Project Management Software: Perceive, Prioritize, Perfect

When you're managing multiple people, or teams, keeping everything coordinated properly can be a challenge. Using a dry erase board, a notepad, or even a ‘to do' app in your smart phone, may not be the best choices for helping you decide what needs to be done and who needs help, when. The most ideal situation would be to create a project management site that is central to you and your teams' needs, where everyone can collaborate, share information, and ultimately get things done.

Project management software is everywhere, and most of them will give you the simple tools you need to help keep your staff involved and engaged. One tool in particular, Wrike, integrates tasks, schedules, ideas, files, and discussions â€" via e-mail even â€" into a centralized planning hub that can be easily monitored by all. It's meant for a smaller user base, as its pricing reflects, and it gives some excellent tools for keeping teams involved and reporting constant; this includes managing time and hours spent on tasks. While the latter is hardly unique to any project management software tool, it is a core essential requirement. It uses easy-to-read Gantt charts, which simply lay out project requirements in a timeline format, and the interface is quick and simple to use.

There are plenty of other project management tools out there, as well,  including:

• Clarizen is a project management tool entirely encapsulated online, with supporting mobile apps that can be added to your smart phones. Users can monitor projects and submit their time spent on tasks through the system online, or through the mobile app. It's a bit more expensive that Wrike http://www.clarizen.com/Pricing.html.
• Genius Inside is something for both PC and Mac users and is cloud based, which makes access easy. It is seen as one of the easier-to-use project management programs.
• Daptiv also offers free mobile tools and offers tools that are easily integrated into different businesses' needs.
• At Task is another online project management system, which has especially attractive and easy-to-read reporting to give a good high-level overview.

There are, in fact, so many project management tools out there waiting for you to look at them that it can be pretty insane trying to make heads or tails of it all.  It all really depends on what you want â€" online, onsite, mobile applications, emphasis on hours and cost tracking, reporting effectiveness, or whatever the case may be. Most offer free trials as well, which will be an excellent way for you to really tell what works best for you.

Three Great Calendar Programs That Make Managing Your (And The Teams) Day-to-Day Activities Easier

Busy schedules call for busy software. There's a reason that the word “busy” is (somewhat) ingrained in the word “business.” Today, we're going to discuss a series of calendar software options that you can use to make sure you don't miss a meeting and, at the same time, reminds your employees of upcoming events.

You might be familiar with a number of online calendars. Some of them may be good productive aides, and others are just plain useless. It all depends on the quality of the software running behind the big checkered curtain and how it revolves around your needs. Let's have a look at a few of these:

• Google Calendar â€" Everyone knows Google Calendar. It's probably the first calendar software that many people get exposed to when they realize that such a thing exists. It's tough to avoid and easy to use. All you do is click on an hour, type the description of the event happening at that hour, and you're set. There's not much to it.
• Outlook Calendar â€" It's probably not the first thing you think about when the name “Outlook” is mentioned to you, but it certainly should be! Outlook's calendar is one of the most convenient little features in this piece of software. In Outlook 2013, the calendar no longer becomes some feature on the sidebar, though. It gets its own section, with a name tag and everything. This feature is best used for personal meetings.
• Teamup Calendar â€" And just when you were about to center your life around Google, little did you know that The Hulk is out there somewhere. Teamup Calendar is a piece of work that's essential for growing businesses that have a large team. Its software includes a calendar that allows you to program meetings and designate meeting areas by color coding them, making it very easy for people to understand where they'll be hauling their briefcases. But that's not all. Teamup Calendar has two components: the meeting calendar, which I just described, and an event calendar that's useful for scribbling important phone calls and online interviews/webinars.

Whether you're a professional running a one-man show, own a small enterprise with a handful of employees, or are a tycoon with five floors to your name, you've got to get a calendar out there that can handle the ebb and flow of your daily needs.

Tech Thursday (11/1): Road Warriors Packing More Mobile Apps Than Ever * Small Businesses Taking ‘Wait and See\' Approach * Paychex Launches New Industry-Leading Report Center

Concur Study Reveals Road Warriors Packing More Mobile Apps Than Ever

 

AMEX Small Business Monitor Shows Small Businesses Taking ‘Wait and See' Approach

 

Paychex Launches New Industry-leading Report Center

 

 

 

Concur Study Reveals Road Warriors Packing More Mobile Apps Than Ever, But Are They The Right Ones?

 

As the busy fall business travel season heats up, survey finds vast majority of travelers embracing mobile apps, yet still looking for tools to reduce stress and increase job satisfaction.

 

REDMOND, Wash. â€"Business travel got you down? You're not alone. A recent study conducted by Concur (NASDAQ: CNQR), a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, reveals some major pain points that are leaving business travelers feeling unhappy (55 percent) and dissatisfied (53 percent). While a third (31 percent) did report a sense of accomplishment upon completing a business trip, dissatisfaction was attributed largely to looming task of managing receipts and filing expense reports. In fact, 80 percent said filing expense reports at the end of a trip increases their stress level and a third say the hassles of business travel impacts their overall job satisfaction.

But all is not lost. More and more business travelers are turning to mobile technology, selecting apps specifically to enhance their business travel experiences and ease the pains of being on the road and away from the office. These apps enable travelers to make changes to their travel on the fly, capture expenses and receipts at the point of purchase, book a taxi or find their way around a new destination. Whether they leverage a corporate-issued app or are embracing the increasingly popular concept of “Bring Your Own Apps” (BYOA), 89 percent agree mobile technology improves their travel experience and more than half of business travelers (62 percent) are relying on apps *every time* they travel. So what apps are travelers using to help navigate cities and reschedule booking? Most common applications include airline apps (44 percent), map apps (41 percent) and hotel apps (30 percent). And although expense reports were identified as a major pain poi nt of business travel, less than a half of these travelers (43 percent) are leveraging apps to file their expenses while on the road. Below are additional key findings from the survey:

• Travelers aren't using just one or two of these apps. Nearly a quarter of them (22 percent) use five or more business travel apps during their trips â€" hoping to stay productive in transit.
• The more frequent the business traveler, the more travel apps they use. Thirty-two percent of travelers who venture out on behalf of their company at least three times per month use five or more apps, compared to just 13 percent of those who travel less frequently (less than two times per month).
• As may be expected in today's technology-savvy world, age also makes a difference in app usage. Surprisingly, more than half (60 percent) of business travelers 55 and older frequently use *any* travel app.

  “Mobile devices and applications should put the business traveler firmly in control of their trip,” said Rajeev Singh, president and COO of Concur. “Our mobile services are designed specifically to help alleviate the stress inherent in business travel, and deliver an experience that that brings the possibility of The Perfect Trip to life.”

In the last year, Concur has seen 49 percent overall growth in new mobile app users, with continued strong adoption of the Concur app by road warriors on Android (58 percent growth), Blackberry (80 percent growth) and Apple iOS (64 percent growth). Concur has seen a 67 percent increase of business travelers submitting expense reports from their mobile devices since last year, and a 53 percent growth in those approving their expense reports on the road. In addition to leveraging Concur's mobile app, millions of travelers also use TripIt® on their mobile device to organize and share their trips This survey was executed by KRC Research on behalf of Concur. KRC conducted a total of 1,500 interviews among employed adults in the US (1,000) and Canada (500). All respondents regularly travel for business and submit expense reports as a part of their travel. All interviews were conducted online between August 13 and 21, 2012.

 

 

AMEX Small Business Monitor Shows Small Businesses Taking ‘Wait and See' Approach

 

The American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor shows small businesses are taking a wait and see approach, perhaps because of the pending elections: Their top priority is maintaining current business and sources of revenue (32%), hiring plans have dipped slightly from 35 percent in the spring to 29 percent currently, and just under a quarter (24%) say they have no plans to grow their businesses over the next six months.

Now in its eleventh year, the survey is the longest running small business survey from a Fortune 500 company. For the first time in the history of the survey, American Express has included a Success Index that aims to identify the strategies and tactics most closely associated with successful entrepreneurs. Based on growth and other criteria, the Index deconstructs what has made some small businesses successful and then draws correlations to their philosophical approaches and specific tactics they deploy. The “high achiever” group represents just six percent of the total survey population.

Key differentiators and potential learning's from these high achievers include:

• They ask for advice: *Nearly six-in-ten have a business mentor (59%, versus 33% of the total population)
• They leverage social media: *Seven-in-ten use social media (70% versus 49% overall) More than three quarters (79%) use social media to attract new customers (versus 57% overall)
• They solicit feedback:*Ninety-two percent agree it would be foolish not to ask their customers for feedback and incorporate it into their business model going forward (versus 75% overall). More than three-quarters (78%) ask their customers for advice on how to better service them (versus 52% overall). Nearly three-quarters (73%) ask for new client referrals (versus 53% overall). More than half (51%) ask for positive reviews on relevant review sites and social media (51% versus 34%)
• They're positive thinkers: *More than three-quarters have a positive outlook and business prospects (77%, versus 49% of the total population) and nearly all (99%) say that they see the glass as half-full (versus 83% of the total survey group)
• They pay themselves a salary:* On average, high achievers earn an $85,500 per year salary (versus $72,000 overall

A news release outlining the results of the survey and its methodology is available here.

 

 

Paychex Launches New Industry-leading Report Center, Providing America's Businesses Comprehensive Tools for Payroll, Benefits, and HR Management

 

 

New offering leverages the power of single sign-on across all Paychex platforms

 

Rochester, NY â€" Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of payroll, human resource, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses, today announced the launch of Paychex Report Center, a one-stop shop for standard, on-demand, and ad-hoc reporting; data extract templates; and more, allowing businesses, their accounting professionals, and employees to better manage payroll, benefits, and human resources data.

“We're proud to be leading the competition with the new Paychex Report Center,” said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO. “So much of a company's organization and efficiencies revolve around reporting, and this new offering provides 24/7 access to insightful information that will help America's business owners operate more effectively and make more informed management decisions.”

In addition to providing a single location for more than 140 reports, Paychex Report Center offers:

• Around-the-clock access to valuable company information: payroll reports, retirement plan summaries, employee data, and much more
• Quick and easy views for clients and accountants with multiple businesses/multiple business IDs
• New customization options for specific and relative date ranges, type of employee, organization, and more
• Package creation and favorites bookmarking for quick access from the Paychex Online dashboard
• Data exports in a variety of formats, including PDF, XLS, fixed-width, and CSV to manipulate for easy importing into third-party software
• Ability to build custom reports from scratch using Paychex Report Writer

“This latest offering is based on our next-generation platform that further positions us for the future,” said Michael Gioja, Paychex senior vice president of information technology, product management and development. “We focused on delivering a robust and intuitive customer-focused user interface that quickly enables clients and their accountants to access the data they need to run their business.”

Paychex Report Center is available to clients with a Paychex Online user account and a Paychex Single Sign-On account. Paychex Single Sign-On allows users to access all Paychex offerings with a single login, and is the foundation of the next-generation platform. Paychex Report Center consists of four distinct reporting tools that allow users to customize the sophistication of reporting capabilities based on need. In addition to extensive features for clients, Paychex Report Center is also designed for accountants. By providing a full range of client reports and the ability to build custom reports, this new offering further enhances the accountants' role as their clients' most trusted advisor. (Paychex is the preferred payroll and retirement services provider for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants â€" AICPA â€" Trusted Business Advisor Program.)

Tips for Small Businesses Post Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy left an estimated 8 million households and small businesses without power and caused what is likely to be billions of dollars' worth of damage.

If your small business has been impacted by hurricane Sandy, there are steps that you can take to quickly get up and running again:

Assess the Damage, Take Pictures and Videos

Use your mobile devices and begin digitally recording the damage in videos and still images and be sure to write down all of your losses. This data will be vital when making your insurance claims.

Re-read Your Insurance Policy, Contact Your Agent ASAP

It is likely that you will have some disputes with your insurance company over what is covered and what is not. Be sure you have read the policy over and know what it states and do not delay in placing a claim. There will be thousands of small business owners filing claims, time is of the essence.

Utilize the Small Business Administration (SBA) Resources

The agency's website has a page dedicated to helping small businesses recover from natural disasters.  Use your mobile devices to access the information.

Apply for an SBA Disaster Loan

The SBA Disaster Loan decision-making process should be quick because the agency's mission is to help small business owners get up and running again.  Apply for one if you qualify.

Meet With Your Accountant

If you are looking for a SBA Disaster Loan or other type of small business loan, having accurate accounting is essential.  Get your books in order and meet with your accountant if possible.

Secure a Line of Credit

While you might be among the lucky small business owners who safely rode the storm out, others may not have been so fortunate. Those to whom you have extended credit may take longer than usual to pay their bills or, worse yet, they may go out of business altogether. That leaves you with expected income that you may never receive.

Additionally, if you had to close for a few days, you will have lost revenue. Having a line of credit available for such instances is vital to make sure that you have working capital and the ability to meet payroll.

Every entrepreneur has invested a great deal of time, energy and financial resources toward growing his or her business. Before the next storm hits, some things to keep in mind are:

• Determine if you are satisfied with the insurance company's resolution. If not, look for a new insurer.
• Continuously backup all your records on your computers. This is a good practice not only in times of disaster, but also throughout the year.
• If you lost revenue because you did not invest in a generator, don't make the same mistake twice. Buy one so that you have it before the next storm hits.

Stay safe!

Hurricane Sandy, Brooklyn, NY Photo via Shutterstock

SumAll Adds Authorize.net App to Analyze Credit Card Payment Data

Business reporting tool SumAll now offers analytics information for credit card sales data, thanks to a partnership with payment gateway service Authorize.net.

Authorize.net is used by businesses to process credit card payments both online and in physical locations. Founded in 1996, the company has more than 375,000 merchant customers and has an annual transaction volume of more than $88 Billion. So the business that use this tool can now integrate their payments data into the analytics system offered by SumAll.

It was the “most demanded app” by SumAll users according to the company's website. This new partnership means that users of the reporting tool can now use it to analyze credit card sales in both online stores and brick and mortar locations, in conjunction with the wide range of data users of SumAll already have access to, including website data, social media data, and offline payments.

In addition to the new partnership with Authorize.net, SumAll's apps include partnerships with other polular sites and services like PayPal, Ebay, Google Analytics, Twitter, and Facebook. The different apps are meant to help businesses understand a wide variety of business aspects, such as commerce, marketing, and investors.

The Manhattan based company was built to bring some of the same business intelligence tools that large corporations rely on to smaller and medium sized businesses. The purpose behind the data reporting provided by SumAll is to help these businesses better understand their customers so that they can make better business decisions, thus increasing productivity and profits.

The tool first entered beta testing in December. Since then it's been regularly adding new tools and partnerships to give businesses a well-rounded view of their business data.

Other analytics tools like Unmetric offer business reporting tools to help analyze some of the same types of data. But if SumAll continues adding partners and apps each month, the amount of data available from the free service could help businesses keep their data organized in one central location while still analyzing all the necessary data.

The SumAll tool is currently free for all users, but paid plans with premium features are in the works.