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 increasing the size of a single monitor, or the addition of an extra monitor can increase productivity. Instead of needing to switch back and forth between programs such as a website you may be referencing and a word document you’re editing, you could 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 from the small cost 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, which are smaller than your typical desktop screen.

Here are some kinds of jobs that 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.
• Essentially any job that requires information from multiple windows or programs will benefit.

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