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Work productivity is often tied to office organization. Not only do effective organization strategies help streamline efforts, they also work to boost morale by creating a more work-conducive environment. Successful office organization involves so much more than file cabinets and comfortable office furniture. A key to office success is easy collaboration and file-sharing capacity for today’s mobile workforce.

The Cubicle Renovation
In many workplaces boxed cubicles are giving way to a more streamlined workspace strategy: shared workstations that allow for teamwork, collaboration, and networking. Many of these workstations are easily moved, with the ability to be dissembled quickly, and then set up in a new configuration with all the necessary networking components built in. Companies such as Haworth and Sparkeology are working hard to provide new office furniture with integrated power and technology solutions.

Pod-type configurations have become more common, allowing personal workspace while keeping close proximity to team members with similar job descriptions or working on the same project. Employees can plug into the company’s network, discuss ideas and plans with their workstation co-workers, and increase efficiency and productivity.

Replacing the File Cabinet
Ever faced the frustration of losing the paper war? For countless offices, dealing with paper filing is a full-time task. A fantastic way to simplify the paper trail has arrived in the form of document scanners. While scanners have been around for a while, the newest scanners, like the top-rated NeatDesk (1), have software that can pull the information from papers, and transfer it to digital data. For example, when receipts are scanned, the software identifies such things as the date, what was purchased, vendor, amount, and even the payment source; and it transfers to your bookkeeping software, such as QuickBooks. Business card information is automatically transferred to a digital contact, and scanned documents become completely searchable. Today’s scanning technology really is a great way to streamline the office.

Virtual Collaboration
In addition to workspace renovation, online collaboration has almost become workplace necessity in today’s business world. The ability to send and easily share documents via virtual networks has revolutionalized the business world. Virtual collaboration solutions are perfect for today’s mobile workforce, allowing project collaborators to share ideas, manage to-do lists, keep track of time, track expenses, and discuss aspects of the project. Some programs even allow certain information to be shared with clients; seamlessly integrating their input back into the overall project files. Managing multiple projects and organizing team members around the world become much easier with online collaboration software such as project bubble (2) and Basecamp (3). Because every organization’s needs are different, finding the perfect collaboration tool is often a matter of personal taste.

An Effective Strategy
Organization can certainly improve the effectiveness of any business, but big corporations and small entrepreneurs both need to evaluate which organizational methods best fit their work style and productions needs. Just because something is the latest office organization trend does not mean it is the perfect fit for your company. Choosing good strategies will ensure more effective office solutions.

  1. neat.com/products/neatdesk
  2. projectbubble.com/
  3. basecamp.com/

Meg Jones works with Project Bubble, an online project management software company that designs software to increase business productivity and speed.