How to Get the Ultimate High Tech Office
While most companies can be said to reliably spend about 3% of their total budget on IT but how much they spend on tech in general varies. While some offices prefer to have a high-tech trendy solution for everything, other offices take a slower approach. If you want to have a high-tech office, there are a few simple additions that can bring you up to speed with the hottest firms in silicon valley.
Add these 5 things to your work environment in order to get the ultimate high tech office.
1. Key Card Entry
Security is important to a modern workplace. No matter what industry you’re in, it’s a competitive world and you don’t need your company secrets getting out. While firewalls and two-factor authentication setups can keep you from getting hacked, all the cybersecurity in the world can’t help a breach of your office. With just two minutes and a USB drive, someone could wreck millions of dollars of havoc on your company.
A key card entry system allows you to control who has access to your spaces. You can set up different levels of access so that you can keep access limited to an as-needed basis. Rather than have your employees try to troubleshoot servers or anything they are troubled by, you can keep anyone from touching what they shouldn’t.
Key card entry also lets you control your space in a serious way. In the unfortunate case you have an employee who betrays your company secrets or should no longer have access, updates are immediate. Once you rescind access from one card, it’s no longer able to open any of the same doors it used to.
2. Standing Desks
Standing desks aren’t just another fad in office furniture. They actually serve a useful purpose.
They keep people moving. Having unhealthy employees not only puts a burden on your company’s insurance policy, but it puts a burden on your employees. Employees who don’t get enough exercise can have high blood pressure and be more irritable.
They increase productivity. When people are up and standing around while they’re working, they’re more apt to be up for walking across the room to talk to a colleague. This increases the amount of interaction your employees have and can help maintain a positive rapport between workers.
They’re also great for back issues. Most people will experience some kind of pain or discomfort in their back at some point in their life. Rather than keeping employees slouching in chairs ore sitting incorrectly in the most ergonomic chairs you can find, standing is the best thing for their backs.
Standing desks will keep your staff on alert, keep them treating each other with respect, and make everyone feel healthier in general.
3. Electronic White Boards
One of the most frustrating things about using a whiteboard is the process of transcribing everything to notes, then to turn everything into a digital message. You miss out on any quick and clever diagrams anyone creates or the way that information is organized. Electronic whiteboards eliminate that problem and speed up the process of spreading ideas.
Electronic whiteboard technology is improving constantly. There are white boards now that can print out the notes you’ve just taken so that everyone leaves the room with their own copy of their work. There are boards that use special pens so there’s no more need for cleaning supplies anymore.
Electronic whiteboards make things cleaner and more efficient than ever. You can have meetings without the cleanup, pick up from previous meetings, and even pass along your ideas to people who couldn’t make the meeting. Make every presentation count with an electronic whiteboard.
4. Air Purifier
Keeping people out of the office when there’s a cold going around is a double edge sword. While you need your staff to be around to work on your latest projects, they could get other staff sick and hit your ranks even harder. You need to have policies to keep people out of work when they’re sick and also have ways to keep the workplace germ free.
A virus eliminating air purifier won’t bring your employees back into the office but it can surely keep them from getting each other sick. If an employee comes in at the beginning or end of an illness, they might still be contagious. An air purifier could take the edge off of those contagious employees and help to maintain a healthy workforce.
Keeping one near your entrance means that any germs that blow in through the door can be taken care of quickly. If a delivery person or a visitor comes in with contagions, the entryway to your office will be kept free and clear of viruses.
5. Encrypted Hard Drives
As people pass around data, move files from one machine to another, or just set up backups, you could be dealing with viruses. If your regularly backed-up machine gets hacked and needs to be wiped, you need to make sure your backup isn’t as vulnerable as your machine.
With an encrypted hard drive, you can ensure that all the data you backup is private and unhackable. Encrypted hard drives keep your company’s data private while allowing you access as a user.
A High Tech Office Is a State of Mind
Having a high tech office isn’t just about having a desk with a touchscreen attached to it. It’s more about having tools and gadgets that make life easier. Listen to your employees and they’ll tell you what they think will work for your business.
If you’re still not convinced that technology can improve productivity at your office, check out our guide of 3 reasons why.
