How to Use BPI in Customer Service Strategies

Posted on May 7, 2021

Your organization’s customer experience strategy is inextricably linked to business process improvement (BPI). Customers mean success, after all, and creating opportunities for retention is essential for an organization’s long-term growth. A focus on creating ways for BPI and customer service to link more organically is just smart business sense. We’ll explain why BPI is vital to the customer experience and how to use it with CRM in mind. What is Business Process Improvement (BPI)? So what is BPI? BPI is meant to encourage continuous improvement. For example, improving functions at a company to make products, customer service, and business operations better. That can often mean identifying inefficiencies, creating ways for operations to run more smoothly, and improving company workflow. Customer-focused BPI can mean identifying barriers that may hamper company growth down the line—also, strategizing for meaningful customer interactions. How to Embrace Customer-Focused BPI There’s a lot a business has to consider when making operational changes. Before making a change, consider the impact on: Compliance with local regulations. The company’s overall goals. Whether changes even make sense in an organization. To enhance customer experience strategies using BPI, start with creating a customer-focused culture. A Customized Approach Create a customer relationship management strategy that anticipates their needs, meets customer expectations and recognizes the value in the customer experience. Companies can use BPI in customer service to create data-based strategies and follow any changes on the customer experience side. Your strategy will require some flexibility and a willingness to act when improvements need to be made. Stay Flexible Over the last year, businesses that focused on innovative solutions were able to thrive. Their success emphasizes why companies need to adapt to challenges within the market landscape quickly. Companies should undoubtedly have stated goals in mind when pursuing any business process improvements. Management should evaluate actions that move an organization away from those goals. Lastly, a company’s customer experience strategy should always be focused on data-based decisions and improvements. Monitor Incoming Data So you’ve made changes based on information available at the time, but where is the company now? Where are customer preferences today? It’s important to monitor and adjust for additional BPI as needed. After all, customer needs change, and a company’s strategies should change alongside those needs to remain competitive. Companies should also measure their return on investment no matter how small the change. Did widespread changes make sense, creating a more profitable environment at an organization? Ideally, improvements on the customer service end would mean additional profits for a company. It’s essential to monitor any investments, however, even the small ones, to ensure they remain a boost to an organization. Innovation Within Optimization Companies that innovate are future-thinking, with long-term goals behind any decisions made on the BPI side. A focus on innovation, however, requires a high degree of operational agility. Technologies are ever-changing, and choosing the paths forward that is right for a company can be challenging. With a focus on the customer service side, innovation and the adoption of available tools and technologies can become more manageable. Innovative tools that make your business more efficient can also create pathways for more meaningful interaction with the customer base. That can be as simple as enhancing a customer’s interactions with a company by improving the mobile customer experience. Choose Tools That Make Sense Companies should use existing technologies to define workflows better and make remote work easier. Keep teams in sync to avoid miscommunication down the line that could negatively affect the customer experience. The Quickbase platform is a solution that streamlines business processes that are unique to your organization. Communication is improved along the way, a key component of strong customer engagement. Explore BPI with Trinity At Trinity, our focus always begins with BPI. Only with an exceptional understanding of our client’s unique needs and long-term business process goals can robust, customized solutions be developed. With this approach, Trinity can provide your business with a solution that enables growth within your organization and increased customer satisfaction. […]

Artificial Intelligence in Business: How AI Will Transform Operational Agility

Posted on April 23, 2021

Resilience and quick thinking during the Covid-19 pandemic have led to data-based solutions and business process innovations we have never seen before. Artificial intelligence has been at the forefront of these improvements and a critical component of company solvency. Why? AI tools identify areas for improvement and secure remote workplace solutions, which have been essential to business success. On the whole, artificial intelligence can improve your operations at a rapid pace while remaining agile over time. Automated processes can transform your operational agility. Both are about long-term solutions, not only as a response to current crises. Artificial intelligence in business facilitates growth in agile companies. Let’s explore how AI can transform your operational agility. How AI Promotes Operational Agility Companies struggling to address operational inefficiencies have found that artificial intelligence can be a viable replacement for manual processes. As technology changes, so do AI programs. Businesses are motivated to familiarize themselves with technology that solves problems. Today’s AI solutions continue to be adapted for use in unique ways. Businesses that use AI to their advantage are better equipped to handle obstacles in their workflow. Let’s examine the advancements AI can make: 1. Data-Driven Decision-Making Companies that have embraced artificial intelligence are better able to make decisions based on data. Artificial intelligence tools can test various scenarios before committing to a product or solution, making businesses more flexible in their responses to unfamiliar circumstances. Predictive analytics from machine learning allows company employees to see trends and problem spots they may have missed otherwise. Teams will be better able to strategize responses to potential scenarios and find fresh data opportunities for significant new ideas. A driver for business agility in 2021 is a company’s ability to respond to customer interactions and concerns as they happen. AI will improve those interactions’ timeliness and use collected customer data to drive future, more marketable decisions. 2. Improved Connections Processes propped up by artificial intelligence allow for work company-wide to be more collaborative. AI can prevent teams that are working independently from missing steps due to the Silo Effect. AI allows businesses to answer essential questions, like “how do we improve our workflow?” The solution can be something as simple as scheduling tools that make planning easier. Also, artificial intelligence in business can enhance your plan for future growth by identifying gaps in its operational agility. 3. A Focus on Fresh Skill Sets The future of work doesn’t have to mean that machine learning replaces the work of employees. It does mean that those already on staff will benefit significantly from additional professional development while using new tools to improve company-wide processes. Companies likely won’t be moving backward once they add AI tools to their business management. So, the task will be preparing businesses for the transition promoting AI as an efficient tool that molds business needs. Artificial intelligence allows room for more time spent on creativity, innovation, and collaboration when used appropriately. Automation enables focus on long-term growth rather than daily tasks or formerly paper-based processes. Teaching employees to use tools that improve efficiency and enable free thinking allows businesses to look toward the future. 4. Continuous Improvement As machine learning tools improve, businesses will become more comfortable and confident with implementing AI to improve business processes and operational agility. Confidence in AI leads to trust in the marketplace, as well. Consumers want to see businesses on constant responsiveness and improvement paths. This adaptability translates to a better experience for those consumers. Happier customers and confidence in a business’s operations translate to higher profits overall, improving its bottom line. How to Implement AI in Your Business Implementing artificial intelligence at a business from the ground up is not a simple undertaking. Fortunately, businesses can use outside support to integrate AI solutions company-wide and train staff on machine learning and digital tools. At Trinity, we have the expertise to help you implement digital improvements efficiently and in a way that makes sense for your company. Our forward-thinking team works with companies to identify obstacles to growth and develop the tools you need to remain competitive. Contact us today to discuss improvements to your business process and operational agility. Our Quickbase applications simplify obstacles and modernize your workflow. […]

What Comes First in Business App Development?

Posted on April 9, 2021

At Trinity, we get many calls from potential clients who want to develop a new application to meet business needs. One of our first questions is always the same; have you defined your scope of work or business requirements? Why do we ask that? Because the vendors or solution providers are leading you, or you are leading them. Let us explain: Vendors will come in and, rightfully, talk about everything that their application can do. The business team watching the presentation will become glassy-eyed and go in a million different directions about how you could use each piece of functionality in your business. By the third or fourth vendor, it will all start to blur. But, do you know what you need to manage your business today and what your team needs to drive future quality, service, and productivity improvements? Vendors will demonstrate how the workflow of their solution operates. You’ll note how good that flows and how the data moves seamlessly from one operation to the next. But, do you know your operational workflow? How will that have to change to match the vendor’s application that seemed to flow so well? Will that be good or bad for the business? And how many changes will you have to implement to meet their workflow? Understanding Your Work Scope The Trinity team believes that if you fully understand your work scope and, ultimately, your business requirements and workflows, the conversation completely changes how you manage the vendor process. It now comes from the point of complete understanding of your needs vs. their capabilities. You should have that defined upfront and walk in with that in mind. Instead of being glassy-eyed, you can now ask specific questions about how the vendor’s functionality would fit into your current and future operations and judge each vendor based on your needs. Clearly defining the scope of work or requirements upfront also has additional benefits: 1. Seamless Communication If you have completed a work scope, the vendors can respond directly to that and lead your team to understand how they could enable each work item’s scope. You can also judge if they ask the right questions to dive into each scope item and understand your needs. 2. Realistic Expectations If you have completed the requirements and workflows document, you can have the vendor demonstrate the requirements right in their solution. Are they able to model each requirement exactly, closely, not at all? What will they need to develop to meet a specific must-have requirement? The requirements document can also serve as the basis for an RFP if you want to have equal bids across the vendors. What to Bring to the Table Depending on the solution and where your business is, you’ll use two types of documents to start the conversation. A lot of it depends on where you are as a company and the vendor capabilities. 1. Scope of Work The majority of Trinity clients come to us with a list of “wants.” “We want the system to…”. Our job is to understand the actual “needs” and lay out a future vision to improve their business aspects. Vendors should be able to provide a project estimate from the scope of work. Usually, this will be a range (e.g., $20K – $25K) but should give you a reliable estimate of what it will take to develop the work scope. 2. Requirements / Workflows Some clients have worked through the details of what they want in a new application. They come to Trinity with a detailed document that they have worked across their teams using the application. Trinity then uses our years of business process improvement expertise in refining the requirements with the client. This is always the first step when we start any project with a client. Once the requirements and workflows are complete, we can determine the final project cost. Some clients stick to the initial scope. Others expand it as discussions dive into each process’s exact details, and the client team determines that more is needed than was initially envisioned. Knowing Your Business Process Where you start is up to you, but at a minimum, you should at least provide your vendors a scope of work. From there, Trinity has the knowledge and capabilities to: Work with your team defining your business and IT requirements for any business solution. We have extensive experience in many industries and all size companies. Help define best practices to drive to the optimum solution. Map out future state workflows to achieve maximum efficiency of the operation. Help you with all the other essential project pieces to make sure the project is a success. Trinity has an excellent track record and a wide range of capabilities. So, what comes first? Always the business process, never the application. It just makes sense. Working With Trinity The key to any project is successful leadership. The Trinity team provides that every step of the way. We bring to the project honesty, integrity, passion, and an unsurpassed understanding of what you need for your project. We look forward to the opportunity to work with your team. […]

Business Process Automation for 2021

Posted on April 9, 2021

Businesses that have embraced operational agility have fared better over the last year—coming up with flexible solutions to unique challenges while growing their bottom lines. A vital component of their skill is business process automation and identifying where processes would benefit from more efficient systems. As business process automation solutions become more sophisticated, companies with a growth mindset embrace tools to optimize their workflows. What is Business Process Automation? Business process automation uses technology to automate certain operations that a company must otherwise do manually. For example, automation software can replace paper-based accounting to give employees company-wide access to relevant accounts and invoice processing. In this case, it makes invoicing more efficient and more fool-proof, reducing human error and the potential for costly mistakes. An automated business process can simplify tasks that have become cumbersome and overly complex. It can also improve customer service interactions, boost operational agility and cut costs thanks to efficiency gains. Automation is also a key component in reducing compliance issues at an organization. Automating your business process sets the stage for digital transformation and helps your company compete in a changing marketplace. Business Automation Trends in 2021 Business process automation is undoubtedly here to stay, but several key areas will receive more attention in the coming year. Communication & Collaboration As many companies embrace remote work or hybrid models, they will continue looking for ways to improve communication and collaboration virtually. Companies have also invested in automated anonymous reporting of employee questions and concerns where an email may not be appropriate. Improving communication methods at a company improves overall employee satisfaction, reducing turnover at an organization and time-consuming onboarding processes. Document Management Digital signatures are already an essential tool at large companies looking to improve the ease of finalizing contracts. They are secure, efficient and reduce the time it takes to set up an in-person signature on a document. Companies will continue looking for other ways automation software can reduce the need for paper-based tasks and manual data entry. Customer Engagement Over the last year, companies that have thrived have kept customer satisfaction at the top of their priority lists. Automation allows a business to follow up with customers throughout every interaction with a company if needed. Through an automated business process, there is an opportunity to address customer concerns as they arise. You can also collect data from customer interactions, complaints, and positive feedback to improve customer satisfaction. Customized Solutions Business process automation works best when it customizes solutions to a company’s unique needs. For example, a hybrid workplace may focus on software solutions that give employees access to vital information remotely. Companies working with numerous vendors may use automation software to oversee onboarding and compliance with company-wide protocols. Improving the workflow business process begins with identifying where the need is at a company. How to Implement an Automated Business Process Optimizing your business process is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Automated solutions that work for some companies may not work at another. Businesses looking into workflow automation should follow a few steps ahead of implementing an automated business process: Identify Trouble Spots: A company should look at manual or repetitive tasks that take up time and need improvement. Outline Short- and Long-Term Goals: A company should run on a goal-based mindset. With trouble spots in mind, could automation improve processes to meet those goals more efficiently and effectively? Find the Right Tools: Automation software chosen by a company should match what that company is looking to achieve. Consider tools that complement what is already working at a company and any possibilities for integration. Promote Buy-In: Employees should feel that they are a part of the future of a company. Promote training around new tools and define new roles as necessary. Improved processes at a company should allow for more time for innovation and collaboration. Collect Data and Adjust: After automation tools are in place, note any adjustments that need to be made. As technology improves and changes, so should a company’s automation tools. Growth Mindset Solutions to Improve Your Processes Trinity’s business app development provides customized BPA software for businesses looking to identify growth obstacles. Our custom Quickbase applications allow your business to compete in the future of work. Contact us today to learn more about how automation software and optimized business processes can help your company grow. […]

Trinity Is Honored as a Quickbase Elite Partner for the 4th Year in a Row

Posted on March 26, 2021

For the fourth year in a row, Trinity Integrated Solutions is honored by the opportunity to be a Quickbase Elite Partner! This prestigious award is only offered to the top-performing Quickbase Partners. Once again, Trinity continues to be committed to providing only the highest quality solutions for its customers. FRISCO, Texas (PRWEB) March 10, 2021 – For the fourth year in a row, Trinity Integrated Solutions has been granted the honor of being named a Quickbase Elite Partner. Quickbase is an application development platform designed to address the challenges companies encounter in their business process. Development with Quickbase requires no code, making it more accessible to businesses with various backgrounds. Qualifying as a Quickbase Solution Provider is not easy. A business must excel in app development while maintaining an outstanding customer service rating. For four years, Quickbase has chosen only five of its providers to be named an Elite Partner. They recognize providers with the highest quality reviews, ratings, and expertise while maintaining a Certified Expert Quickbase Builder qualification. An app development business must also have a proven strategic solution delivery methodology. Over the past four years, Trinity has been thoroughly committed to producing the highest quality solutions for its customers. In fact, over 95% of its customers return to work with Trinity. There are many stories of customers finding success after implementing Trinity’s custom solutions. Their dedication to every client has led to a stellar rating and, once again, the honor of this prestigious award. Trinity’s Managing Partners, Scott Burday and Charles Guilbert had this to say about becoming an Elite Partner with Quickbase for the fourth year in a row: “Becoming an Elite Partner with Quickbase is an achievement that we attribute to the amazing work that the Trinity team does for our clients every day. We aim to achieve excellence in all phases of a client’s engagement. That shows in the solutions that Trinity delivers, the great response from our clients, and, ultimately, becoming a Quickbase Elite Partner every year since it has been awarded.” Trinity creates exceptional solutions focused on business process improvement, tailored to each client’s individual needs. Trinity knows flexibility and scalability are vital when developing solutions for ever-evolving businesses. For over 23 years, Trinity has worked with clients to improve their efficiency, increase service levels, and upgrade their output quality. […]

5 Types of Leadership & Using Them To Your Advantage

Posted on March 12, 2021

A great business leader can navigate a crisis, drive positive change at an organization, and empower their employees to take on leadership roles in their position. An ineffective leader who cannot motivate an organization can create unintended inefficiencies and high turnover, hurting its bottom line. Different leadership types can dramatically affect how a company responds to internal and external challenges and how motivated a company’s employees are to work toward its stated goals. We took a look at five types of leadership and how an effective leader can be the change a company needs to remain competitive, even in an uncertain marketplace, and boast an employee base that is all-in on a company’s growth plan. 1. Democratic Leadership Democratic leaders seek the input of team members before making decisions. This leadership style promotes collaboration, mainly when leaders offer opportunities for discussion around decisions on the table. Democratic leadership is effective in team-building and empowering employees to take ownership of company-wise decisions. Employees are likely to be more motivated no matter where they’re working from when they’ve had a hand in decision-making. 2. Autocratic Leadership Autocratic leadership, often referred to as authoritarian leadership, is the opposite of a democratic style. Decisions and policies are sent down by higher-ups, expecting that employees will follow any new changes without complaint. Autocratic leadership is one of the most ineffective leadership types. Mainly when used across all decision-making, leading to turnover and disgruntled employees. 3. Laissez-Faire Leadership A laissez-faire approach essentially puts the onus on employees at a company to operate successfully without much oversight. Prevalent in startup environments, this leadership style entrusts employees to do the right thing without any guidelines in place so that business leaders can focus on big picture moves related to the company. While laissez-faire leadership can be effective in some cases, especially with an experienced group of individuals, it can lead to problems down the road. Make sure to keep tabs on long-term projects, budgetary concerns, or an eye toward growth potential. 4. Coaching-Style Leadership Coaching-style leadership is a more flexible style. It requires an understanding of employees’ strengths and weaknesses to determine how employees are used to their best potential. Coaches nurture unique skill sets. Their feedback is constructive rather than critical. They steer employees toward projects and tasks that fit those identified areas of strength. Coaching is typically a successful leadership style, mainly when leaders give employees additional opportunities to work on areas of weakness. 5. Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is by its very nature constantly evolving and based on where a company is at any given moment. This leadership style can be effective when a company has several short-term growth goals to achieve ahead of a significant transformation and an employee base that thrives on moving deadlines and a fast-paced environment. Leadership as a Tool for Growth The style that will work best in your organization’s setting depends on your employee base and organizational strategies currently in place. Leadership style can also change over time and circumstance, depending on the challenges leaders face at the time. A leader may even need to act quickly and with authority when there isn’t enough time to gather employee feedback. Leadership as a way to ensure a company’s long-term growth overall, however, should promote a few critical ideas. What types of leadership work to strengthen an organization, no matter where that organization is starting? A Motivating Influence A good leader offers praise where it’s due and recognizes employee efforts in some way, particularly during challenging times. Recognition promotes employee buy-in of upcoming changes at a company. Opportunities for professional development and advancement are also crucial to boosting company morale. Strong Communication Employees will have a vested interest in the company’s success when they feel involved in the day-to-day operations. Communication with higher-ups and opportunities for collaboration prevents a silo effect at an organization, improving the chance of innovation. Work-Life Balance There is an expectation that some workers will not return to work in an office, leaving companies to embrace planning over the last year that has made hybrid workplaces and remote work the norm. For some employees, the line remains blurred between work and home as a result. Good leaders ask important questions around improving their employees’ work-life balance: What can a company do to promote both an in-person and remote-work life balance for its employees, even making them feel safe and secure about their jobs? Are people being compensated when additional work is expected of them? Do policies in place cover expectations for remote or hybrid work, and are there limits on communication and response time after-hours? Are there ways for employees to check in with company leaders to ensure a high level of job satisfaction or offer improvement suggestions? Is leadership showing employees that their time is valuable, limiting unnecessary meetings in favor of time spent in a more meaningful way? Lead by Example How a leader presents themselves is crucial. Good leaders boast a high level of professional integrity, promote work-life balance standards outlined above, and positively affect the most challenging times. When working through significant changes at a company, employees should trust in solid leadership that will guide them through any challenges. A good leader should, in turn, trust in employees to handle day-to-day operations when a leader’s attentions are needed elsewhere rather than micromanaging and give their employees the tools to succeed. Leadership Solutions From Trinity The events of last year upended many industries. An obvious obstacle to oversight and business practices has been managing remote teams and creating flexible workplaces that are efficient, effective, and secure. But a unique challenge faced by leaders is understanding when a change is needed to get back on solid footing. It takes leadership to identify an organization’s issues and address them, even when that means reflection about your leadership style. Trinity provides custom solutions […]

Agile Operations: Key Benefits & Practices of Operational Agility

Posted on February 24, 2021

Operational agility is a critical component of a company’s ability to survive in an ever-changing marketplace. In environments where marketplace conditions are wildly unpredictable, businesses must be willing to adapt and reprioritize to make it to the next quarter. It’s essential to understand how agile operations work within a company, the benefits in a changing world, and how to efficiently and effectively implement operational agility strategies. What Is Operational Agility? Operational agility is a company’s ability to evolve and adapt due to changing expectations around that business. How a business reacts to market pressures, technological advancements, and customer demands defines its resiliency and overall health. Agile operations are that much more important in environments like the current one, where businesses must not only contend with expected demands but unpredictable changes that require constant operational shifts to survive. Key Benefits of Agile Operations Apart from the obvious of a company’s viability in the marketplace, agile operations have several benefits. Efficiency Gains With every improvement made as a response to changing operations, efficiency should be at the top of a company’s list of priorities. Agile processes boost a company’s ability to respond in real-time, make faster decisions, and create teams whose focus is on rapidly developing these flexible solutions. Efficiency gains come from identifying processes that allow for a high level of flexibility to change. Consider ways to streamline processes, perhaps with tools featuring extended reporting functionalities that allow for more efficient sharing and accessing of information. Enhanced Technology With a focus on agile operations, enhanced technology is often a benefit of companies seeking digital solutions. Businesses using existing technologies may reveal a need to invest in new software. New technologies that address changing norms to allow for greater employee responsiveness. For example, linking technology with available data and connecting those two areas of a company in tangible ways is influential in improving a company’s response to needed change. Quality Improvements There is an expectation that companies are keeping up with trends driven by the marketplace and continuously improving their products to meet customer demands. For instance, companies that fall behind on quality improvements will undoubtedly suffer market share loss and reduced profitability. A company must consider how to maintain quality while remaining affordable and valuable for the customer at the same time. Agile operations are a balancing act. A Focus on Collaboration The need to improve at a company rapidly can create additional opportunities for collaboration among employees. Some may be working together that may have not before, using skill sets in different ways to solve problems that can come up in a dynamic marketplace. Collaboration may be virtual in the current environment, with some working remotely and others in a hybrid role. It’s crucial to operational agility to ensure systems will allow for that level of collaboration to happen. A Platform for Innovation On top of maintaining a high level of flexibility, operational agility requires workers to find better solutions to existing processes. For businesses looking to remain successful in the long term, it is important to craft goals around becoming more strategic. It is about responsiveness and timeliness to stay competitive as a company and stand out above the rest. So, how do a company’s refreshed business practices allow them to respond to current customer needs and anticipate future demands? Operational agility should then also be a platform for innovation and an environment where processes are adjusted not only on a micro-level but also on long-lasting initiatives. It takes some risk to focus on innovation. A business can do both by being responsive to the day-to-day operations side and long-term strategic goals. Operational Agility in Practice Agile operations do not happen overnight. They are built over time with processes and systems in place that promote a culture of operational agility. Aside from their ability to adapt to changing demands, companies must also note how their existing operations utilize critical tools to remain responsive in the marketplace. What are the immediate fixes and long-term solutions a company can implement to remain competitive and survive challenging times? Key elements to boost operational agility include: Digital Upgrades: A business must stay on trend regarding how they approach their processes using technology and adopt tools that make sense for their company. Goal-Setting: A company engaging in a goal-based business process is more likely to adopt its responses to a changing marketplace in ways that make sense and prepare its business for success in the long-term. Small Changes for Big Results: What are tweaks to business processes your company can make now that will lead to a bigger payoff down the line? Where can processes be more streamlined and workflows adjusted to boost a company’s flexibility? Not all change needs to happen company-wide; small changes can also benefit in the long-term. Improving Your Operational Agility With over 23 years of experience in coming up with custom solutions and as a provider of the Quickbase low-code business solution, Trinity offers customized solutions for businesses looking to improve not only their operational agility but focus on strategies that promote long-term growth. […]

The Future of the Workplace: 2021 Workplace Trends

Posted on February 17, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended how, where, and when we work. Companies that have adapted to changing demands through their employees and in the marketplace have fared better and will be better prepared to adjust to expected workplace trends in the coming year. Trends will remain driven by the pandemic’s effects, with many of the temporary fixes over the last year becoming more permanent. Remote Work Is Here To Stay Many businesses have found success in remotely-managed workforces, now that some time has passed with remote work as the default. Some workplaces will transition to hybrid models in the coming year, with employees splitting their time between the office and home, leading to a more decentralized workforce. Companies will continue to look for ways to maintain a high level of employee engagement virtually, as it’s evident that remote work is here to stay in some form for many. Changing Priorities Businesses have had to find ways to do more with fewer resources throughout the pandemic or a shortage of human capital. Handling a changing workplace has meant taking a closer look at company-wide priorities and where employees fit in with that big picture goal-setting while promoting more positive work-life balance at companies looking to build community. There will be a continued focus on collaboration, team-building, and working as a collective to solve problems rather than working in isolation on tasks that may not fit a broader mission. Companies will look for workplace trends that apply their employees’ existing skill sets in fresh ways, rather than boxing them into specific tasks. Systems and automation that allow for more efficiency around time-consuming tasks, even taking those tasks off employee tasks to focus on big picture goals, will remain important. An Accessible Digital Space Remote work has come with specific challenges, particularly among employees not used to working from home. As companies hire additional employees, it will remain essential to provide relevant onboarding of remote processes to ensure efficiency and ensure technologies are available to access remote workspaces securely. Companies will look to streamline digital processes already available, seek out digital tools connected to promote company-wide collaboration and add tools that will limit the need for time-consuming tasks and a reliance on paper. For example, digital signatures have come to replace in-person autographs to determine the need for in-person interaction throughout the pandemic and make a formerly time-consuming process more efficient. Adapting To Customer Needs Customer needs have certainly changed over the last year, and customer safety will remain at the forefront of company priorities when planning interactions with their consumer base. Companies have had to pivot to digital communication to avoid face-to-face interactions and adjust processes to ensure that communication remains as efficient as possible. Automation will be supportive in some cases, particularly in keeping customers informed about tracking timelines and work delivery, or where human error may be an issue. Companies will continue seeking out ways to maintain connections with their customers in new ways, whether through an expanded social media presence, virtual companies, or an improved online presence that seeks to collect information about their customers’ level of satisfaction with their products and services. Flexibility Across the Board Companies have had to master the art of agility in decision-making and company-wide processes. Adapting to the changing times has meant having to adjust resources where they are needed, even if that means taking a hard look at budgets to transfer priorities from tools that aren’t working to customized tools to improve efficiency at a company long-term. The coming year will mean flexibility with employees and creative scheduling to account for employees looking to balance work-from-home responsibilities with associated challenges from remote work. A focus on productivity overall rather than set hours around when work is happening may be a way to entice workers to a company. Flexible scheduling highlights the importance of accessibility to scheduling software and cloud-based solutions, with access to those processes for everyone who needs it. Finally, companies will continue seeing a shift to flexible supply chains, looking locally for products needed rather than abroad for efficiency’s sake, and a movement to support local businesses. The environmental impact of a move to locally-sourced products is also beneficial in a climate where green decision-making is undoubtedly seen as the responsible choice. Secure Remote Work Companies will continue making improvements to allow remote workers to access their needs while maintaining their workplaces’ security. Continued education around cybersecurity, how breaches occur, and refreshers around acceptable security practices and how to spot phishing schemes will remain important, as the growth of virtual private networks over the last year could have opened some companies up to vulnerabilities. Business leaders will need to focus on digital and cloud-based infrastructure solutions that offer built-in technologies to minimize cybersecurity risks and solidify processes that address what happens when breaches occur immediately and efficiently. This may mean a need to reassess existing systems to boost company-wide security. Innovation as a Rule Whether a company has made a complete pivot to address changing needs in the marketplace or has used innovation to boost its presence, innovation will remain an essential driver of its overall health. Forced changes over the last year have led to creative solutions to problems. Those solutions have worked. Companies are now looking to maintain a high level of innovation to make their workplaces even more efficient and productive. Companies will look to where taking risks has paid off in the short-term and embrace changing their workplace trends for long-term viability. Long-Term Business Solutions At Trinity, we have the tools to support you no matter where you are at with your transition. Contact us for flexible solutions to even the most complex business needs and advice around workplace trends that will support your business today and in the long-term. […]

The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheets & Spreadsheet Alternatives

Posted on February 10, 2021

Working within a manual spreadsheet system isn’t the most efficient way to do business. It can also end up costing a company in both the short term and the long run. Imagine, for example, a company trying to come up with consistent processes to do business. When multiple people fill out spreadsheets, their tracking, data entry, and project checks may be inconsistent with the previous employee. As it’s a manual process, the organization works in isolation rather than optimizing operations across the board. And that’s just one example. The cost of doing nothing determines a company’s bottom line, as higher-ups work to identify inefficiencies in a system that needs dramatic revamping. Moving to spreadsheet alternatives is an easy way to improve workflow efficiencies on a fundamental level. Let’s take a closer look at the hidden costs of spreadsheets and how Trinity can help improve your business processes to work for you rather than against you. Missing Information Unorganized spreadsheets can leave out important information and data. With a manual spreadsheet, it’s harder to catch minor mistakes that can lead to big problems and losses down the line. Also, with multiple people adding to a spreadsheet, it becomes more challenging to catch time overlaps or scheduling conflicts. There is typically no audit trail to see errors when they happen, making it impossible to decipher when and how a mistake happened. A Better Alternative Imagine folding 15 tabs of manual spreadsheets into one streamlined system, where data is not only consolidated in one application but automated to catch errors in reporting. Automated systems with built-in processes for audit trails reduce human errors, saving a company money and time in the long run. Limits to Collaboration Manual spreadsheets promote working in isolation, making it difficult to see the big picture, errors in data entry, and even access to improvements for efficiency standards at a company. Even if you’re working within a system that allows others to participate in spreadsheet maintenance, it can be difficult to monitor changes over time. Any conflicts in the reporting have to be manually addressed, leading to more paper, emails, and an inefficient hunt for information. Additionally, spreadsheets are typically formatted to be used by one person at a time, limiting collaboration by their very design. Even when shared, spreadsheets are not scalable, which makes collaborations extremely difficult. Limits on email attachment size add to their inaccessibility. The rise in remote work and the necessity for remote access to company documents makes this issue incredibly taxing. Spreadsheets limit creativity, as well. Their formats often do not allow for add-ons, like graphics, to explain data or changes to data. Numbers and data may not always tell the full story. A Better Alternative Application platforms make it easy to do things like set up alerts for relevant stakeholders, share information across teams, and make sure data gets in front of the people who need to see it. Cloud-based systems improve collaboration on a team by giving everyone access to the systems in place, no matter where they are. In companies where remote work has become the norm, easy-to-access secure networks are critical to a business’s health. Quality Control Companies using spreadsheets to keep track of subtleties and minor changes can face issues that affect quality control on a larger scale. Being unable to resolve problems quickly can affect the customer experience. Ineffective quality control limits efficient workflow, particularly if company heads must approve spreadsheets from one iteration to the next. Customers who are not satisfied with a company’s performance may be motivated to seek a higher quality control level, leading to overall profit losses. A Better Alternative Cloud-based solutions improve accountability on a team, as all changes are automatically tracked and updated immediately. You don’t have to worry about updating and upgrading your systems, either, as that’s automatic, too. Quality control becomes more consistent with automated systems in place. Missing the Big Picture Issues with manual spreadsheets are often challenging to track, found in email chains or notes from in-person interactions. It can also be hard to see who is working on what and how long it took them to complete a task. Wasting time on administrative tasks like sending spreadsheets from one entity to another means employees aren’t spending time on a company’s long-term goals. That’s a drain on resources and company time that could be better spent elsewhere. A Better Alternative Automated systems take the time-consuming work of spreadsheet management, from collecting information to correcting misinformation, off the plates of workers who could be doing something more meaningful to the company’s bottom line. Employees can return time saved on those administrative tasks to project goals. A Lack of Digital and Mobile Access We’ve long since entered the digital age, and companies concerned by inefficient business processes will look for ways to innovate and reduce the reliance on manual tasks, like spreadsheets. With remote work here to stay for the foreseeable future, it’s also essential to consider mobile accessibility for employees. Spreadsheets should be able to be updated from wherever an employee is working. They should also be a secure method of doing business when employees are sending spreadsheets over insecure networks. Unfortunately, basic spreadsheet formats don’t always meet these standards. Instead, limitations on what employees can do based on where they’re working from costs money and time on the backend. A Better Alternative Access to mobile software allows workers to be more productive, as they have access to what they need no matter where they are. Using a cloud-based platform increases overall security, as well, as team members aren’t having to send spreadsheets back and forth or store information on personal devices. Quickbase: A Spreadsheet Alternative That Works for You For spreadsheet alternatives, companies have quite a few options. Trinity has been a Quickbase Solution Provider for over 15 years, supporting businesses in centralizing their data, improving their efficiency, and automating manual processes, like spreadsheet management. If you’re ready to take the steps in optimizing your business process and […]

Business Agility in 2021: 6 Trends to Watch

Posted on January 27, 2021

Business agility took on a new meaning in 2020. Companies were navigating circumstances few could have predicted. As the start of 2021 appears to present with more of the same so far, business leaders hoping that changes were temporary will be looking for more permanent solutions to remain competitive. What is Business Agility? Business agility is a company’s ability to adapt and respond to internal and external factors to thrive and compete in the marketplace. Companies with a high level of business agility recognize the need to consistently innovate, keep an eye on trends, and equip their employees to respond to challenges in a meaningful way. As a result, companies working to improve their business agility report a happier workforce, more meaningful interactions with customers, and company-wide growth. With many companies already struggling with their own level of business agility fluency, it’s essential to be ready for expected change and solidify processes where trends are already coming to fruition. Let’s look at six expected business agility trends that companies may need to build capacity to respond to in 2021. 1. Flexible, Responsive Workplaces Remote work became the norm for many businesses in 2020, with many employees not expecting to return to the office anytime soon. The coming year will find that many employees have developed a preference for working from home, and companies will likely be on board with those preferences. Companies finding that full-time remote work is not sustainable will continue looking into hybrid solutions for the coming year, with employees spending time both working from home and at the office. The burden is then on companies to develop the appropriate technologies and processes to allow for flexible workplaces to continue, perhaps indefinitely. The unique needs of remote and hybrid workplaces could lead to more flexible hiring practices, as companies seeking a more competitive business process will need to diversify their workforce’s skillsets. 2. Rapid Solutions The speed with which companies have responded to challenges during the pandemic has been critical to their success. Teams seeking ways to respond to changes in their company landscapes won’t go away. Finding dynamic solutions will remain vital to their overall prosperity. Improving responsiveness company-wide may require businesses to do a deep dive into processes that are no longer relevant or outdated in favor of solutions that will support long-term growth in the current environment. Responding to changing demands is made more efficient in a culture that keeps up with industry innovations and data-driven problem-solving. 3. Real-Time Tech Solutions & Analytics Flexibility and real-time problem solving are already expected from a company’s IT services. Alongside the increase in remote work, businesses have had to develop reasonable tech solutions to questions around business security and virtual tools for processes typically done in the office. Investments in technology are not only a trend for companies to weather the pandemic and improve remote processes, though. Tech competency is a crucial component of business agility. Improving the tech processes at a company is also about getting rid of technologies that are either redundant or outdated, with regular audits meant to increase efficiency and automate processes wherever possible. The coming year will see tech improvements that allow for a higher level of personalized customer engagement, particularly when customers may be feeling weary, and real-time data analytics to frame how businesses react to rapid changes. 4. Simplified Processes and Operations With companies looking to do more with less in the current environment, identifying inefficiencies within a business will remain an essential tool around ensuring time is spent strategically and toward stated goals. Companies will continue seeking ways to simplify existing processes and operations, finding ways to do more in-house with the right systems and supports in place. The importance of finding ways to do business more efficiently will always be on-trend. 5. Employee-Centered Approaches As companies adapted to a “new normal” over the last year, employee stress became a critical point of concern for businesses looking to maintain a high engagement and productivity level. Studies showed that companies that could offer a more human approach to employee concerns boasted a higher level of satisfaction among their employees, leading to more buy-in for employees into a company’s long-term goals. With 2021 underway and companies working through the same obstacles, maintaining a high morale level among employees will remain a vital tool in viability. Employees want to feel safe, with policies in place that not only respond to the current crisis but prioritize their health and welfare in the long-term. 6. Personalized Customer Experiences People-centered approaches will also apply to a company’s customer base in the coming year. As consumer behaviors and models for reaching customers changed in 2020, companies need to seek ways to engage with those customers in new, innovative ways. Companies will seek more permanent adjustments to services with digital solutions when in-person interactions are not possible. It’s not only employees seeking a sense of security in the coming year. Companies that ensure customers feel a sense of security in working with them, keeping on top of changing privacy and regulatory concerns where relevant, will be more successful. There are ways to meet customer expectations successfully, even in challenging environments. Take Steps to Improve Your Processes If you’re looking for support around navigating a rapidly-changing business environment and optimizing your company with business agility in mind, explore our tools in the customized software and application solutions space. For over 22 years, the experts at Trinity have worked to improve business processes in tangible ways. […]

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