Time-Saving Business Resources To Consider In 2018

Time-Saving Business Resources To Consider In 2018
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You know the saying -- “time is money” -- and now more than ever before, an enormous pool of apps are vying for your attention, each claiming to maximize your profitability by dramatically increasing your productivity. Greater ease of use and accessibility of technology is constantly driving business owners and their employees to the latest-and-greatest, new-and-improved apps and resources. The market is moving online, and as more exchange and advertising takes place via the web, smart and savvy entrepreneurs seek to implement only the best time-saving strategies. After all, time is money, and no one wants to spend all that time, effort, energy, and money into getting the entire company on board with a new platform that ends up falling flat.

No entrepreneur, no matter how experienced or impassioned, can handle every moving part of managing a business. The smartest leaders are the ones that know how to tap into tried-and-true technology to help them effectively streamline and manage daily internal and external tasks.

This is the time of year when most businesses take stock of their past successes from the previous year, and the areas in which they can improve in the next. I’ve compiled two resources that all entrepreneurs and business leaders need in their arsenals to manage internal projects and collaboration and external prospecting.

If you’re looking to save time and drive productivity in the new year, be sure to investigate these time-saving resources:

  1. Cage (for Project Management). If your business isn’t already using a project management system, you’re probably creating unnecessary work for yourself. All those little details that get lost in email threads (or missing post-it notes) could be easily streamlined, decreasing the mental gymnastics you and your team have to perform and leaving way more time (and energy) for real work. With the right project management system, you can collaborate and communicate more efficiently, track project progress transparently, delegate effectively, and improve time management. Cage is a project management and media collaboration resource to help your team get organized and boost productivity. It has some impressive and versatile features, like the ability to attach annotations directly onto any file, including images, video, audio, PDF, and over 150 other popular formats. Since most businesses use mixed media across various platforms, this feature could potentially save hours of meticulous note-taking, long email or Slack threads, or messy Google doc memos. Cage is perfect for businesses that rely on sharing presentations and products with clients, with intuitive feedback tools that showcase your work with flexible sharing options that ensure clients never see unfinished work or internal discussion. Best of all, Cage features a straightforward, on-the-record way for clients to approve content with date and time stamps.
  2. LeadCrunch (for Customer Insight). Every intelligent entrepreneur is invested in understanding their customer, but it can be difficult to pin down what exactly “understanding” really means. Your business will want insight into customers’ buying behaviors, beliefs, needs, and experiences, but you’re going to need more than just raw data to impact your bottom line. You need a strategic analysis of that data to interpret the information and make smart business moves based on what you know. LeadCrunch uses artificial intelligence to interpret and analyze audience data and, subsequently, drive meaningful and relevant leads. Their formula looks easy enough -- analyze data, engage “lookalikes,” and drive conversions, but their intelligent campaigns engage your audience with thoughtful content and real interaction, nurturing your leads to convert them into sales. In fact, LeadCrunch boasts increased sales conversion rates of up to 300%. LeadCrunch’s goal is to enable faster revenue growth with less human labor.

We all know that time is money, but it’s even more important to remember that time is bigger than money -- every little bit you save is time you couldn’t get back otherwise! That makes time everyone’s most valuable resource, so don’t be ashamed for being stingy with it. If you’re ready to ramp up production in the new year, get your business on board with these time-saving resources that can benefit the largest corporation to the smallest local business.

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