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BUSINESS APPS
Words Kristian Dando
Lifesaver
APPS There is a huge range of apps available to help
with running a company, but which ones will
make a positive contribution to your business?
If you’re an owner-manager of a print business,
Printweek April & May 2020
allocating your time effectively can be tough. You
can get pulled this way and that by HR issues, payroll
and various other everyday distractions that
can take you away from the bigger-picture stuff
which is required to run a successful business.
Thankfully, there’s a plethora of smartphone apps
to help you with everything from getting suppliers
paid on time to logging expenses and booking leave. Most
of them don’t require a supercharged smartphone to access,
and many have free versions for you to dip your toe in the
water without financial risk.
But with an incredible amount to choose from, how do
you cut through the waffle and choose apps which make a
positive contribution to your business rather than a
data-sapping – and possibly unsecure – waste of time?
For Jamie Marshall, director of Leeds-based IT consultancy
firm Everon, identifying what you need to fix is a
great place to start. “Identify what the problem is – what
are you wasting the most amount of time on? Is it a particular
task? Work backwards from there. Ask yourself what you
would like to change, then find an app to address it. There
are so many great ones out there, but if it doesn’t address a
problem, then you probably won’t get staff buy-in.”
Matt Smith, commercial manager at the Centre of
Excellence in Mobile and Emerging Technologies
(CEMET) at the University of South Wales, says the appeal
of mobile apps for owner-managers is clear. “For me, first
thing I’d look at is take stock of daily and weekly activities
and what you spend most time doing – is it travelling, calls,
presentations or people management?”
The good thing about apps, reckons Smith, is that they’re
usually developed to solve a practical issue. “Apps are often
developed by people who’ve experienced a particular problem
themselves,” he says.
Timekeeping and productivity
It turns out apps are actually a pretty good place to start
identifying your own “time gremlins”. Everon’s Marshall
advises Microsoft’s MyAnalytics as a good place to start
your studies. “It analyses week to week how you work. It
shows you who you’re interacting most with, and when you
have busy periods. It can help you have a better work-life
balance or do more effective planning ahead,” he says.
Nat Sharp, founder and chief executive of Tunbridge
Wells-based marketing company Sharp Thinking, which
offers marketing and brand consultancy to small businesses,
and also works with clients in the print industry, is
already making use of time management app Clockify. “It’s
a handy app which allows you to track your time. This is
great if you bill out hours and work across different clients.
It also allows you to see how you are spending your time so
you can resource plan in the future,” says Sharp.
A quick and easy way of integrating apps into your business
is trying out a productivity app, like Trello, which has a
free version. The app, developed by Australian firm
First, identify what the problem is –
what are you wasting the most amount
of time on? Is it a particular task? Work
backwards from there” Jamie Marshall Everon