Category: Donnas Blog

When I ask people how they find the answer to a challenge in Excel or Word, I commonly hear the response “I Google it.” Whilst Google is great it has its challenges.  Firstly you need to KNOW what you are looking for – sometimes you know the outcome you want but not the technical term and secondly, when you find the answer, your problem is solved, but reality is there are probably 2 or more colleagues looking for the same answer who will potentially go through the same process. So what’s the answer….share the knowledge with your colleagues. So if …

With so much of the average office worker’s time sitting, at a desk, in meetings, on a train or bus, in a car, is it any wonder we have seen a rise in back complaints. The last few years have seen an increase in standing desks in the workplace as sitting (well too much of it) is now being viewed as the bad for your health. According to a Huffington Post article this week, the next step is walking meetings. Probably not a replacement for larger meetings, but great for one on one conversations. Researchers at Stanford University say walking leads …

Each month I send out an email with a quick video tip or shortcut to increase productivity with Microsoft Office. Often there are little frustrating things that happen in Word and Excel that, whilst small, if you have to do them regularly that 5-10 minutes adds up over time. Did you know that if you fast tracked a task in Microsoft Office and saved 5 minutes a day, across the course of a year that equates to over 1000 minutes or 16hrs! One of the common things we hear from clients is they simply don’t have enough time to get …

Credit Reporting body Dun & Bradstreet recently released Q2 2014 Business Expectations Survey Results indicating more businesses plan to hire staff in the next three months. I wonder if this is a reactionary approach businesses take in response to increased workloads and pressure from government, unions and the like to create more jobs?? I believe before organisations simply recruit for more staff, they need to take a good long look at internal process improvement. Common technology such as Microsoft Office and Open Office, offer organisations the ability to automate and streamline documentation within the business, thereby reducing risk and unlocking …

What is The Technology Myth? The Technology Myth is simply a belief that adding new technology such as software or hardware to an organisation on its own holds the magic key to unlocking productivity in the business and opens the floodgates to increased profits. Reality is this is far from the truth. Although a majority of society would view the latest diet or weight loss supplement with an air of skepticism, the same doesn’t apply to technology. On a consulting assignment with an organisation we were asked to “train staff” in how to use new video conferencing technology. To determine …