How to Increase Productivity When You Work Remotely

Working remotely is becoming more and more popular in the international marketplace. Sixred, a NetSuite service provider offering support and consulting services to more than just Fortune 500 companies, is a testament to this reality.

We were able to sit down with Allison Rogers, Sixred’s Director of Operations to get the scoop on how her team runs 100% remotely, without compromising on communication and productivity.

Rogers’ job requires that she runs the company efficiently by balancing marketing, accounting, product development, and service operations. To complete such diverse functions remotely may sound like a daunting task. She proves, however, that working remotely does not threaten productivity.

On the contrary, having a remote team can be a real asset to a company, if you have the right tools.

1. Find the right tools that will help you get things done

Rogers says she has never felt better about her company’s productivity. “Instead of bugging the co-worker sitting next to you,” she says, “remote work lets you focus and get things done. When a coworker does need to send you a message or a screenshot, you can finish the task at hand before addressing it. This makes our team very productive.”

This is why Sixred chose Droplr to enhance remote work. “With Droplr, I can put visuals right within every email and create screencasts that show things in shorter processes. This saves time by not having to set up meetings that take much longer and require planning” – says Rogers.

2. Steer clear of unnecessary meetings

Sixred proves that avoiding unnecessary meetings sometimes goes hand in hand with providing excellent customer service. “When we take on a new client, we work with them remotely as well,” says Rodgers. “When training our new clients, we use Droplr. This helps eliminate back and forth.

We use screencasts, which are 1-3 minutes in length to show them how a process is done or to point things out. Instead of organizing a meeting and interrupting our clients’ workflow, we send them the screencasts. They can get to the video on their own time – when it is most convenient to them.”

3. Use visuals to overcome communication barriers

Lastly, Droplr also helps to eliminate the language communication barrier. Sixred has part of their company working in India and being able to speak to them has sometimes been a struggle. With Droplr, Rogers says, “We don’t even need to include the audio. They get what we are showing them more easily with visuals than with words. Before, this would have been an enormous struggle.”

Congrats Sixred on doing such a wonderful job! We take pride having you as a client!