How to Increase Workplace Productivity Without Increasing Headcount

Staying competitive in the age of digital transformation means doing more with less. Your organization may not have the available budget for new hires to cover business growth, or you may be dealing with a talent shortage in the areas that you need help with. The good news is that you can increase workplace productivity without increasing your headcount. 

Identify and Address Your Processes

One of the major culprits that slow down productivity may be your workplace processes.

While processes are supposed to help organizations scale up, they are often complex with layers, workplace politics, and interface structures.

When employers can address that pain point by developing streamlined processes, not only can the business dramatically improve the customer experience, it can also increase job satisfaction for its employees. Additionally, you free up time for your employees by creating efficiencies, giving them more room to innovate. A little automation goes a long way. 

Utilize technology

The truth is, staying abreast of technology is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but is vital to compete with the early adopters in your niche.

Go through a complete audit process on your current technology and look for the areas that are most productive as well as the least productive. Get feedback from the users on exactly what would make their jobs easier to do and start looking for platforms that match these requirements. 

Once you have a good sense of your technology needs, have a strategy in place before making software or hardware purchases. Every off-the-shelf software solution does something specific to solve a specific task or process. And it can get complicated quickly when you have multiple software solutions that need to integrate together.

Consider working with an IT consultant to see if developing a custom software solution from the ground up makes better business sense.

Prepare and position for success

You’re making that technology investment to help your employees work smarter. And you’ll be giving them the tools. The third step in the process is making sure they have the know-how to use them.

Make sure you offer the proper training across the company to ensure your employees understand the new processes. Some companies have found that peer-to-peer training keeps employees more engaged and ambitious. Every company will train differently based on its workplace culture. Find that method resonates best with your employees.

To consult with FUSION OF IDEAS’ software development experts on your technology needs, call us at 949-453-0740 or visit https://fusionofideas.com/dev.php.

5 Ways to Make Your Brand Stand Out

Companies like Apple, Nike or Disney can put their name or logo on any product and customers will flock to it (then keep coming back for more.) But what if you’re not a Fortune 100 company or a well-known brand? In a crowded marketplace, how do you make your brand stand out?

The good news is, you don’t have to be a company at that caliber to have brand recognition. Here are 5 ways that can help your business rise above others:

  1. Create interesting content. Interesting also means original and sincere. If your content is cliché or too sales driven, or if you attempt to mimic another brand, people won’t have a compelling reason to choose your company over the other brand. Also, be bold in your content. When it comes to making a name for yourself, risk often leads to rewards. 
  2. Know your customers. Ultimately, your brand is what your customers say it is, not what you think it is. Know who your customers are and form a connection with them. That connect is based on trust by meeting their expectations. 
  3. Be good at one thing. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. When you think of In-N-Out, you think of burgers. The Southern California chain does burgers well and they stick to what they do best. In the same manner, know what you do best and be good at it. Your customer will remember you for it. 
  4. Deliver on your promise. Having brand integrity is key to a successful business. This is part of building trust with your customers. Nordstrom promises a no-hassle return policy and the company delivers on this promise every day. Their customers are loyal because they know that if they need to make a return, there will be no questions asked. 
  5. Visibility is key. In marketing, it is said that a customer must see your brand seven times before the customer remembers it. Leverage different opportunities to diversify the visibility of your brand to help with brand recognition. Perhaps you surprise and delight your hotel guests by using laptops with your brand at your new guest lobby. Or you donate raffle prizes with your company logo at an industry event. Or you send your clients a custom-branded tablet to help them track your services. There are infinite ways to put your brand in front of your customers.

In the race to get your brand to stand out in a crowded marketplace, it takes a clear objective and a deep understanding of your business, your customers and the marketplace.

Once you have established your brand, let us help you take it to the next level by making it known to your customers, partners and stakeholders. Contact us to get a complimentary mockup of what a custom-branded device looks like with your company logo.

When it Comes to Gaming, It’s All About the Experience

In Vegas, playing casino games has its perks. Besides the potential of winning cold, hard cash, members of players clubs get free hotel stays, discounted meals, concert tickets, golf rounds, among other rewards. And when it comes to tournaments and casino events, there are even more benefits just for playing.

A number of Vegas casinos have included customized tech gadgets as part of the benefits for participating in a special event. These giveaways serve as reminders of the event after the players have left the casino floor.

Here are a few that FUSION OF IDEAS got to work with:

  • Amazon Echo smart speakers customized for Park MGM’s special eventCustom branded Amazon Echo for Park MGM
  • Custom-branded Apple AirPods for a blackjack tournament at The Cosmopolitan of Las VegasCustom branded Apple AirPods for The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
  • Apple iPad Pro with MGM Grand logo etched on the back for one of the casino’s blackjack eventsCustom branded Apple iPad Pro for MGM Grand

Off the strip, MyVegas, an online gaming app by Playstudios, gifted its top players with a customized Apple iPad Pro.

When it comes to casino tournaments, special events, and even online casino gaming, the “wow” factor sells more than the game. It’s all about the player having the best and most memorable experience.

Smart Advertising to Advertisers

Amazon TV Fire Stick
Custom-branded Amazon TV Fire Stick for Newsy

For the first time ever, online video subscriptions, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, have outnumbered their cable subscribing counterparts, according to a report by the Motion Picture Association of America. 

And with the rise in popularity of smart home devices, there are more and more options for smart display devices, such as Amazon Echo Show, Google Home Hub, and the newest player on the market, Facebook Portal and Portal+.

What all this means for advertisers is that there are more ways than ever for your consumers to experience your brand. And to understand the new experience from a consumer’s point of view, advertisers need first-hand experience with these new platforms.

That’s what online news network Newsy allowed its advertisers to do. When Newsy announced the Newsy app on Facebook Portal and Portal+, they partnered with FUSION OF IDEAS to customize Newsy-branded Facebook Portal devices to send to its top advertisers.

In addition to the Facebook Portal devices, the network also customized Amazon TV Fire Stick streaming devices with the Newsy logo that would allow existing and prospective advertisers to experience Newsy on subscription-based video on demand services.

The distribution of the customized devices was part of Newsy’s overall sales strategy to allow its advertisers to experience content in new ways.

“By doing so, the ad buying community was able to see first-hand how our content stands out from other news brands,” said Dominick Borgia Jr., senior account manager at Newsy.

Newsy custom-branded Facebook Portal
Newsy branded Facebook Portal devices were sent to top advertisers as part of the announcement of its app.
Newsy app on Facebook Portal and Portal+
Newsy app on Facebook Portal and Portal+

The Life Mastery Institute® iPad Brand Experience

Mary Morrissey, founder and owner of Life Mastery Institute®
Mary Morrissey, founder and owner of Life Mastery Institute®. Photo credit: marymorrissey.com

Inspirational speaker and best-selling author Mary Morrissey is a dream builder, who empowers others to achieve new heights of “spiritual aliveness, wealth and authentic success.” Morrissey is the visionary behind Life Mastery Institute®, a life coaching certification program that has transformed the lives to tens of thousands of people worldwide. 

Through Morrissey’s certification program, coaches are trained and mentored to learn how to effectively teach others and build their own successful, difference-making life coaching business. Coaches also receive in-depth mentoring, tools and templates for authentic client attraction, heart-centered client enrollment and business-building.

As part of the certification program, the coaches-in-training are given a customized Life Mastery Institute® iPad with books, music, program audios, and teaching tools all preloaded on the device. Each piece of preloaded content is handpicked by Morrisson, who encourages coaches to use the iPad as an all-in-one tool to find the resources they need for their life coaching business.

The Life Mastery Institute® iPad Brand Experience, Created by FUSION OF IDEAS

The Life Mastery Institute® iPad brand experience begins with a printed letter from Morrissey to welcome to coaches to the program. The next layer is the unboxing of a custom blue and gold branded device sleeve that is precisely fitted around the iPad box. Inside the box is the Life Mastery Institute® iPad customized with the logo etched on the back of the device. Through FUSION OF IDEAS’ proprietary laser etch process, the carefully designed artwork on the iPad will not fade, chip or rub off. And finally, the homepage of the iPad is completely personalized for the program with a custom home screen and dedicated apps and content preloaded onto the device.

To learn more about how FUSION OF IDEAS can create a brand experience for your business, visit fusionofideas.com/branding.

Custom-branded Life Mastery Institute® iPad
Custom-branded Life Mastery Institute® iPad
FUSION OF IDEAS mockup for iPad
FUSION OF IDEAS mockup for iPad