Now more than ever businesses are being encouraged to adopt technological software to avoid being outshone by competitors. And it’s not just to meet the infinite unattainable expectations of millennials who want the next best thing. But to up-skill, innovate and most importantly generate time. Time is of the essence and is for many SME’s the most valuable element a business can run off.
As for start-up SMEs, time can become a burden, especially when having to juggle in-between tasks of importance and daily admin duties. This can affect a business’ quality of offering and can even prevent growth.
Failure to carry out, can only result in failure to carry on; seek technological help!
Many businesses aren’t aware of the advantages of technological solutions, fearful of complex software due to having to up-skill staff, provide training and shell out big bucks.
See below for tips on how to improve your time in the office, with affordable, intuitive solutions that’ll elevate your personal productiveness and replenish the lost time you’ve incurred back into your business.
1. Use automated bookkeeping software; Pandle
Modern software solutions deliver integrated automated features so that businesses no longer have to manage the time-consuming tasks themselves. This not only gives owners time to meet with clients or elevate their product, but ensures that long-winded – yet important – tasks aren’t rushed but taken care of, so that your business doesn’t suffer as a result.
Pandle is a simple accountancy software, designed for all business owners to operate; training or knowledge of accounting isn’t required, for you to operate the software yourself. Pandle simplifies bookkeeping and streamlines time-consuming accounting tasks, encouraging business owners to ditch long-winded alternatives such as spreadsheets.
Alternatively, you can employ an accountant to manage your books for you using Pandle software. By signing up with The Accountancy Partnership your business will receive affordable accountancy services and our intuitive cloud-based software, Pandle for free of charge. Pandle can be accessed by your business and accountant, where you can both manage bookkeeping and converse via an integrated live chat system.
How does using Pandle generate more time into your business?
Pandle delivers automated features so that you don’t have to search for financial documentation, submit incorrect tax returns or chase payments – see below.
Bank Sync feature – no longer lose time inputting transactions into spreadsheets, Pandle automatically syncs all of your transactions for you from your various accounts. As not only is the process of manually inputting figures into spreadsheets – or word docs – time consuming, but it can provoke further time wastage, from incorrectly inputting data.
Automatic error detection – Pandle will automatically notify users if an error arises within their accounts. This prevents users from having to analyse lists of transactions to locate an error, and stops users from submitting incorrect tax returns which can delay submissions, incurring loss of time and penalties.
Payment reminders – through automated payment reminders your business can schedule alerts to go out to clients, to prompt customers in advance prior to deadlines. Not only does this ensure employees nudge clients enough so that your business receives payments punctually, but also stops employees deviating from their roles to chase payments.
Bank Rules – Pandle-users can employ Bank Rules for when transactions have been imported, they can automatically be sorted into a category and applied VAT, without being checked and confirmed by the user. This is time-efficient and prevents an employee from having to manually categorise and VAT transactions, whilst avoiding manual error.
Other non-automated (time-saving) Pandle features include:
Reliable, infinite cloud-storage
Using Pandle, business owners gain unlimited access to their accounts and infinite storage via the cloud. Never will owners spend time: hunting for materials, clearing up disk space or writing up misplace documents again.
Efficient and effective invoicing
Swap word and excel for fast and easy invoice creation within Pandle. Pandle’s intuitive interface makes creating invoices a breeze especially if you’ve a collection of customers whom regularly need invoicing each month. Simply create a customer group within Pandle which you can select, to invoice several clients simultaneously, saving time!
Book-keep on the go with Pandle Mobile
Pandle’s mobile app ensures that business owners can productively make use of their time whilst commuting to work, in-between meetings or away from their desks. This prevents business owners from having to spend time working through a backlog of transactions to sort, or invoices to deliver upon return.
2. Schedule marketing materials in advance using software
Marketing your business is another long-winded effort that can eat away your time (and create added pressure) especially if you have to source materials and create posts / e-blasts in real-time, on the day.
Regarding social media, when looking for content, it’s often you come across multiple relevant articles or materials at once. And similarly, if you’re writing up copy, it’s common for writers to experience writing surges where they can blast out several pieces of copy in one sitting.
When such momentous occasions happen, it’s essential to forward plan and bank your content in advance, to ensure that content is consistent and planned for upcoming weeks.
Content can be scheduled using social media supported software such as Hootsuite or Buffer, and via MailChimp to write, create and plan newsletters.
3. Bring down project delivery time with management control software, ProofHub
ProofHub is a cloud-based project management software that allows businesses to share a centralised workspace, where employees can digitally update task lists, reports, work activity, share and review submitted documents.
The software ensures all employees can internally keep track of their work schedules and performance, whilst the owner oversees the overall progress of individual projects being carried out. The collaborative software, ensures tasks are fulfilled in time and keeps productive levels up with real-time activity updates.
But what if technology simply isn’t right for your business?
There’s always one. For some businesses, technology may not fit into their services. And in that instance – if finding time to complete tasks and deliver projects is a struggle – then businesses can outsource their workload! This is a great alternative for if taking on a contracted employee is unfeasible, and you’ve a fluctuating workload to contend with.
Do you use software to manage time better in your business? If not, what practices do you use to ensure that your business meets deadlines on time? Comment below.