Office management (also called workplace management) involves a wide array of responsibilities that help office personnel be efficient and effective and organizations achieve their business goals. These workplace managers are in charge of the administrative tasks that affect the whole company, so it's critical that they have the tools they need to gain visibility over the entire workplace. That's where office management software comes in.
An office manager's duties can include everything from managing office design for maximum productivity to supervising the purchase, repair, and decommissioning of office equipment. Depending on the industry, they may even be responsible for partnering with HR to monitor and evaluate employee productivity.
Employment for office and facilities managers is projected to grow by 7% from 2021 to 2031. As more people enter the field, it's even more crucial to know what kinds of tools - such as office management software - will help workplace managers get their jobs done.
Office managers give companies a huge advantage when it comes to seeing the big picture of a specific location. They typically work on-site, so offices in different regions will have a different office manager.
Office management is important because it's designed to create a more pleasant and productive work environment. In turn, this helps employees do their jobs safely, maintains office organization, improves the effectiveness of each department, enhances communication between employees and departments, and creates the kind of satisfying work environment that helps employers retain their best workers.
In order to fulfill their obligations, office managers need to be great communicators, organizers, problem-solvers, and negotiators. A good office manager helps a workplace run smoothly, keeps employees and clients happy, and improves your bottom line. But it's also crucial to give your office managers the tools they need to stay organized and keep the wheels turning. Workplace management software helps office managers organize people, projects, and productivity.
Office management software comes in many shapes and sizes. Depending on the industry, work management may involve legal compliance, patient confidentiality, project management, scheduling, security, finances, building operations, or employee evaluations.
The best office management software tools manage multiple tasks. For example, an integrated workplace management system (IWMS), or integrated workplace management platform (IWMP), is a cloud-based software system that helps office managers streamline administrative tasks like payroll processing, HR management, time tracking, compliance, and project management. It houses a variety of tools in one place so workplace managers can access information from personalized dashboards and gain visibility into a job site or department anywhere and anytime.
The goal of integrated office management software is to help automate repetitive tasks so that your workplace managers are freed up to deal with more personalized tasks. For example, an office manager can use Sine's Visitor Management System (VMS) and its integrations to automate the following tasks:
By automating these tasks, a VMS helps office managers:
As you can see, Sine's VMS tools help office managers save time, automate tasks, and free employees up to do their most important work in a safe environment. The software also helps office managers collaborate with facilities managers to improve the physical workspace.
Not all office manager job descriptions are alike. The responsibilities of your workplace manager will largely depend on your industry. For example, a large corporate banking office will have vastly different needs than a long-term care facility. And while a bank's headquarters may have security needs as stringent as schools, the information you need to collect from visitors to maintain compliance will differ.
Let's use a healthcare facility and corporate office as examples of unique office environments with specialized visitor and compliance needs.
An office manager in a doctor's office will typically be in charge of (or oversee) the following:
While a VMS may seem limited in its ability to assist in all of these tasks, the integrations available through Sine can help manage everything from processing patient data to recording employee hours to facilitating the delivery of medical supplies. Cloud-based storage also helps you keep sensitive information private to ensure compliance.
Corporate offices will typically have an office manager at each branch of their company. While they may be in charge of many of the same tasks as healthcare managers (such as processing visitors, tracking guests, managing equipment purchases, and overseeing employee attendance and productivity), they may also have some unique needs when it comes to their workplace management software.
For example, corporate office managers may be responsible for the following:
A visitor management system is an integral piece of the office management software puzzle when it comes to many of these tasks. It also helps you prepare your office for a paperless future by utilizing the cloud to store data.
The office of the future requires tools that facilitate an overall digital transformation. A VMS is a critical part of this. It helps reduce physical infrastructure, automate tasks, and provide granular data for analytics that help office managers make better decisions about how to run a workplace.
Software for office managers not only helps streamline business processes but it helps support employees in a way that frees up time for them to concentrate on the things that matter.
