Managing digital teams | Digitizing your business #6

Recently, building digital teams is becoming more and more important, which contributes to a significant increase in work efficiency and easier communication between employees. Thanks to digitalization, managing teams becomes less complicated, faster, and more precise. It allows companies to better monitor employees’ progress, which is key to making informed decisions. Read on.

Managing digital teams – table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. Why build digital teams?
3. How to choose tools for managing digital teams?
4. Practical team management tools
5. Building digital teams
6. Measuring the performance of digital teams
7. Summary

Introduction

In the era of digital evolution, team management is undergoing a huge transformation. Traditional management methods, based solely on face-to-face meetings and conversations are getting replaced by more advanced and flexible technological solutions. In this article, we will discuss key aspects of digital team management and practical tools that can support this transformation.

Why build digital teams?

Digitalization brings many benefits to the organization. First, it improves work efficiency by streamlining communication, planning, and control processes. In addition, digital tools help better monitor work performance and provide valuable data for analysis. Finally, they allow companies to become more competitive in the market.

Many business owners associate tools for managing digital teams only with remote and computer-based work. However, there are a number of platforms that help improve the efficiency of teamwork, both in the office, at home, and in the field.

How to choose tools for managing digital teams?

When managing digital teams, it’s important to focus on the real company’s needs and the corresponding software functions. It’s best to start by conducting a needs analysis, that is, answering the following questions:

• Will we need the time-tracking feature?
• Will we be using shared files?
• Should the software run on mobile devices or computers?
• Will we need a management panel for the business owner or manager, or will a shared workspace be enough?

The answers will let us choose the right program or set of cooperating applications. It is important to consider digitalizing team management in the following areas:

• Communication – modern communication tools, such as group chat and video conferencing apps, allow for quick and effective team communication. According to a report by TechRepublic (2021), 95% of companies are already using them,
• Sharing files – cloud solutions for file sharing and remote collaboration are used by 76% of enterprises today. Even if everyone works in the same building, it’s much faster and easier to send a message or collaborate on one shared Miro (https://miro.com/) or Mural (www.mural.co) board, rather than standing at a whiteboard in a conference room,
• Security – using a VPN allows people working from home to securely share files and exchange sensitive information, which is why 54% of companies are taking advantage of this solution,
• Planning – digital calendars and task schedulers make it easier to organize work and track progress and deadlines, for example, on Kanban boards or the milestone and roadmap views,
• Delegating tasks – with project management software it is easier to assign tasks to individual members and monitor their progress.
• Control– thanks to digital tools, managers can monitor the performance of the team in real-time and make decisions based on reliable data.

Practical team management tools

There are a number of project management tools in the market. Let’s take a closer look at the most popular ones, especially since they offer free plans:

• Trello – it is a project management platform that allows you to create task boards, assign them to individual team members and monitor progress, available on computers and mobile devices,
• Asana – it is a more advanced task and project management system that offers a range of features to simplify planning, tracking and team collaboration, available on computers and mobile devices,
• Slack – it is a trendy instant messaging app for exchanging information within a team that integrates with other tools like Trello and Asana, available on computers and mobile devices,
• Firmbee – it is a powerful project management tool available on PCs that allows you to use time tracking, view projects on Kanban boards, and collaborate with your team and freelancers.

Sometimes, however, it can be difficult to find team management software that suits a company’s needs. That’s when it’s worth considering one of the less popular options:

• Meeting a consultant – many people today help to choose and implement software for businesses. An experienced and independent consultant will help select solutions according to the “best of breed” principle, i.e. best suited to solve a specific problem rather than meet personal preferences. Solutions selected in this way can be linked together using an API (application programming interface), to create a unique whole tailored to a company’s needs,
• Cooperating with a software house – it is an expensive solution that gives you the opportunity to create unique software that is fully compliant with the requirements of a specific company without having to hire a team or freelancers, as well as identify and define the company’s needs on your own.

Building digital teams

Project management tools available in the market are very well designed. Therefore, building digital teams shouldn’t require much effort from employees. Once we are done with analyzing needs and choosing tools, it’s time to get to implementation.

It’s a good idea to start with training team members to get them familiar with the chosen tools and to teach them how to use them. Usually, installing an app on a mobile device or logging into a browser is enough. The next step is to discuss how to proceed and answer such questions as:

• Who will delegate tasks and when?
• Where will the notifications of new assignments be displayed?

At this stage, however, it’s worth using the tools spontaneously. This way, it will be easiest to identify possible problems without wasting time discussing the obvious.

Measuring the performance of digital teams

Monitoring progress and collecting feedback from the team is as important as implementing digital communication tools. This can be done by comparing the results from before digitalization with the current ones, paying attention to such performance indicators as:

• Task completion time – which can improve tremendously, for example, by changing phone calls to mobile employees working at a customer’s site into messages containing the address and the GPS location, as well as a description of a task to be done,
• Interaction frequency in a team – it may turn out that the exchange of information will intensify while taking less time and involving only those who have a real impact on solving a specific problem,
• Customer satisfaction level– if a team, for example, handles customer service, the availability of information regarding the processes related to the fulfillment of a person’s order in a digital tool can have a very positive impact on customer relationships.

Summary

By investing in the right tools and implementing them, companies can become more efficient, competitive and improve team collaboration. The key elements of managing digital teams are communication, planning, task delegation, and control. It is worth devoting some time to analyzing needs, selecting the right tools, training the team, and measuring the effectiveness of implemented solutions.

The future of project management tools is to support not only employees’ efficiency but also their well-being and satisfaction. The development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation, as well as the introduction of gamification solutions, can help improve the quality of work life.

Digital tools will help leaders monitor employee satisfaction and engagement levels, as well as identify areas that need improvement. With modern solutions, such as flexible work hours, remote offices, and platforms to support professional development, management will be more oriented to the needs and expectations of each employee. Personalization of modern tools can make employee well-being play a key role in the future of team management, contributing to greater efficiency, job satisfaction, and talent retention.

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