When it comes to defining success for a business, nine times out of ten that definition would be growth. Owners are constantly on the lookout for methods in which they can increase their profits, or reduce their overheard in order to generate revenue to re-invest in the company. On the other side of things, managers also strive to increase the quality of their work, and reduce the amount of errors and mistakes that cause lost revenue. One such common way to achieve both of these is through use of technology to streamline processes, and eliminate work for both managers and employees. Apptivo is a suite of small business management applications dedicated to offering the tools for companies to optimize nearly every aspect of their day to day operations.
First off, let’s cover a few ways Apptivo streamlines business processes to increases the efficiency, and therefore profitability, of the company.
One App targeted at efficiency is the Projects App (project management software); which allows your entire team to manage requirements and statuses of projects in one central location. Many small business teams spend countless hours writing emails back and forth with status reports, sending new requirements, forwarding documents, etc. All of these tasks take time, and although writing one email only takes a few minutes, repeating these tasks many times a day begins to add up at a blistering pace. By storing all information regarding project status on Apptivo, your entire team will always be in the loop, and can obtain any information they need regarding the project without using the team of another employee.
One other App targeted at efficiency is the Sites App, which allows businesses to cut costs by maintaining their website without hiring a dedicated web professional. Most small businesses simply don’t have the resources to handle running their websites from within their own team, they are forced to go out and pay top dollar for a professional to not only create their web site at a premium, but then pay them a significant amount each time the company needs a change done to their site. Apptivo gives you the freedom to update content instantly, with no technical skills whatsoever.
The last App I want to single out here is the suite of Human Resources Apps, which allow business owners to eliminate not only expensive software packages, but also manage critical and sensitive information regarding all of their employees. Most small businesses have little or no official documentation of their workforce, and this causes two major issues. First, whenever it comes to tax time or any point in which legal documentation regarding an employee is required, then there is an extreme amount of time required to compile all of the information needed to complete the process. By storing your employee information in an organized format from the get-go, owners, as well as HR managers are able to access complete employee records in just a few clicks. The second reason this App is so important is to protect small businesses on the legal side of things. As previously mentioned, most small businesses do not currently manage their records properly, which can lead to legal troubles in the event of an employee-employer relationship going sour. Do not make the mistake of ignoring human resources information improperly until it is too late!
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The final point to cover when it comes to efficiency through Apptivo is through the seamless integration of all of the different Apps. The most unique part of Apptivo is the ability to manage your entire business through one central web portal. Every App, including those mentioned above, is able to share and link information throughout many other Apps in the system. For example, when you manage your employees via the human resources App, you do not need to create them another account to be used in your Projects App (projects software), any information already entered for that employee will be instantly available to a project manager, and can be assigned tasks or milestones within said project. Another example would be how Apptivo can manage the entire sales process, from identifying potential customers, pursuing the sale, closing the deal, and fulfilling the order. Each one of these steps in controlled through it’s own specialized App, but the information is seamlessly transferred from one App to the next throughout the process. This saves countless hours for every person involved in the process by keeping one central repository of information. Instead of managing many different applications to solve the multitude of problems your company faces, Apptivo offers an App for each facet of your business, and allows you to keep all of your company data consistent, and widely accessible to any parties involved.
Another commonly overlooked benefit of business applications is quality.
Quality is probably one of the least visible problems to business owners and managers. Everyone strives to produce high quality work and reduce the number of mistakes made, but without standardizing processes and introducing automated checks, this is easier said than done. One of the main goals behind Apptivo is to standardize the way businesses store and manipulate information, leading to not only increased efficiency, but also greatly reduces the margin for error in just about every task revolving around your business.
By storing data, such as your company inventory, in one central location in a pre-defined format; you will assured that you never have incorrectly entered data, and you never miss a piece of data that is required. This applies to nearly every type of data your business needs to store, whether this be your inventory, customers, sales leads, orders, project requirements, or even your invoices. Specifically, let’s take a look at the suite of Sales Apps available in Apptivo, which manage Leads, Opportunities, Orders, and Reports. Each Lead contains a number of fields to store all important details that a sales person or manager may need, including the ability to upload freehand notes, and any documents that might be useful. This data is then stored with that Lead for anyone in the company (who has sufficient access) to view, allowing sales teams to quickly hand-off knowledge regarding different clients without any worry about information being lost during the transfer. Not only this, but all of the information is in a format which will be retained and transferred when the Lead is advanced to an Opportunity and then Order. Finally, the Sales Reports and Dashboard Apps are then able to read this standardized information to give high-level management a birds eye view over their entire sales operation.
Another side of quality is customer service, which is handled by the Cases App. Each time a customer or client has a problem, or requires assistance they can create what is called a Case in your Apptivo system. This can be done by either through an Apptivo web site contact form, or by an employee manually creating the case in the Apptivo system. Regardless of the Case source, each Case is stored with a standard set of information revolving around who submitted it, what they require, when it was submitted, priority, and who the Case is assigned to. A customer service agent can then assign tasks related to this Case to anyone in the company, and be able to quickly review the status of those tasks, as well as any feedback from people working on said tasks at a glance. This allows your customer service quality to rise, by reducing the amount of effort is takes to remain responsive, and accurate, in your interactions with customers.
The overall theme here is that standardizing processes inherently increases quality without any real drain on resources; which is why Apptivo is so valuable in this sense.
Finally, how do you increase your incoming business?
Now, obviously the above two point will naturally increase profits, but Apptivo also offers channels to increase your incoming revenue, as well as reducing your costs to obtain said revenue. This article is becoming quite long, so I will keep this piece short and sweet.
Apptivo drives increased revenue through two primary methods:
1. By increasing visibility of sales processes and proving insight into how much potential business is available, and actually being captured. Owners can easily form strategies which are truly targeted at leveraging the available opportunities a business has.
2. Apptivo allows businesses to open new sales channels not previously available to them via the web. By integrating an eCommerce or lead generating website with your business, owners can discover new business channels, or begin leveraging existing channels to their full potential.
So what does this mean to you?
In short, Apptivo helps your small business grow through standardization of information, optimization of process, and introduction of revenue generating tools which your normally would not have access to…. all for FREE!
