When you own a small business, time is money. And every time a task that should be automated is handled manually, it wastes your time and your business loses money. To make matters even worse, performing these tasks manually, in front of clients or prospects, projects the wrong image.
Even though technology is readily available and even affordable, many small business owners do not take full advantage of these powerful software packages. It may be hard to believe, but only a small percentage of business owners have the technical expertise necessary to handle the automation process. The others have neither the time to learn nor the ability to hire the experts to do the job.
But one thing is certain: One way to increase your business's bottom line is to get software that automates the tasks you do manually and consequently, inefficiently.
Something as simple as contact management software is so valuable. First and foremost, searching for contact information is never more than a few mouse clicks away. Some software will even allow you to access this data while away from you office.
Have you finally mastered your email system? Love the way it keeps you off the phone? If you're not careful, you'll soon be wasting as much time responding to your email as you did returning your phone calls.
There's not enough space to list all the benefits of using autoresponders or all the ways to utilize autoresponders in your business. Here are just a few ? use them to send out product and pricing information, to capture contact names and addresses, to help with frequently asked questions (FAQs) lists, to deliver different chapters of an e-book ? anything that keeps your company name in front of existing or potential customers can be handled more efficiently using an autoresponder.
Raise your hand if you're still carrying around your paperbound daily planner! Throw it away and get software to keep track of your appointments and those of all your employees. You'll appreciate how easy it is to know who's doing what and when.
And think about how much time you spend each year gathering the paperwork your accountant needs at tax time to prepare your company income taxes. Why allow your accountant to charge you his or her hourly rate to do the type of data entry you could have been doing all year long IF you had only purchased AND installed business accounting software.
If you think, "Well, I do this only once a year," you are right, but remember, there are many more income-generating things you can do with the time you are wasting. Every second of saved time helps your business operate more efficiently.
Even the most automated of offices is doomed should your hardware ever crash and your data not be backed up. And we're not talking about "if" this crisis will occur; we're talking about "when" it will occur. There are so many easy-to-use and affordable backup software programs available that you've no good excuse for not backing up your valuable data.
There are many other business tasks you can automate but there's not enough room to list them all. Tasks like project management, employee management and inventory management are more efficient when they are automated. You can even translate your paper marketing and sales information for fast and easy delivery via the Internet.
There's no end to the list of office tasks that can be automated using the software that is readily available today. Put together an office automation budget and decide which tasks are the most important to automate. Then get going ? you've got work to do!
Copyright © 2004 Cavyl Stewart. For more information on software to automate your business or other small business programs, visit: http://www.find-small-bus iness-software.com/software-directory.html - Also, be sure to check out my Exclusive, 100% free ecourses.
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
Which Type of Shop Can Rely On A Home Built... Read More
This article will not attempt to advocate the use of... Read More
Features Additionally, Vista will include many other new features.Aero Vista... Read More
The adware and spyware definitions list is very long. But... Read More
Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a software development methodology. In... Read More
Our opinion is based on our Microsoft Business Solutions Great... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains may be recommended for international freight forwarding... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More
It could just be me, but my experiences with document... Read More
Navision Software was purchased by Microsoft and now it is... Read More
It is possible that if one avoided all sources of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More
Bill of Lading is required report for Logistics and Freight... Read More
Program Flow is what you think it is. How the... Read More
With this small article we are continuing Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
Is Photoshop CS2 worth the upgrade? You bet it is!... Read More
As seeing large number of implementations ? in our case... Read More
IBM Lotus Notes with Domino email server is traditional document... Read More
The US House of Representatives has recently passed the "Spy... Read More
There are certain pluses and minuses in both cases and... Read More
You would like to protect your documents, wouldn't you? Reasons... Read More
COMMAND LINE FUNCTIONA powerful command line script processor has been... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application - Microsoft... Read More
How do you run a program on a remote server... Read More
Viruses and spyware usually show up on your computer one... Read More
It is really interesting that a bug can create problem... Read More
So let's begin crunching down these 300 images using Adobe... Read More
Microsoft CRM is CRM answer from Microsoft Business Solutions. If... Read More
If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it... Read More
Great Plains Integration Manager scripting and translation - overview for... Read More
Are you one of those people that keeps track of... Read More
While I was preparing some personal background information for a... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very generic accounting application... Read More
Following tips help you to learn a software in lesser... Read More
There are so many different programs that clutter up your... Read More
Great Plains Software Dynamics, Dynamics C/S+, eEnterprise were written on... Read More
Each Industry and market niche has business specific and unique... Read More
Stealing company information used to be the specialty of spies... Read More
Have you ever noticed that when you look at your... Read More
Great Plains Fixed Assets Management module is a robust tool... Read More
While Adobe is the most known maker of PDF tools,... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is becoming more and more popular and... Read More
When reading an article where some term is used often,... Read More
It is really interesting that a bug can create problem... Read More
1. What determines the software price? Is it Per Seat... Read More
Just imagine: you are walking, say, towards your car, and... Read More
"Pfishing", sometimes spelled "Phishing", is a word that's used to... Read More
We live in a post-industrial age where information is the... Read More
Here is some free software tools to help you build... Read More
When you need a phone number, you do a quick... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains has full-featured Manufacturing suite of modules: Capacity... Read More
Combining Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains ERP with non-Microsoft Business... Read More
You would like to protect your documents, wouldn't you? Reasons... Read More
Spyware, what it is and what it does. Basically, spyware... Read More
There are many commands that are used in linux on... Read More
OEComplete is a utility for managing the personal information of... Read More
The stakes are high when considering security, privacy, and savings,... Read More
This article is the fourth of a series of articles... Read More
I like my software simple. If it's too complex or... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP/MRP applications... Read More
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Overview covers What is ERP, Brief... Read More
Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past... Read More
All your software is stored on a hard-drive. But how... Read More
Usually, the easiest way to tell you have spyware is... Read More
Beginning with Domino version R4 it has integration with the... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains may be recommended for international freight forwarding... Read More
Software |