As we take some time to decompress and re-organize our homes, car trunks, closets or files on our computers maybe it’s also a good time to reassess how and where we store everything,  including information.  We have an ever growing number of gadgets, overlapping platforms, social media tools, iPhone apps, software fixes and other products all flying at us every week to help us manage the ever expanding information at our disposal. Once in a while it’s a good idea to take inventory of what you’re using and really ask yourself, how can I simplify this? The amount of information isn’t likely to decrease any time soon, but the amount of overlap and reproduced functions can be streamlined. Your business can and should be ran lean and clean, not like a bureaucratic office.

Reduce redundancies, reduce paperwork

Make sure you can sync your calendar automatically so you don’t have to enter anything in twice.  It amazes me how many people still rely on one calendar, whether it be Outlook or Google or iCalendar without taking five minutes to back it all up and sync it on compatible platforms.  Or those who enter data into different programs when they can be synchronized.If you sync your calendars you have 3 convenient locations where the same data can be accessed in should a problem arise on one machine or platform and you only enter it once. To some people this might seem really basic and elementary but a lot of people (the less tech savvy in particular) still don’t take this organizational step.

Use e-mail aliases. Once again, it amazes me how many people don’t set up this easy function. In outlook, Google, and other mail programs you can easily set up your account to send and receive the same mail, eliminating the need to check multiple e-mail accounts. If you want to be the primary contact at your company, but you want to convey that you have a professional operation or larger team working with you have an info@mycompany.com account set up as an alias rather than a separate account. Any inquiries sent to this address will also be sent to your real POP3 or Real Name account which will be me@mycompany.com (or whatever version of your name that you choose)

Use business apps to organize data

Where possible, incorporate USEFUL applications into your daily business operations that will help to save time and safely organize your business affairs. Just the Bill is a good example of a useful business application. With Just The Bill, you can simply take a photo of your receipt from your camera-phone and expense it through a mobile application. All the receipts are organized and tracked for the book keeper to easily export to a desired accounting software, like Simply Accounting. Find these apps and use them if you can, they can be life savers.

How much is too much?

The numerous social media platforms and applications that have been bestowed on us can be powerful and efficient tools for reaching customers and friends, but before you as a business owner spend all  day tweeting, blogging, updating your Facebook status while posting pics to Flickr take a moment to reflect on your own productivity and use of time. It’s my belief that the economics of social media (which is still a relatively little understood field) has a bell curve to it just like most things. Where is the minimum amount of time or effort with maximum return located for you? In order to do that you’re going to have to try and gauge when the amount of engagement exceeds the amount of benefit. I have a friend and blogger who teaches social media in Vancouver (a few actually) and he likens social media to a cocktail party. You can listen in or get involved with any conversation in the room but the guy who just yells stuff out all night hoping for attention ends up looking like a jackass. So find the happy medium, don’t go further than you have to.  By doing so you will be able to free yourself up to engage in more meaningful dialogue with those who are attracted to your company through those mediums and free up time to work on other important aspects of your business too.   

Do I need this?

Often we are presented with gadgets and toys that claim to offer solutions, many times these are more lifestyle products than business products. I love Macs, but if you ‘re putting yourself or your business in a compromising position by paying extra for a Mac I encourage you to ask yourself “Do I need this?”. The Mac is great for design, music, creative projects and yes they are typically safer from viruses but PCs still offer businesses more flexibility and are more cost effective. Get some good anti-virus software on them and be careful where you surf, attachments you open,  and your PC will be good to you. So before you rush out and buy the newest, most technologically advanced toys and gadgets for your company ask yourself, do we really need these? And if you do great! But remember this word before you go on a shopping spree: Simplify.

For more information on how to streamline your business and maximize the usefulness of software and technology for your company contact Thirdi.

Have a custom web application you need built? Contact Thirdi today!

Related posts:

1. The new business model: SaaS dominates the software industry while changing many other ones
2. Social Media and Your Business – are you prepared and do you need it?
3. Small Canadian company wins legal battle with Microsoft…Word

Tags: blogging, business software, Calendar sync, e-mail aliases, Just the Bill, small business software, Social media for small businesses, Thirdi

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