.
    • Train team members and facilitate adoption.
    • Monitor and optimize performance.
    • Stay on top of the latest updates and changes in the CoPilot products.

    With the help of our friendly experts, you can make the most of your CoPilot product and enjoy the benefits of AI. We have extensive experience and knowledge in helping small businesses leverage CoPilot products for their specific needs and goals. We can also provide ongoing support and guidance to ensure your success with CoPilot products.

    Ready to Experience the Power of AI with CoPilot Products?

    Contact us to attend one of our planning workshops or schedule a one-on-one review. Don’t miss this opportunity to boost your productivity, creativity, and customer satisfaction with CoPilot products!