Productivity is a common keyword in businesses. Companies are always looking to boost it and address any issues that hurt it.
When teams are productive and operating efficiently, then the business as a whole does better and improves profitability. But when things like workflow barriers and poor use of cloud technology drag down productivity, it means wasted dollars and higher operating expenses.
Many Charlotte-area companies want to improve productivity by transforming their digital workflows, but coming off the pandemic, they don’t have a lot of money to invest in new software, computers, or other enhancements.
But it turns out you can improve your productivity by approximately 42% or more by buying a hardware component that doesn’t cost much, a monitor.
Just adding another monitor to a desktop or laptop is proven in studies to improve user experience and increase productivity.
In a study by Dell, users said that working with a dual-monitor setup was a much more pleasant working experience. Some of the observations made by comparing a 1-monitor to a 2-monitor workflow were that with the additional screen space:
- Users could find information faster (2 minutes faster per task)
- Text tasks showed a 44% productivity improvement
- Spreadsheet tasks showed a 29% productivity improvement
- Cumulative time savings were 40 minutes per employee per workday
If a worker makes an average of $20 per hour, that would be a savings of approximately $267 per month due to increased efficiency. So, a new monitor would roughly pay for itself in 30 calendar days or less.
What Are the Benefits of Using Two PC Monitors?
Easier to Do Side-by-Side Views
People often need to bring up two documents or windows side by side. It might be to do a comparison of requested website updates versus what’s actually on the page. Or it could be the need to reference data from one document while working in another.
When your screen space is limited, you end up having to switch back and forth between windows, trying to remember the data you just referenced.
With two monitors, this type of work is done more easily because you have plenty of screen space to have both documents up at the same time, while fully open and viewable.
Reduced the Need to Window-Switch
Another drag on productivity is when you need to constantly switch between windows all day to do things like check email, do a quick web search, answer your VoIP line, message a co-worker, etc.
68% of surveyed employees say that they spend at least 30 minutes per day just switching between their apps.
With a dual-monitor workflow, you can keep certain applications that you need to keep an eye on open on one monitor, while actively working using the other screen.
For example, with your email open on a second monitor, you can quickly see when an email message comes in whether it’s a high priority or not, rather than needing to completely stop what you’re doing to open the email app.
Refer to Notes During Video Meetings/Presentations
When you’re attending a video meeting or hosting a virtual presentation over Microsoft Teams or Zoom, bringing up another window to refer to notes or take notes of the meeting can be tricky.
Some platforms will suddenly minify the video feed when you switch to another program, then when you try to click back, you could end up leaving the meeting by accident.
Many video conferencing applications will allow you to choose which of the two monitors you’d like to share or use for your video activities. Then, you can have notes or a text document open on the other monitor without losing the video window.
Using two monitors makes for a much less stressful video conferencing experience.
Inexpensive to Implement
Adding another monitor to your workflow is one of the lowest-priced upgrades you can make to add a significant productivity boost.
Monitors are one of the most affordable pieces of hardware you can purchase and they don’t need any time-intensive setup, you simply plug them in, set up how you’d like to use the monitor in your display settings and you’re ready to go.
Easy for Users to Adopt
Any business owner knows that a new tool or application is only as good as users’ ability to learn and adopt it. New software can have great functionality, but if users find it hard to learn, and stick to their old workflows instead, it’s not doing you much good.
Transitioning your office to a dual-monitor workflow has a very low learning curve. A second monitor can be set up so a user can simply drag a document, window, or application from one screen to the other intuitively.
Get Help Setting Up Dual-Monitors at Your Office
Rocky Knoll Technologies can help your Charlotte area business choose the best second monitor for your team’s computers and get you set up and improving productivity quickly.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 704.594.7292 or reach us online.
