The push for businesses to get online has never been stronger. With so many free social sharing platforms popping up, it seems an essential part of the marketing plan needs to be online activity. For some business owners getting online can be a daunting experience, especially if there isn’t a website already in place. There’s a lot to think about when using online technology for marketing including graphics, copywriting and maintenance which can be overwhelming. But marketing isn’t the only benefit for business when it comes to using the internet.
Using online software applications for management tasks is much less daunting than social media marketing and graphic design. It’s quick, easy and most of the time free to tree or use to a basic level, and most of all will save you time rather than taking up even more of your precious time.
Online Accounting Plus Points
The best time saver in online software, and one that all businesses will be able to find a use for is online accounting software for day to day book keeping and month on month reporting.
Instant Reports
Online accounting software is programmed to provide all the reports that a business owner could ask for. After inputting the month’s income and expenses, a report can be run to show profit and loss, a breakdown of expenses categories, an overview of the month and even a glimpse into the financial future of the business. All of this would have taken hours for one person to work through just using a calculator or complicated spread sheet, but now sophisticated reports are ready in just seconds.
Storage Saver
By moving all of your accounting online, you can save space when it comes to storing files and paper statements. Existing paperwork can be scanned in to the online account, and documents and files received by email can be uploaded quickly and easy without the need to print these off. The cost savings here are storage space and printing costs for paper and ink.
Safe and Sound
Keeping your account online is one of the safest and most secure ways to store them. The online accounting software provider will back up all of your data as soon as it’s entered online. It will be safe from accidental deletion, and can’t get damaged or lost like paper files can. It’s also secure from any break ins.
Getting online and making the most of the free business helping tools might sound scary, but once you’ve started using such simple and effective software, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t get online sooner.
About the Author: Katie Sykes is a small business advisor who set up her Brighton SEO company from home in 2010. Katie now supports young entrepreneurs looking to make the move in to self-employment.