Did you know that an average office worker spends almost 1,700 hours a year in front of a computer screen? To use this time effectively, a growing number of companies have taken to using screen recorders. Screen recorders allow businesses to record and keep track of digital activity while saving time and costs compared to traditional training methods. So, how does that work in practice?
What is a Screen Recorder?
Simply put, a screen recorder enables you to capture any area of your screen and save it to your computer. The best screen capturing tools are versatile with a variety of custom features to suit your needs.
For example, features that allow you to record webcam footage or export the content as a video or other formats. Moreover, they make recording your screen a simple, streamlined process. You don’t want technology tripping you up before an important meeting or presentation.
While screen recorders have been around for a while, many businesses are still not using this technology to its full advantage. Whether you are onboarding new colleagues, presenting to clients, or creating software tutorials, screen recording can go a long way to improving overall productivity.
Coupled with other great technologies such as video editing tools, it can completely transform the way you work.
Reasons to Consider Using a Screen Recorder
1. Improve Attention to Detail
Many organisations invest a lot of time and money into the smooth operation of their business, knowing that a single slip-up may have costly ramifications for the company. Fortunately, a screen recorder provides a powerful way to capture and share information so that fewer mistakes slip through the cracks.
When you record a meeting, there is no confusion over the specific details shared or what was said. It’s easy to review the key points, and all those involved can be held accountable for any decisions made.
In addition, by watching it back, managers and team leaders can pick up on any small details that were missed in the first instance. This gives them a better understanding of how teams are working together and what can be done differently.
2. Catch Up on Missed Work
There’s nothing worse than being out of the office for a day or so and spending your first day back scrolling through endless email threads. In fact, research has shown the very act of checking email increases our heart rate and stress levels.
While a lot of positive things can be said about Gmail or Outlook, these channels are just not built for collaboration. Reply chains are grouped on top of each other, while attachments add another layer of confusion into the mix.
This is just one of the reasons why there’s a lot to be gained from recording meetings. Not only is a meeting an opportunity to outline the work schedule, but it’s a chance to discuss ideas and come up with solutions.
A screen recorder captures more of the conversation than handwritten notes alone. Moreover, this information doesn’t need to stay within the four walls of the meeting room, but can be shared with anyone within or outside the organisation.
This means that any contributor can quickly get up to speed on the latest projects. But more importantly, they are also less dependent on emails to see what others have been working on.
3. Reduce Time Spent in Meetings
Research shows that too many meetings are costing organisations billions of pounds every year, and causing productivity to plummet. But with 70% of employees working from home at least once a week, virtual conferencing has become the new normal, and this isn’t about to change any time soon.
The good news is there is a viable solution: Record all your meetings. When a meeting is unproductive, repetitive, or feels like an unnecessary burden, this can put a strain on team members and their ability to do good work. But when a meeting is recorded, fewer participants need to be in a meeting at one time.
Recordings can be watched in an employee’s own time and there’s no risk of missing out on any important information. For many companies, screen recording could be the best way for team members to manage their schedules, eliminating the time wasted in meetings.
4. Train Team Members Effectively
Getting staff members accustomed to software systems or business processes? Virtual training videos and how-to tutorials are always a good starting point, as they help staff to visualise how something works.
While screen capturing tools differ in functionality, many have a range of editing options that allow you to create professional-looking tutorials with next to no technical skills. It’s simple to add titles, images, and annotations and make the video more engaging. You can also trim, split, and merge different portions of a recording so it’s easier to follow.
For those who are tasked with the training—whether it’s a trainer or senior team member—using a screen recording tool as a learning aid can be helpful. Rather than spending countless man-hours training staff, a video is a faster and easier way to explain key points and improve understanding.
Also, the trainee can screen record their process, allowing the trainer to provide guidance if they come up against any obstacles.
5. Monitor Staff Performance
No workplace is perfect, and a good manager is always looking for ways to improve. This doesn’t mean peering over a team member’s shoulder every five minutes to see if they’re on Facebook. What it does mean, is finding a way to track daily activities and assess which tasks staff are doing well and where there is room for improvement.
For this, a screen recorder is an invaluable tool. Screen recordings provide unique insights and are a great way to measure performance for weekly and monthly reviews. They can help pinpoint where you’re missing your targets or where you need to provide recognition among team members.
Just remember to obtain your employee’s permission before making the screen recording, as such methods can feel intrusive if not approached in the right way.
6. Solve Problems Before They Happen
Many of us are so reliant on our computers that it’s a serious problem when something goes wrong. Network errors, screen freezes, and system faults can be incredibly frustrating, especially when issues take time to resolve.
While some problems experienced with computers are completely unavoidable, screen recording can help prevent many of the more common issues.
For your tech experts, screen recordings of errors give them an opportunity to analyse what went wrong. This helps them to optimise your company’s existing processes or develop new ones with fewer bugs.
Better still, these screen recordings can be used as a training resource for staff members. A video recording can act as a visual guide, showing staff how to handle these problems themselves. This can reduce downtime, save money, and help your company adopt better practices, systems, and technologies.
7. Meet and Satisfy Your Customers’ Needs
A lot of time and resources can go into building your website, app, or products. However, even the best product can be ineffective if it doesn’t fulfil your customer’s needs.
An easy way to evaluate this is through the use of screen recording software. By tracking your customer’s activity in real-time, you get a better understanding of how your customers buy and use your product or services.
A good example of this would be using screen recording to analyse how customers interact with your website—from which buttons are getting clicks to the length of time spent on each page. This will help you to make improvements that really matter to your customers.
With 84% of companies that made an effort to improve customer experience reporting a boost in revenue, utilising this software could help to deliver a better experience for customers, ensuring you don’t end up losing out to your competitors.
8. Share Information Easily and Securely
Screen recorders have come a long way in recent years. These days, this technology runs alongside collaboration tools to access and exchange information in different formats and for different purposes.
A screen recorder lets you record any media that will be useful to you, from screenshots to video and audio. These files can be exported to multiple devices, shared over email and instant messenger, or uploaded in cloud services such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.
When sharing video recordings, staff members need to feel comfortable that the privacy and security of the business is protected. These recordings contain valuable business assets and commercially sensitive data that can be passed around as easily as a spare pen.
For this reason, screen recording protection such as video encryption software is essential. With this technology, the content library can only be accessed through a secure master password. This makes it easy for staff to store and share the files while avoiding the risk of confidential information falling into the wrong hands.
9. Help Project Managers to Stay Organised
If you struggle to stay engaged in a meeting that is longer than an hour, you’re not alone. Studies show that 90% of staff members admit to daydreaming in a meeting with 73% reporting that they do other work. But for project managers and team leaders, maintaining focus during a long meeting is only half the battle. Summarising what was discussed and planning out actionable items can take longer than the meeting itself.
When you record the meeting with a screen recorder, however, note-taking is no longer necessary. Project managers can use the information recorded in the meeting to determine the next steps. Or, they can simply provide a link to the video so staff members can revisit the recording as and when they need it.
When you consider the average employee attends around 62 meetings a month, this technology provides a distinct advantage for product managers, who have to manage this time and juggle several projects simultaneously.
One of the most common mistakes project managers make is not using integrated tools to share information and track changes. A screen recorder provides a way for project managers to disseminate the information, so they can move the projects along and complete tasks faster. This helps to increase focus and transparency among team members.
10. Retain Good Team Members
Understanding the needs and wants of your employees has become an integral part of ensuring the long-term success and health of your business. Therefore, when it comes to business strategy, never underestimate the vast treasure trove of information you have collected through screen recordings.
In line with other effective management tools, screen recording can contribute to a happier workplace. From behavioural and verbal cues recorded in meetings, to monitoring computer activity and productivity, screen recording can give useful insights into the way staff are working together. Moreover, recorded data can provide adequate support for remote workers or be used as a way to report back on day-to-day activities.
Screen Recorders—An Overlooked Yet Vital Addition to Your Tech Stack
Computer technology has revolutionised the way companies do business, and screen recorders work hand in hand with the tools, apps, and software to automate operations, cut costs, and boost efficiency.
Better still, screen recording allows companies to gain perspective about the way they work so management can make real, lasting changes.
Have you ever wished you could go back in time and replay a conversation? Or slow down a training procedure when you feel overloaded with new information? While it may seem such a simple technology, screen recording is one of the most overlooked, yet most effective tools your business needs right now.
Originally published Sep 29, 2021, updated Jan 16, 2023
