Company Culture Archives - Smallbiztechnology.com https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/category/company-culture/ Small Business Technology Fri, 08 Mar 2024 20:11:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.6 https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-smallbiz-technology-1-32x32.png Company Culture Archives - Smallbiztechnology.com https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/category/company-culture/ 32 32 47051669 How Zight Might Be Right If You’re Needing to Increase Efficiency https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/2024/03/how-zight-might-be-right-if-youre-needing-to-increase-efficiency.html/ Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:06:09 +0000 https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/?p=65708 You may be familiar with the adage that “time is money,” and, while that’s true, time is so much more. Time is engagement, satisfaction, and, ultimately, results, for your team and your clients. Unfortunately, the rush of a time crunch can lead to errors, especially if training has been truncated. Plus, if institutional knowledge and […]

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You may be familiar with the adage that “time is money,” and, while that’s true, time is so much more. Time is engagement, satisfaction, and, ultimately, results, for your team and your clients. Unfortunately, the rush of a time crunch can lead to errors, especially if training has been truncated. Plus, if institutional knowledge and technical processes run rampant in your organization, you’re at a greater risk of efficiency drain. Fortunately, Zight can help your team communicate better asynchronously, consistently, and efficiently, all in one place.

1. Train New Teammates Consistently

There’s something to be said for learning by doing, but tactile learning is more successful with a guide. For teams working shoulder-to-shoulder and across time zones, consistent training is a must. Multi-step, intricate processes can be hard to follow verbally or in written form, nor is everyone a natural-born teacher.

Use Zight’s screen recorder while navigating a file extract and easily share this how-to across platforms to synchronize workflows. Create a baseline library of standard reporting tips and complex processes. Zight will record your session, and you can use its built in features to make your video more engaging and digestible. Then, Zight will offer an auto-generated title, video summary, and transcript, saving you time and making tutorial creation easy.

When your team is working from the same playbook, you can get more work done with fewer errors. Reduce rework and the onboarding process by offering dynamic tools for teammates. Plus, when you have new processes or tips to share, you can pass the knowledge along with Zight. Team members can view and re-watch tutorials on their timeline, making asynchronous work easier than ever.

2. Engage With Real-Life Visuals

Clients benefit from how-to videos, too, but making them can pose a challenge. Often, the extra work required to keep up with often-changing site layouts means your videos are quickly outdated. But with Zight, all you need to do is hit record and walk your client through your tutorial.

If you’re explaining how to log on to a personal profile, navigate the session as you normally would. Zight will capture your audio and auto-generate a searchable transcript, saving you time and making it easy for your customer. Go on as long as you like, because it will also recognize chapter breaks for different details. Sometimes, you need to use a live account to show unique situations that your clients need to understand. Use Zight to blur out personal information or distractions to protect data while explaining complexities.

When you need to explain something quickly, use Zight’s GIF maker to keep it simple. Ideal for quick tutorials like accessing a portion of a website, GIFs point people to the right place. The nature of a GIF is to repeat indefinitely, so viewers don’t need to restart them. Eliminating this step saves time and makes learning with GIFs fun and easy.

3. Democratize Access to Information

There are countless software platforms that businesses use today, and they don’t always play nicely together. Thankfully, sharing information through Zight is easy. Send a link to a teammate or client, capture a screenshot, or copy an image into your collaboration space. Content created through Zight can make information accessible to all.

The world has gotten smaller thanks to technology, but that hasn’t eliminated the language barrier. When you use Zight, your automatic transcript can be translated into 50+ languages. Clients and colleagues across the globe can easily unlock information to help them learn and do. Now, you can confidently hire global teammates and sell to clients knowing you can provide support in their native language.

Increase accessibility for all abilities with screen-reader-friendly content. Your transcript is the first component, but screenshot annotation brings it all together. Highlight key components of a dashboard, graphic, or rendering with labels. Blur out what’s unnecessary, crop images, add arrows, and offer tips to help the recipient succeed.

4. Break Down Intricate Instructions With Ease

Brevity is a hard balance to strike. Offer too few details, and you’ll miss something essential. Get too far into the weeds, and now you’re inundating the recipient so much they tune out. Instead, use Zight’s screenshot app to communicate intricate instructions with ease.

Finding time to train or explain information can be challenging, especially when you’re on a hybrid team. Zight makes it easy to record tutorials on your schedule and upload or share them to your team. Instead of hosting an hours-long training session, let learners do so at their own pace and time. Learners can revisit key moments in your session and can easily navigate chapters or search for keywords or phrases. This can reduce chat or email follow-ups for re-training or clarification.

Eliminate wordy chat bubbles and endless email threads by condensing instructions in an accessible, understandable screenshot. This can fill the gap that a deskside visit would have otherwise occupied. Plus, team members can better protect their productive time by sending helpful information along without committing to yet another meeting.

Increase Alignment and Understanding With Zight

Cohesive teams do their best work, are more satisfied, and can make a difference to your bottom line. When teams are aligned, they understand how to use the tools, technology, and platforms required for their job. Aligned teams reduce rework and retraining, focusing instead on achieving their goals and serving your clients. Invest in Zight and you’ll boost alignment and understanding with your team no matter where, or when, they work.

 

Featured image provided by Pixabay; Pexels; Thanks!

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How to Combat Gender Bias in the SME Tech Industry https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/2024/03/how-to-combat-gender-bias-in-the-sme-tech-industry.html/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 19:45:49 +0000 https://www.smallbiztechnology.com/?p=65702 The small and medium business information technology sector has a reputation for attracting more men to the field than women. Many college programs point to the number of women graduating versus men in the field, with most degrees going to males. Reasons for the lack of females entering the field are varied. STEM-based programs traditionally have […]

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The small and medium business information technology sector has a reputation for attracting more men to the field than women. Many college programs point to the number of women graduating versus men in the field, with most degrees going to males. Reasons for the lack of females entering the field are varied. STEM-based programs traditionally have fewer females than males. Part of the equation could be natural tendencies toward subjects. However, societal pressures also impact who goes into what fields. Since IT positions often pay well and offer excellent benefits, encouraging young girls to consider the field for career options makes sense. Fortunately, companies can participate in numerous changes that will attract a more diverse pool of job applicants and combat gender bias.

1. Hire Globally

Expanding your hiring practices to include global sources can naturally remove some gender bias. Be aware of the traditions in countries you plan to hire from, as each culture has different views on women in the workforce and technology industries.

You may even save money. The average salary for a human resources (HR) worker is over $65,000 annually. Utilizing online hiring from HR companies worldwide reduces how many employees you need.

2. Support Student Programs

Gender disparity in SME tech is almost unavoidable since more males graduate from programs than females. Although it takes time to see numbers shift, supporting programs encouraging young girls and teaching them basic science and math skills can have long-term benefits.

Donate money to a local high school club to encourage girls to learn information technology skills. Volunteer at schools and teach a class. Offer a scholarship for a young female wishing to get her degree in computer science.

3. Invest in Social Media Marketing

Create more balance in your organization by attracting suitable candidates. With a limited number of female applicants, it’s crucial to get your brand in front of them as a possible workplace. One way to get the word out about what it’s like to work for your company is through social media.

For example, you can utilize Instagram’s massive following to reach young college students almost ready to graduate. Have one of your younger employees post snapshots of events around the office, working from home or any other attractive perks. Consider where those you wish to reach will most likely spend their time online. Select the social media platform they prefer to get the word out about your business’s career opportunities.

4. Promote Women Throughout Your Organization

Adopt a policy of promoting fairly. If company leaders are primarily male, consider which females might be ready for more responsibility. When job candidates see your company culture is inclusive of everyone, they’re more likely to select your offer for their new job.

Set the example of diversity in non-IT jobs to encourage inclusion in computer science roles.

5. Copy Companies Hiring Women in IT

Women make up a mere 18% of computer science degrees. Unfortunately, they leave the industry twice as often as men because of an unfriendly work environment. However, some employers stand out as excellent options for women in SME tech, including American Express, GoDaddy, and Apple. Study what these brands do to include women and copy their best practices.

6. Lose Biases

Overhaul your company and lose biases that might impact women negatively. Train everyone not to ask questions about family that might insinuate the worker can’t effectively do their job.

Stop punishing women for childbirth and taking time off to raise children before reentering the workforce. Females are less likely to receive promotions because they’ve taken family leave. Those in charge may see them as less dependable because they have a family.

Instead, make gender-blind decisions about promotions by removing names and demographic details from the list of qualifications.

7. Prioritize Skill-Building

Businesses should embrace building skills in all employees. Send everyone to workshops, pay for courses to develop expertise, and encourage attending conferences.

Well-trained employees do their jobs better and may feel more satisfied, reducing churn. They’ll see you want to invest in them personally.

Hire based on skills rather than degrees. Doing so opens options to nontraditional candidates and allows self-taught gurus to enter the applicant pool. McKinsey reports an experiment where employers posted skills-based job openings and saw a significant increase in qualified applicants.

If you have an employee with an excellent work ethic and a desire to learn IT, invest in their passion and train them for the position they desire.

Enhance Awareness of Gender Bias

Awareness of gender bias in the industry and working to combat it enhances company culture and leads to solutions for the lack of females in IT. Once you understand a problem, it’s easier to develop potential solutions and experiment with new policies to bring in a more diverse employee population.

Featured image provided by fauxels; Pexels; Thanks!

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