Having a small business can be a great venture but it can also come with some difficulties in organizing both staff and procedures in a way that can maximize the potential of your available resources. It can get hectic to balance project planning, strategies, client consultations and staff meetings all at once while still trying to make your business grow. But streamlining your business technology might just help you simplify your operations and keep your activities organized without needing five meditation sessions to get through the day.
- Set up a server to centralize your activity
Setting up a server can go a long way in improving your business and helping keep your documentation stored and backed up in case you need to access it. A server will allow you to centralize your work and have access to all of the information you need at any given moment.
- Let the internet know you’re there
With a growing number of business transactions taking place online it’s become vital for companies to make their presence known on the internet. Creating your own website is the first step in offering your potential clients a portal into your business and information about how you operate. Using a website to describe the products and services you provide can save you a lot of time as it will answer simple but vital questions regarding your company. And don’t worry if you’re not very tech savvy, there are many web hosting companies you can use to set up a website easily and securely.
- Pay online
Go online to handle your payments and look into setting up automated billing cycles. If you set up an accounting package in order to process your bills easier, you can adjust your software to issue invoices automatically and let you know when a payment is due. You can also link your accounting software to your bank account in order to process electronic bills and transfer the money on your behalf at a previously set time.
- Personalize your phone systems
You can choose a VoIP system in order to handle calls and voicemails according to your specific needs. They’re often times cheaper than regular office phone systems and you can use them to transform the voicemails you receive into attachments that you can then process like you would emails.
- Be clever about outsourcing
Keep an open mind about outsourcing some of your functions. Doing that could give you more time to focus on the aspects of your business which require the most attention. Outsourcing your HR for example will help you avoid the risk of paying tax penalties should you miss payment deadlines. It will also clearly save you a lot of time which you would normally spend on managing things like payrolls.
- Talk to your consumers
Online business activity is booming today there’s no denying that. These days it makes more sense than ever to focus your advertising efforts on directly marketing your products to your consumers. You can post your commercials online and make them appear automatically when a visitor goes on your website. There are also business SMS texting services that you can use as a direct and very effective marketing tool. Sending text messages to your customers about your products, promotions and features can establish a more direct connection between your company and your target customer base.It’s important, however, that you track your success when using such services (via reporting and analytics), Brit Tammerog from TextMagic explains. More importantly, you can also streamline in-house communication by harnessing the very same service.
- Keep up with the schedule
Scheduling your business activity can be a horribly complicated experience but there are ways you can make it easier on yourself. Specialized scheduling software packages can track your earnings, employee working hours and any possible errors your company’s daily activities. This type of software can help you save a lot of time and keep your business organized and running smoothly. There are also many options that companies offer, so you can choose what best suits your needs depending on how many employees you have and what segments you need to monitor.
- Organize your work
It’s hard enough to coordinate a team as it is, but if the boss is disorganized the whole work day can turn into a disaster. There are companies that can help you set up your business activity but if you want to plan everything yourself make sure you stick to a schedule just like the rest of your staff. Set aside specific times for different tasks such as returning calls, meeting with advertising representatives or holding conferences with managers. It’s also a good idea to focus on the vital things that you need to get done during the day rather than make a mile-long to-do list that will never get done in time.
- Stay in touch with your staff efficiently
Maintaining good communications with your employees is vital in making your business run smoothly but if you don’t set up an efficient method of keeping in touch with them you might be hurting your productivity. Rather than holding frequent meetings with your staff members try to set up a simple method of reaching them and prioritize what information you want to share with them. Many executives are finding that a lot of time can be wasted in meetings and that employees often times consider them to be unproductive. Using a company email can help you send information out to them according to your needs and business messaging services can provide you with better communication tools that will allow you to set up instant texts, emails or chat options for your employees depending on what you want to communicate and how.
- Know your consumers
If reaching your consumers directly and easily is the way to go in terms of advertising, it’s also important to know how your services are being perceived. Gathering feedback from your customers and finding out what they think about your company is vital in building a successful brand.
- Be smart about hiring people
Simplify your elimination criteria when hiring employees. Setting up specific factors to determine a person’s eligibility will help you get in touch with the right people for the job sooner and help you build your team more efficiently.
Author Bio: Helen Daniels is a freelance writer passionate about the things that help small businesses achieve their whole potential. Whenever she’s not researching the best and most tech-forward tips on streamlining operations, she enjoys caramel lattes and the latest edition of the WSJ.