Running a business of any kind of not a simple task and many business owners don’t have any time to spare. One minute you are planning a new product launch and the next you are posting on social media, running payroll and paying your taxes. How do you keep up with everything? Often, the best answer to this question is to automate certain processes and save yourself some time along the way.
There are many ways that you can automate your business and most of them involve using software and specialised tools. Here, we are going to look at some of the areas that could benefit from automated software. Get some of our tips and tricks below.
Payroll
When it comes to the end of the month, small business owners need to focus on a lot of things. If your staff don’t get paid on time or don’t get what they are owed, there can be a lot of problems. For larger businesses, accountants usually handle payroll, or a team is dedicated to this area. For smaller businesses, the owner or manager typically sorts it out.
If you want to save some time and money at the same time, you should consider investing in payroll software that can automate the process. You’ll simply need to enter the salary or wages per hour for each employee and keep a record of any hours worked. Usually, specialist software will handle the rest and even generate payslips for you. Make sure to have a look around at some of this software and automation in this area can save you a lot of time.
Email Marketing
Do you spend a lot of time each month sending out emails to existing and potential customers? Email marketing is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing in 2020 but it can be incredibly time-consuming if you are not using the right kind of software for the job. If you have a marketing team, you might not see this as a problem but often, marketing teams can spend their time doing much more effective things.
So, why not consider investing an email marketing service that will allow you to automate your email lists and send out emails without a problem. There are many options for you to choose from so make sure to compare them carefully. For example, you’ll want to compare Sendinblue vs. Mailchimp before making a decision. Once you get started, you’ll realise how much time you were wasting before.
Social Media Scheduling
Another area that many business owners or managers spend a lot of time on is social media marketing. Sure, this is one of the most effective ways to market your business without breaking the bank but if you spend hours each day updating your feeds and creating images, you’ll be wasting a lot of time.
In 2020, there are some really excellent social media marketing tools that allow you to schedule posts ahead of time. Believe it or not, doing a week of posts at once can save you time that can be focused on other areas of the business. On top of this, you’ll be able to always send out the posts when your target audience is around, as long as you analyse this carefully. These tools work really well so make sure to consider them carefully.
Staff Schedule
The next area of your business that could benefit from automation via software is scheduling. If you run an office-based business that requires staff to be in at certain times each week then this shouldn’t be too much of an issue for you. Of course, scheduling hospitality and retail businesses can be much more difficult as often, staff work different hours each week depending on availability. If you have a large pool of staff, it can be very hard to make sure that everyone gets their desired hours within their availability.
So, why not consider investing in employee scheduling software and using the automated features? You might need to double check the schedule once it has been completed but it can save you a lot of time. There are many great options that can work well for your business so make sure to shop around.
Invoicing
Finally, if you want to introduce automation to your business, you should consider investing in invoicing software. If you spend a lot of time each week or month generating invoices for all of your clients and customers, you might find that there is an easier way. Invoicing software not only looks at the work that has been completed but can also work out the taxes and other add-ons.
If you take a closer look online, you’ll find invoicing software that can help you to automate this process. Some packages might even allow you to create your payroll within them so you can kill two birds with one stone. Invoicing shouldn’t take up too much of your time and you won’t want to miss out on any over the course of the year. Start searching now and see if you can find any that might work for your current business model.
Use Software
In 2020, there are so many excellent companies out there who are creating software that can help to speed up processes within your business and give you time to focus on other areas. If you are struggling to keep up with everything, you should make sure that you are automating processes and using any software that is available to you.
Make sure to consider all of the options that we have discussed in this article and use our tips to make the right choice. Don’t just go for the first option that is available either, shop around and find a software package that suits your business. Hopefully, this will lead to more time spent on important tasks and an increase in revenue for your business over time.