In an era of intense competition, organizations are constantly looking for strategies to inspire their teams to be more productive. In a complex multi-project environment with a shared resource pool, efficiency becomes even more important. It’s the key to smooth workflow and successful project completion.
This is where AI resource management software can become your reliable partner. Let’s explore its role in more detail in the article.
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The Key Drivers of Productivity
Before we explore the ways of increasing productivity, it’s important to know what factors impact it.
Workflow organization
These steps will help you create a workflow that will facilitate driving productivity and project success.
- Setting clear and achievable goals.
Productivity starts with clear and realistic objectives. Project/resource managers should clearly articulate their expectations of the team members and make sure that everyone understands them. Also, every employee should realize their contribution to the common goal.
- Prioritizing tasks.
In a multi-project environment, prioritizing tasks is very important. Without it, team members can waste their efforts working on tasks that aren’t critical for the moment. A lack of priorities reduces productivity.
- Skills level matching.
When people work on tasks that correspond to their skill levels, this contributes to high productivity. This also means that highly skilled team members shouldn’t perform simple tasks and vice versa.
Workloads
A balanced and manageable workload is the key to high productivity. Effective workload management is about finding a balance between two extremes: overload and idleness. It may seem that if you give more tasks to an employee, they will be more productive. But that’s not the case: overloaded employees can make mistakes, deliver low-quality output, and become bottlenecks hampering further work. At the same time, when employees are idle, their productivity goes down, too. What is more, you can hardly detect an idle employee, as no one shows that they have no work to do. So, you may need robust resource management software to manage employees’ workloads effectively.
Corporate culture
A company’s corporate culture plays an essential role in team members’ productivity. What aspects should be included here?
- Communication.
Do managers give people constructive feedback? Do employees feel free to communicate any arising issues? Do employees feel comfortable to ask their questions?
- Collaboration.
Do the team members use effective collaboration tools? Are they encouraged to share ideas?
- Operations.
Do employees have the necessary tools and equipment for performing their tasks? Do they use their time efficiently?
Evaluating these factors can uncover inefficiencies and processes that negatively affect productivity. Now, it’s time to consider how artificial intelligence can contribute to increasing employee productivity.
Increasing Employee Productivity with AI Resource Management Tools: Key Capabilities
Tasks automation
Repetitive and time-consuming tasks can be successfully delegated to artificial intelligence, particularly to AI-powered resource management tools. We’re talking about such tasks as creating schedules, analyzing performance, creating reports, sending reminders, etc. Automation reduces the possibility of making mistakes and saves time for more important activities, thereby increasing productivity.
Improving decision-making
The other undeniable advantage of leveraging AI in resource management is getting actionable insights and using them in decision-making. In resource management, they can be decisions regarding resource allocation, workload distribution, or future project staffing. In particular, AI-powered resource management tools can track resource utilization and signal potential bottlenecks before they become problems. Also, AI can provide managers with predictions. These capabilities help project and resource managers adjust workflows when necessary and keep team members productive.
Personalizing assignments
You need to have insight into each team member’s talents, capacity, and availability in order to allocate resources effectively and maximize project productivity. It is impossible to remember all these details, particularly in big companies with hundreds or even thousands of employees. However, AI resource management tools can offer a solution: they not only store this data but also analyze it and make recommendations for the most effective resource allocation.
Optimizing workloads
AI-driven resource management tools can detect improper workloads both current and future. What is more, upon detecting improper workloads, you can use RM tools’ scenario analysis capabilities to find an optimum way to adjust the situation: e.g., reassign resources, move due dates, add more resources, etc. Optimizing workloads will help you increase team members’ productivity.
Improved collaboration and communication
Effective collaboration is at the heart of productive teams. AI-powered resource management tools enhance communication by facilitating information sharing and reducing misunderstandings. Some RM tools automatically send reminders, facilitate document sharing, and serve as a single source of truth for all project participants. In general, AI solutions create a more connected work environment, which helps team members collaborate efficiently and stay productive. Finally, this is helpful to maintain the flexibility of remote and hybrid work environments, which in turn helps teams stay productive regardless of their location.
Facilitating skill development
AI can also support team productivity by identifying skill gaps and recommending personalized training programs. This ensures that employees are continually growing and capable of meeting evolving project demands. Investing in employee professional growth not only boosts productivity but also enhances job satisfaction and retention.
An example of an AI resource management tool capable of boosting productivity is Epicflow. It’s a solution designed to address the resource management needs of complex multi-project environments with a shared pool of resources. Here are its capabilities facilitating team members’ productivity:
- Allocating resources based on their skills, availability, and capacity;
- Detecting improper workloads;
- Forecasting workloads and capacity for realistic and bottleneck-free planning;
- Scenario analysis for eliminating bottlenecks and inefficiencies;
- Collaboration capabilities;
- AI virtual assistant.
Therefore, AI-powered resource management tools will not only enhance resource utilization but also make team members more productive.
Conclusion
AI resource management is a game changer for the way teams work. It helps them achieve more with less effort thanks to automating routine tasks, improving decision-making, optimizing workloads, and promoting collaboration. Thus, for teams striving to optimize their performance, leveraging AI in resource management is no longer an option—it’s a necessity.
