The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way that people conduct business. This goes for digital businesses too. At E-Typist, we have always served our customers virtually and now, we are enhancing the tools we use to do so. Starting in May, we will be utilizing Slack to better connect our team of typists and virtual assistants.
Slack is a digital communication tool that takes the individual approach of email and transforms it to be more team-focused. This is accomplished through a series of channels. Users create an account to join a specific Slack team. Once they join, they can follow channels on topics that relate to the work they do.
When you work remotely, direct messages and live collaborations in Slack beat out emails hands-down in helping you to feel supported in your work, and facilitates the development of a virtual office community.
“As a virtual business, Slack provides us a unique opportunity to create a work environment for our typists,” says Founder and CEO Vivian Saxe. “We created a special channel that compares to a traditional ‘break room’, letting people get to know each other’s stories the way you would in a brick-and-mortar office setting.”
Developing connections between employees can be challenging in a remote setting. Working from home can be isolating. Slack’s benefits are two-fold in that it provides a network between the typists and also enhances communication with our support staff.
“There are definitely client-oriented benefits to using Slack at E-Typist,” says Process Developer Chrissy Spangler. “We serve diverse businesses and individuals, and to produce the best work for them, there needs to be uniformity in the way that we do business. We use channels to educate typists on the best transcription and grammar standards, which in turn ensures that everyone is drawing from the same, ever-growing skillset. This has a direct impact on the quality of our service.”
One of the first tools E-Typist is moving to Slack will be our Help Desk. With Slack’s streamlined functionality, we are confident that using Slack will improve the way that we communicate as a team. Our team of typists are looking forward to connecting with each other in a different way.
For some, Slack is nothing new but for others, they first learned of the tool when Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, had a Twitter thread go viral on March 25. He shared a candid account of how they are handling an increase in demand. In the thread, Butterfield shared a words from an internal message to his team:
“We will look back at this time and realize how much it defined our belief in what we can accomplish as a team. Stay focused. Stay awake. Everything we’re doing matters.”
The real-time digital solutions we provide are more important than ever for growing our business and that of our clients. We are proud to be a part of our clients’ success.
But building connection doesn’t have to be all business.
“Boundless opportunities are unfolding to create office communities with these tech tools,” shares Spangler. “By the end of 2020, I plan to attend the first ever E-Typist office pizza party – remotely of course!”
So who is ready to grab a slice of pepperoni and dive into Slack with E-Typist?