Technology
Multiple Processes and Applications are Preventing Entrepreneurs from Achieving Maximum Productivity
The Sage survey looked at 250 businesses with nine or less employees to see which technology they use, how they use it and how much time was spend on non-billable tasks.
May. 10, 2012
As more technology is developed to help entrepreneurs run their business more efficiently, it could be having the opposite effect, according to a recent survey and infographic released by Sage North America.
The Sage survey looked at 250 businesses with nine or less employees to see which technology they use, how they use it and how much time was spend on non-billable tasks.
According to the survey, 65 percent of respondents felt that marketing and finding new clients were one of the tasks preventing them from completing billable work, followed by email at 52 percent and managing invoices, bookkeeping and other records at 51 percent.
The use of multiple of multiple applications and paper increases the risk of errors and lost efficiency when performing certain functions. While the survey found that 35 percent of entrepreneurs prefer to use a single application to manage daily functions, in actuality more than 85 percent use two or more applications to handle tasks such as email, contact management, scheduling, project tracking, bookkeeping and time management. Businesses still use paper for many of these tasks such as task management (31 percent), creating invoices (18 percent) and accounting (16 percent).
“These results, along with the feedback that we receive directly from customers, allow us to have a better understanding of what small businesses are looking for so we can develop tools that meet the real needs of its users,” said Connie Certusi, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Small Business Solutions, Sage North America.