Your IT blueprint: Six contemporary tools that inspire

Modern and Digital: These are the qualities that companies proudly associate with their sophisticated advertising campaigns and polished communication strategies. It's a must to position themselves as progressive and contemporary in the fiercely competitive job market.

However, views and understandings of what falls under the definition of necessary IT equipment vary significantly. Job applicants and professionals pay close attention to the extent to which modern working tools are available for their roles. Their expectations of IT include:

• Simplifying and expediting processes.
• Automating repetitive tasks.
• Focusing on creative or demanding assignments.
• Reducing avoidable bottlenecks.
• Avoiding the use of technology for its own sake.

Follow our IT blueprint and assemble your perfect IT setup to inspire your team for the long term.

Hybrid Work is a Must

Is your company clinging to strict attendance requirements and unavoidable in-office hours? Such a stance may have a discouraging effect on skilled professionals. Hybrid work, with its mix of in-person and remote hours, is not just a passing trend but a contemporary model with potential.

To provide your employees with the necessary foundation for location-independent work, you need to equip them with essential technology such as mobile phones, laptops, and external monitors. Additionally, on-site, ensure fast internet, comfortable office chairs, and adjustable desks.

If you desire flexibility from prospective talent, as an employer, you should act accordingly. Offer mobile equipment proactively and signal that hybrid work is not an empty promise in your company. Enforcing strict in-office attendance or exclusive office work diminishes your chances of attracting and retaining employees.

To learn how to make home office arrangements work smoothly for both employers and employees, including clear structures and structured communication, read more here.

Tool for Video Conferences

A picture is worth a thousand words. Offer your employees the opportunity to see each other daily, even in their home offices, and enhance their communication through video chat. With tools like Zoom, Teams, or Jitsi (our preferred open source option), you can easily organize digital team meetings and utilize them for project work.

There are no limits: Everything from meetings with external partners to workshops with a large number of participants is possible. Additional features like screen sharing or group work in separate chat rooms emphasize the clear advantages over outdated telephone conferences. Joining is simple: All participants come together digitally in front of the camera through an individual login or link.

Tool for Cloud Computing

Remote work necessitates a global use of files that are relevant to many team members and should be accessible to all. Cloud computing enables different individuals to work on projects without having to constantly exchange relevant files.

Unnecessary emails are significantly reduced, and used documents always remain up-to-date because they no longer reside on local hard drives with access restricted to one person. The risk of different versions circulating and employees working on outdated documents is minimized.

Moreover, transparency is maintained for easy tracking of changes and revisions. For agencies and companies that work extensively with freelancers or external service providers, this form of data sharing can simplify collaboration.

Tool for Project Management

Every good project requires regular in-office meetings! If you endorse such statements, you may raise a red flag for professionals and advocates of digital work. Goal-oriented project work should by no means be interrupted by constant gatherings but can be made even more effective thanks to helpful project management tools.

With tools like Trello, Asana, or Jira, colleagues and team members can track progress, keep an eye on deadlines, or define milestones. All participants have insight into the status of the project and can flexibly respond to bottlenecks, changes, or delays.

Reassurance for all admins: Your role remains intact! There still needs to be a guiding function where all threads converge. However, the consolidated knowledge and power over a project are distributed among all participants, allowing for a collaborative working environment on equal footing.

Tool for a Helpdesk

For internal and external communication, a smart helpdesk like Zammad is also indispensable. It consolidates all your communication channels in one interface and presents incoming inquiries in an organized manner through tickets. This way, you never lose track and become independent of individual persons who solely manage their own mailbox.

Continue reading to learn how a helpdesk can be used in IT, commerce, law, healthcare, and even in the field of arts and crafts.

Tool for Human Resources

German bureaucracy loves paper (unfortunately). Official documents and printed contracts still remain the preferred tools in the field of Human Resources, where digitalization is progressing slowly. Personnel records, files, agreements: everything could be stored and processed digitally to benefit from immense time savings. The integration of HR tools like Personio, Remote, Monday, or Kenjo would also benefit your employees, who can submit and manage time tracking, sick leave notifications, or vacation requests easily through the corresponding software.

Thanks to individual features and developments, software providers often customize these tools according to your wishes. This allows HR professionals to create surveys, collect information about employee satisfaction, or manage internal communication from a central location. Additionally, onboarding with essential data, facts, and contact information for points of contact is digitally accessible, making it easy for newcomers to find all the resources they need with just a click.

Summary

Convince prospective professionals that progress is part of your daily business. Those who view contemporary IT and the basic equipment for hybrid work as standard rather than just an additional benefit will generate more attention from potential candidates. They can be assured that working with you is forward-looking. Provide a tool for all tasks, from video conferences and cloud computing to project management, helpdesks, and human resources, which streamlines their communication and makes processes more efficient.