As a business owner, you’re probably used to be stretched thin and taking on several different tasks at a time. One of your most important assets is your time, and you need to figure out the how your time is used each day to make the most profit.
It’s also essential to look for ways to save time in your daily tasks. The best and most successful business owners use computer technology throughout their company to help increase productivity and save time.
Here are 10 ways your business can save time by incorporating technology into your day.
1. Manage group projects
The first place to help save time and increase effectiveness is in your project management style. Instead of managing a project in person, with various meetings at the office to check on progress, invest in a project management software app, like Asana.
With a project management app, you can take your to-do lists and work with you wherever you go and get more done each day. Your team can stay on top of each important job as the project gets closer to completion.
2. Communicate with the team
Another key to saving time in the workplace is to increase your team’s communication. Instead of relying on email or in-office memos, make sure you can communicate with your key team members via other methods as well.
Try various team text messaging apps that help keep everyone in contact and on track.
3. Track productivity
Business owners are sometimes so busy that they don’t realize that they’re wasting time. You can avoid this common problem by investing in technology to help track your workday and task completion. There are also tools available that help you keep an offline tally of your team’s working hours.
This can help you truly understand where all of your time goes. Eventually, you can identify the time wasters and look for viable solutions to help increase your own productivity.
4. Collaborate on shared documents
Collaboration is another big part of saving time in today’s effective workplace. For teams that may be working on shared documents, there’s no better tool than Google Docs to help your employees share, comment, and work together on the same item.
This eliminates the old-fashioned method of passing around a document in its paper form and making corrections or changes.
5. Schedule simple tasks
Your time can be used much more effectively if you start scheduling simple tasks. If your social media plan has you making routine daily posts across your accounts, you may want to use a scheduling app or software to help with the workload.
Write your posts ahead of time, and set them up to be posted at a specific date or time when needed.
6. Take effective notes
Note taking can also be made more effective if you take advantage of today’s technology offerings. Instead of writing your notes out by hand in a notebook, use your smartphone’s capabilities to take pictures, record videos, or type out important details.
That way, when you need to get something done, your notes are close to you and ready to be reviewed.
7. Automate payroll
Business owners must also pay attention to routine tasks that are part of being the head of a company, like payroll. Today, business owners can take the headaches out of complex processes like running payroll by investing in automated payroll solutions, which calculate, track, and deliver paychecks to your employees.
This can mean that your skills and expertise can be used for other important tasks.
8. Sign documents electronically
New technology has also made it possible to sign your important documents electronically. This helps you avoid the multiple steps that used to be required for signing a document, like printing it out, signing it, mailing it, and waiting for a response.
Today, with companies like DocuSign from business leader Keith Krach, entrepreneurs can get their big deals going with the click of a button.
9. Account for spending
Your company’s accounting procedures can also be dramatically improved with the right brand of business accounting software. You can track your expenses, spending, and payments easily without having to spend hours each week transcribing this information into your bookkeeping accounts.
This also helps you save a huge amount of time at tax time since you can usually load your data right into your tax software seamlessly.
10. Manage files effectively
Finally, with cloud-based file management systems, companies around the world are able to quickly find important files and documents without searching through a disorganized paper filing system.
With a cloud solution, your company can avoid having to manage files across numerous devices and simply house everything important in one place.
You can also solve the problem of the increasing demands for storage space since many cloud solutions allow for large amounts of data to be housed.
Today’s business owner has a lot more to manage if he or she wants to experience ultimate success.
You can achieve this lofty goal if you focus on investing in technology solutions that save your company and yourself valuable time in your day and during the year.