Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 45 | Page 45

Workspace that is clutter-free Clutter causes stress. Lack of organisation impairs motivation and state of mind. To think clearly, stay motivated and be productive and efficient, you have to get rid of the clutter. Luckily, this can be as easy as removing unnecessary papers and items and setting up an effective organisation system. TIP: Cleaning the desk every Tip: Cleaning night the desk every evening/ night evening/ after turning off the after turning off the it computer computer keeps clean. keeps it clean. High speed Internet and network router If you’re working with a poor Internet connection, your efficiency is likely to be suffering. Besides being a source of frustration, poor connections take your attention away from your work and increase your likelihood of becoming distracted by other things. It is important to review your different Internet service provider options and decide which is best for your home office. You’ll need a network router if you or your family use more than one laptop or www.intelligentcio.com computer in your home. To ensure that your network router can meet your Wi-Fi connectivity needs, you’ll have to consider the types of devices you’ll be using like cellphones, tablets or smart TVs, as well as the size of the area that requires coverage. TIP: When buying a router don’t look Tip – When buying a router don’t look for for the highest performance possible. the highest performance possible. You should You should only pay for the features only pay you for need. the features you need. that If you that already have If you have the a router the strong signal isn’t a already router but signal but isn’t strong enough in your home office, look into enough in your home office, look a wireless range extender. It will pick It up will the into a wireless range extender. weak boost it and retransmit pick signal, up the weak signal, boost it it. and retransmit it. Document scanner Document scanners allow you to go paperless, which can improve your home office efficiency in multiple ways: by eliminating the distracting clutter of papers, by allowing you to organise documents digitally and by speeding up workflows. While you will need to maintain a physical organisation system for important original documents, digitising other documents both decreases the number of file cabinets you’ll need and reduces the amount of time you’ll spend searching for documents. It also minimises the risk of data loss, since you won’t have to worry about misplacing key paperwork. On average, people spend a week searching for lost papers and other items every year and that time eats into productivity. Document scanners can speed up certain workflows, such as forms processing. Whereas manually entering data is time- consuming, and mailing documents halts the workflow altogether, scanning and emailing documents take just minutes. Tip – When buying a home office scanner TIP: When buying a home your office that is efficient and enhances scanner that is efficient and enhances productivity, look at a feature rich scanner your productivity, look at a feature that is easy to set up and scan quickly as rich scanner that is easy to set up and soon as quickly it powers A wireless scanner scan as on. soon as it powers on. can put in scanner any place can you be might need A be wireless put in any it and there you are might scanners in the market place need it and there with are a flatbed for in scanning passports is a scanners the market with a which flatbed for convenient scanning passports which is a very very feature to have. convenient feature to have. Organisation system The type of organisation system you choose should depend on your space and the INTELLIGENTCIO 45 45