Want to actually get your money’s worth from the software you already pay for?
Most companies own portfolios of massively underutilized tools. You bought the licenses. Employees sign in each day. But the value you’re realizing… pale in comparison to what’s possible.
Here’s the thing…
Software’s not the problem. It’s how people use it (or fail to use it) that’s the problem. And there’s no better example than your email inbox.
Let’s fix that.
What’s inside:
- Why Your Software Spend Is Being Wasted
- The Focused Inbox Advantage
- Simple Ways To Squeeze More ROI Out Of Your Tools
- Turning Wasted Hours Into Real Returns
Why Your Software Spend Is Being Wasted
Sound familiar to any entrepreneur out there? You spend thousands on the latest technology but your team still functions like it’s 2015.
The tools have powerful features. But nobody knows they exist.
Let’s start with email. Email is the baseline software every business uses. But email is silently killing your team’s productivity. Did you know that knowledge workers spend an average of 28% of their workweek on email tasks? That’s reported by McKinsey. That’s over one whole work day per week disappearing into email.
Now imagine that times the size of your team. Big bucks are literally leaving the building.
Email is not the issue. It’s the volume of messages and that most of it is noise. When your people are buried in their inbox they are not doing the work that helps your business grow.
That’s where the focused inbox comes in.
The Focused Inbox Advantage
The job of a focused inbox is simple. Sort the emails you care about from the ones you don’t.
Here’s why that matters:
Not all emails are created equal. Far from it. Research indicates that only a fraction of the emails that arrive in your inbox are business-critical. The remainder? Newsletters, promotions, CC fodder and unsolicited spam.
Yet every single one of those emails pulls your focus. They still require the same amount of mental triage. That steady context-switching is productivity’s silent killer.
A filtered inbox solves this problem. It automatically filters your important emails into one tidy view. Non-priority mail gets archived for later viewing (or indefinitely). The beauty of this system is that there’s less clutter, fewer distractions and much more time for actual work.
It comes built into Microsoft Outlook. You just have to know how to enable it. Check out these Outlook productivity hacks to learn how to leverage the power of focused inbox and the other hidden gems buried within your subscription. Most people will never know they exist.
That’s a shame because the focused inbox is one of the easiest wins you can get.
Think about it:
You already pay for Outlook. The focused inbox is free. Spend just a few minutes setting it up and your team will be wasting less time sorting and more time selling, building and helping customers.
That’s what increasing your software ROI is all about. Not always buying new tools. Using the ones you already have correctly.
Simple Ways To Squeeze More ROI Out Of Your Tools
Time for some real talk. These are the simple secrets to unlocking more value from your standard business software applications.
Turn On The Features You’re Already Paying For
The bulk of software is feature overloaded with dozens of unused functions. The focused inbox is just one. Your daily drivers have them too.
Rules and filters. Templates for repeat emails. Scheduled send. Snooze buttons. Automatic sorting.
Every person saves minutes each day. Add them together and you have hours saved per week.
Begin with selecting one tool your team uses everyday. Then take 30 minutes to learn what that tool is capable of doing. You will be amazed at what has been right in front of you.
Cut Down The Context-Switching
Checking email forces people to interrupt whatever they’re doing. Plus, studies at the University of California, Irvine show that it takes an average of 23 minutes to regain concentration after being distracted.
That’s rough.
The solution is easy: batch your email. Don’t check it every few minutes, schedule two or three times a day to devote to it. Turn off your notifications. Let your focused inbox do the heavy lifting for you.
Your brain will thank you, and your output will climb.
Actually Train Your Team
Alright, here’s the truth nobody wants to hear. You can have the most amazing software in the world but if you don’t know how to use it, it’s dollars down the drain.
A lunch-‘n’-learn that takes five minutes. A cheat sheet everybody can share. A video walkthrough that’s two minutes long. They cost you next to nothing and earn your gratitude again and again.
The objective is to ensure that all employees are aware of time-saving shortcuts. The return is only realized when individuals use the tools properly.
Review Before You Renew
Before you renew any subscription, ask a simple question: are we actually using this?
Many companies are still paying monthly for software that half the employees have forgotten they have. Audit. Prune. Invest more where you are investing already.
That way, every dollar you spend is working hard for you.
Turning Wasted Hours Into Real Returns
So how much is all this really worth?
Massively. Deploying effective tools can lead to huge efficiency gains over time. One study Microsoft did with more than 6,000 employees found that AI-powered tools allowed people to finish documents 12% faster and reduced email reading time.
Now imagine multiplying small wins like that across your whole team, every single day.
The math is simple. Take back just one productive hour per day per employee and you’ve instantly gained capacity without adding a new headcount. Returns like that make your software investment look like a steal.
Plus… it doesn’t have to cost you millions of dollars. Most of these victories are from equipment you already have.
The Bottom Line
Improving the productivity of your business starts with doing more with less. When it comes to maximizing productivity with technology, it doesn’t mean investing in more technology. It means leveraging what you already have correctly.
To quickly recap:
- Turn on the features you’re already paying for (like the focused inbox)
- Cut down the constant context-switching
- Train your team so they actually use the tools
- Review your subscriptions before you renew
Begin with your inbox. It’s the tool employees use every day and touches all departments of your business. The focused inbox will help you find the biggest time savings. Enable the focused inbox and batch your email.
Small changes, big returns. That’s how you maximize the money you’re already spending.