What is the one resource that all businesses share the same amount of, no matter how successful they are? What resource is essential to manage at all times, and will never stop being relevant? What resources has turned famous businesses to those that stagnate and smaller businesses to experience a sudden and meteoric rise? Time.
Shutterstock Licensed Photo – By NicoElNino
We all have 24 hours a day, provided every business agrees to operate on this planet so far, of course. To this extent, we must manage our time effectively, and this is particularly true when trying to get our small business to experience the growth we think it’s due. But is it possible to save time without simply performing a worse job? We think that in some cases, this can be more than possible. In fact, automating your business processes can be the means in which you do it.
For some, this can be a luxury. For others, it can be an absolute necessity. For all, it can be a necessary and essential part of becoming more competitive, and getting the most out of your working day. But what process CAN you optimize? We think we have some answers:
Marketing
When we think of marketing practices, we can often think of the campaigns we might need to run. This is because, in large part, aggressive marketing requires a hands-on approach. But what if your marketing could be a little more streamlined than this? With hands-free SEO solutions, that could be a reality that you take advantage of. When consistently adapting to the timeless SEO advice alongside the algorithmic updates that Google often gives, then a service which can take all this into account can help you raise your search ranking placement higher than ever. It’s these measures that can help you avoid having to come up with a new and unique marketing campaign every time, because your business name will be present and recommended in many worthwhile cyclical formats, those that we have come to expect from SEO management.
Accounts & Payroll
It can be essential to use separate services for your accounting and payroll depending on your in-business expertise, but in some circumstances, payroll can also be automated to an extent. For example, if hiring subcontractors, having them calculate their work for you and invoice you appropriately can help you avoid the difficult nature of calculating all of this, as you will only need to verify the authenticity of this within your systems. Even better, if offering a means for subcontractors to post their work through an online module, the total tally might auto-calculate, allowing you to automatically generate the invoices on a weekly or monthly basis.
For many, this can be one of the most reliable methods necessary to ensure your payroll staff are not inundated with pressure, as the extreme need for accuracy in their work can sometimes be affected by this. Additionally, keeping systems such as this automated to an extent can help you become as reliable as possible with this method of onboarding, something that you may not appreciate now, but will certainly come to.
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Your Collaborative Suite
There was a time where employees of a certain business would have to email certain files and folders to one another, or carry around their work solely on one or two USB sticks, which could be lost and potentially leave sensitive files vulnerable. No more is that the case. While USB and paper documents can be used in order to back up important system files, they are no longer the absolute necessity. Your collaborative suite is something worth keeping in mind to this end.
It’s best to use a platform where your staff can collaborate online, from desktop to desktop, on a range of different documents. Something such as the Google Suite can be a reliable venture, but even apps such as Evernote allow for Work Chat features that give people a means of sharing notes and collaborating on certain projects.
While this might not denote automation in itself, there are certain processes with which this saves plenty of time and could help it develop this way. For example, having files saved to the cloud in special folders immediately, or hosted on the web platform no matter who is permitted to make changes to a file can effectively take out the need to save documents and sensitive files to a certain secure environment. Access permissions allows you to save time securely delivering files to the right person, because they will automatically have that ready. If that’s not a worthwhile use of automation, it’s hard to understand what is.
With this advice, you are certain to effectively automate the business processes that matter.