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Office management was once a complex task, requiring at least one skilled full-time employee to be put in charge of purchasing, receiving, developing office procedures, scheduling appointments, and more. This proves challenging to small business owners who often lack the resources to pay a full-time employee. Yet all of these tasks are necessary, especially if a business employs two or more people. Issues like dress codes, disappearing inventory, and scheduling can easily fall into disarray without someone staying on top of it all.
Thankfully, there's an app for that. In fact, technological solutions exist for just about every task an office manager could be asked to handle. Below are a few of the best digital tools for managing office inventory and people.
- Evernote- This service acts as your own personal assistant, keeping up with your random thoughts and carefully crafted ideas on your smartphone. You can also snap photos of things you need to remember for later reference and share your notes with your workers. Best of all, Evernote is free.
- TribeHR- Office managers are required to handle HR and this software makes it effortless. After a free 30-day trial, you'll pay only a couple of bucks per month per user for the basic version. This will allow you to manage multiple team members' vacation time and set up employee profiles. More extensive plans include recruitment and team motivation tools, as well as assisting with strategic planning. Elance is also a great service for finding, hiring and managing contractors.
- InDinero- Office managers often keep up with a company's budget and payroll, controlling all money going out and coming in. All of this can be extremely time-consuming for a small business owner, but this app keeps up with it for you, putting it all in one easy-to-access place, available both on PC and mobile device. The software can be pricey, however, with packages starting at $349 per month.
- Freshbooks- If you're looking for free accounting software, Freshbooks is both highly-reviewed and free. FreshBooks provides time tracking, online payments, and expense tracking. Snap a picture of a receipt and it's automatically stored for record-keeping or attaching to invoices. Other accounting solutions include Xero, Outright, Quickbooks, Sage, and Wave Accounting.
- PrimaSoft Purchase Order Organizer Pro- For creating and managing professional purchase orders, this software comes highly recommended. Track all of your purchases using this software, which comes with a 30-day free trial. After the trial, you'll pay $245, which allows you to operate without an office manager while still placing professional orders.
- BizManualz-Problem with an employee's work attire? Need a disaster recovery policy? Don't reinvent the wheel. BizManualz provides free templates that will give you a starting point. Simply download the template, make a few tweaks to meet your specific needs, and distribute. Other sites you should consider include LegalZoom.com and Nolo.com
By saving money on an office manager, you'll be able to channel funds to other expenses, including marketing and sales efforts. This puts dollars where they should be-bringing in money, rather than taking care of day-to-day in-office operations.