Productivity, online training, and video collaboration might mean big gains for you and your team if multiple monitors are incorporated into their workspaces. However, it’s a tossup between these clear advantages and the additional costs, resources required, and potential for distractions that come with more screens.

If you find yourself switching back and forth between windows during the normal course of your business day or have trouble keeping track of where information is, then you might benefit from adding an additional monitor to your computer set up.

Studies from as far back as 1999 have shown that greatly increasing the size of a single monitor, or the addition of an extra monitor entirely can increase productivity. Instead of needing to switch back and forth between programs such as a website you may be

referencing and a document you’re editing, you have each open on a separate screen. This means instead of needing to constantly swap back and forth, you can simply turn your head.

Any time you need to switch to another page, you’re adding an extra step to your workload. You may do this a hundred times over the course of your day. One study by Jon Peddie Research stated that with the small investment of an additional monitor you could increase productivity by as much as 42%. This is especially pronounced if you’re currently using a laptop screen to get your work done, as these are far smaller than your typical desktop screen.

Here are just some examples of tasks which can benefit from an additional screen:

• Someone writing a report or documents with references to other documents can have a word processor open on one screen, with the reference material on the other.

• Programmers can have their integrated development environment open on one screen with the design document or program their scripting for open on the other.

• Data entry officers can have the form they’re filling out on one screen, with the data they’re entering on the other, allowing for better crosschecking and reduction in data errors when transposing.

• Essentially any job which requires information from multiple sources, tabs, windows, or programs will stand to benefit from the extra productivity gains.

If it sounds like you or your business could benefit from the addition of multiple monitors and would like help with sourcing or implementation, reach out to the Altitude Innovations Team today.