Technology such as instant messenger, reminder apps, management apps, wellness apps, and productivity apps are widely used by both employers and employees to ensure wellbeing and productivity. RingCentral study found that nearly 70 percent of employees spend up to one hour daily going back and forth between workplace apps on their smartphone or computer. This accounts for up to 32 days of apps spending annually.

“Undeniably, most workers have a massive collection of apps because they support their work responsibility, keep them healthy, keep them organised, and in theory, make their work-life easier.”

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The problems of using wrong work apps

However, the same RingCentral survey noted that too many apps usage can decrease productivity and performance at work. Surveying about 2,000 workers, the research revealed that the biggest problem with work apps and channels is that it can lead company to lose profits due to decreased performance. On average, a single worker juggles from four communication apps every day which is pretty much like holding four conversations at one time. Even worse, respondents said that they flip between apps around 10 times per hour, resulting in more wasted time.

Researchers found that 56 percent of respondents felt that searching for information stored across different apps was disruptive. Meanwhile, 1 in 3 (31 percent) admitted that it caused them to lose their line of reasoning. Yet, they admit that it was needed due to their work responsibilities.  

Other results of using wrong work apps would be as follows:

• decreased work efficiency – You are constantly going back and forth on long email or messages when actually you can solve it sooner by simply calling or walking over your coworker’s desk.
• system chaos – This includes wrong typing, wrong scheduling, or missed follow-up information due to application trouble. Installing too many work apps to your smartphone or laptop will also decrease their performance.
• security trouble – When you are sharing confidential information, your chance of sending it to the wrong person is higher when using media such as emails or online chats. And, when you use multiple apps, you might tend to set the same passwords for all devices which can easily be hacked.
• Higher cost – Not only will using many apps or wrong apps decrease your productivity. It can also decrease your self-peace, leading to higher stress. Higher stress leads to decreased wellbeing and health. Decreased health leads to sickness. Sickness leads to loss profit in company.

The solutions

If you want to avoid the worst effect of wrong workplace applications, follow these tips.

• Reduce your workplace apps – It is better to choose one that is best for your daily work responsibility. If you deal with clients, having one communication tool such as Hangout might be better as it is connected to Gmail, a mail provider that most people use nowadays. Another option, you can research application that is widely used in your country if you are responsible to communicate within your country.
• Choose apps of your preferences – Which apps work better for you? Which one can you easily maintain and use? Which one has the best navigation? App navigation is important because it will ease you when switching from one platform to another, or from one client to other clients. Work apps like Google suite might be helpful in this matter as it consists of various work management applications in one suite.
• Understand client’s preferences – Clients are important to business, thus, it is wise to do a little research about your client’s communication choice. Or, if it is comfortable, you can ask them directly about their preferences. 

Read also: 7 Applications to Boost Workplace Productivity and Performance