Due to the pandemic, many businesses have reconsidered the importance of digital transformation. Covid drastically changed our reality and companies have had to adapt to a remote or hybrid working environment to keep afloat and ensure the safety of employees and customers.
To respond to this change, many companies leveraged technological tools to optimize their efficiency and productivity. For example, companies in different industries invested in a time clocking app to track hours worked, facilitate data gathering, generate accurate payroll reports and optimize time management. In this article, we share tips to help you engage employees while tactfully making sure everyone is working.
Here are tips to make sure your employees are working:
If you want to make sure your employees meet their objectives or goals, it’s important that you actually set some up for them. Your employees’ workload should be organized in different tasks and projects with delays so that you can measure their performance and track their productivity. This is just as important for fully remote companies as it is for those who operate a hybrid work model.
Why should businesses invest in technology?
One of the simplest and most efficient ways to make sure your employees are working is to integrate a time clock software into your organization. With time tracking software, you can keep track of your employees’ working hours and collect useful data. Mobile Punch is a monitoring tool designed to optimize business operations. It keeps track of how much time employees spend at work and is a simple way of distributing work schedules.
The integrated Staff Geolocator App is an essential tool for any company looking to improve how they track hours worked. In terms of resource allocation, work assignment, and itinerary organization, the geolocation feature has numerous benefits. Businesses get a real-time overview of their staff via the Mobile Punch app. Thousands of firms use Mobile Punch to save time and money, whether it’s for in-house staff, internal or external extra invoices, or subcontractors that need to calculate their work hours.
Making sure your employees are working can make them feel like you are micromanaging them so it’s important to establish a climate of trust and communicate with them regularly in order to avoid misunderstandings. You can organize weekly or monthly meetings depending on the nature of the business and its needs.
Meetings are a great way to gauge how your employees are feeling and get a clearer picture of what they accomplish during their working days. They create a safe space for employees to share issues they may need help with or ask questions in order to increase their efficiency at work.
How to prevent time theft in the workplace
Mobile Punch has revolutionized time tracking. As an employee punches in to start his work day, Mobile Punch allows those with administrative controls to view employee arrival and departure times.
By using the app, employees have access to the assigned project file they need, and they can download or consult the details of the tasks to be performed or share useful documents such as plans, photos, and others. With Mobile Punch, working time is counted down to the minute.
Here’s an overview of how Mobile Punch can optimize your operations:
How can I save money with mobile time tracking?
Trello is an application based on the Kanban method which is used to manage tasks, allowing group work to be organized collaboratively through virtual boards made up of task lists in the form of columns. It’s a great tool for project management that improves work routines by generating priorities, times, notifications and other options to organize a project in which several people collaborate.
Asana is a tool that allows businesses to optimize the management of their workflow (tasks and projects). It helps teams plan, organize and manage work, from start to finish.
It has a friendly and intuitive interface that strengthens the motto under which its creators developed it “The modern way of working together”. This application has a mobile and web version.
Here are some of its features:
Mobile Punch is the best way to track employee working hours. Remote workers can be held accountable for their day of work, even if they are far away from management. Additionally, our geolocation feature makes it impossible for workers to inflate their work time.
When it comes to work, businesses are constantly looking for ways to save time and increase productivity. The administrative burden of companies entails financial costs and the deterioration of the relationship with clients. In order to minimize your administrative tasks and the associated costs, it is necessary to analyze what administrative tasks are carried out, with what regularity and how much time they consume. With a detailed overview of the current situation, it will be easier to implement changes.
You can ensure that your business runs as smoothly as possible by putting in place the correct policies and investing in the right technological solutions to automate otherwise time-consuming tasks. Keep reading to discover tips to optimize the efficiency and productivity of your company.
Administrative tasks are responsibilities performed by an organization to ensure the smooth running of operations and the respect of the regulations in place where it operates (payroll, accounting, etc.). These responsibilities vary but they typically include answering and directing phone calls, filing information, and managing office supply requirements.
Here are examples of common administrative tasks:
To complete their tasks, administrative professionals must have great communication skills. They have to be able to communicate clearly with other departments, management and clients through different communication channels (email, phone, etc.).
Companies have to regularly create and update employee schedules, which can be time-consuming, especially if they have a big workforce. Schedule management goes hand in hand with project management so it’s essential for organizations to stay on top of scheduling.
Employees in administrative positions are in charge of managing bookkeeping. This is especially true in smaller offices when there isn’t a dedicated person whose sole responsibility is to handle the company’s accounting.
Administrative payroll clerks manage timekeeping and pay employees. They make sure the information is correct. Payroll clerks verify overtime, sick days and vacations. For companies that don’t use a time clock app or a timesheet system, this involves a lot of paperwork.
Simplify the calculation of work hours
Time is key to gain an advantage over your competition and deliver better services and products to your customers. When administrative tasks are reduced, more time can be spent on value-added tasks. For instance, companies can invest more time and money in research and development, improve work processes, identify new markets, release new products or services, etc.
When there is too much administrative work, your team may end up working longer hours or overtime. You may also need to hire more personnel. You’ll end up spending more money than necessary in both circumstances. Thankfully, when you reduce admin work by investing in technological solutions, you can automate tasks and get rid of unnecessary costs.
Can I save money with mobile time tracking?
Clients expect services to be delivered as quickly as possible because no one enjoys organizational processes and routines. Because clients are beginning to assess organizations based on their responsiveness, this has become a competing element for many businesses. If you limit the amount of admin work and maintain your workflows streamlined and organized, your clients will notice the difference.
Productive workers don’t like wasting time on non-essential duties. They prefer to focus on their core competencies rather than becoming bogged down in administrative work. When you reduce administrative tasks, you open up more opportunities for innovation and creativity. This results in your employees feeling more motivated and productive.
Why should businesses invest in technology?
While it is impossible for any organization to completely eliminate administrative work, it is possible to reduce it in a cost-effective manner. Analytical thinking and technology can help you enhance your company’s performance and automate administrative tasks.
The first step to reduce administrative work is to assess your current situation. It’s important to examine ongoing business operations and analyze administrative responsibilities. The next step involves identifying the nonessential administrative duties and removing them from your current workflow. To get the best results, consider outsourcing some of your administrative responsibilities or investing in automation technology.
Automation is about using technology to perform tasks almost without the need for people. It can be implemented in any sector where repetitive tasks are carried out. For example, businesses in different industries have to manage payrolls, keep track of projects and calculate timesheets. All the tasks related to these processes can be simplified and automated with the help of Mobile punch. Our app is used by thousands of businesses to simplify timesheet management, scheduling, form production, and project tracking.
Thanks to the Cloud, businesses can store all the information of thri company in a virtual way. With proper management of technology as well as encryption of your information and passwords, it is possible to discard physical storage devices while facilitating the exchange of information between users.
When an organization hires people with the right personality type and job skills, the end result is often happier workers. A work culture that aligns well with employee values leads to higher levels of retention. Plus, workers who are happier are more productive and invested in their work. This opens up the door to creativity and innovation which are essential to optimize processes in an organization!
Due to its extensive feature set and simple setup, Mobile Punch is the best time clocking app in Canada. Our app is compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones. Clocking in and out, as well as keeping track of hours worked, is made easy with Mobile Punch.
With the software, your employees simply need a smartphone to record their arrival and departure times with a single click of a button. Our solution counts the hours worked automatically, making payments much easier, more precise, and faster. Plus, it is compatible with most accounting software and payroll services.
One of the characteristics that distinguishes Mobile Punch is its geolocation feature, which validates the presence of employees on job sites. Companies and business owners benefit from this in terms of resource allocation, work assignment, and itinerary task management.
Economic recovery from the pandemic could take up to five years in some of the hardest-hit industries. Businesses across the world are looking for new ways to not just stay afloat, but to prosper in these difficult times and they are turning to technology for solutions.
Many businesses have embraced technology in the last year, whether it be your neighborhood dinner, which now utilizes an online ordering app, or your favorite small shop, which now sells its products online. A proactive technology strategy built around adapting operations and building resilience can give a company a stronger competitive advantage in a post-COVID-19 world.
Of the many challenges that COVID-19 has presented to businesses, perhaps one of the biggest is the ongoing uncertainty. The impact of COVID-19 on our lives and our economy continues to evolve, presenting an unfamiliar operating environment for businesses. Although it can be difficult to know what the future holds, the ability to quickly adapt to a new way of doing business will be critical.
With the advent of the pandemic, construction companies have had to transform and adapt their offices and construction sites to ensure worker safety and project completion. To achieve this, they leveraged digital technology solutions such as Mobile Punch.
As construction can’t happen remotely, communication and collaboration tools were used by firms to keep track of their projects and optimize efficiency. These solutions provided numerous benefits for construction firms such as streamlined processes for timesheet management, payroll, bidding, material procurement, etc.
Hospitality businesses would not have survived the pandemic if it wasn’t for technology. Across the world, technological solutions are employed to assure safe procedures while maintaining exceptional customer service.
For instance, QR codes are used to check into a location, mobile development apps are used to order meals, and websites are used to book pubs, restaurants, and cafes. All of these services keep contact with others to a minimum while optimizing efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The travel business has been revolutionized by technology during the last decade. Because of the number of resources available online, planning a vacation is now easier than ever, obviating the need for a travel booking agent. With creative digital tour operators and online booking platforms, technology has helped the travel and tourism industry revive during the pandemic. Not only that, but touchless technology aids travelers in maintaining sanitary standards while on the road.
Without a question, the arts have been one of the industries that have faced insurmountable challenges throughout the pandemic. Musicians, entertainers, and artists have had to discover new methods to make a living when live concerts, shows, and museums were closed due to health measures. Technology and popular platforms made it possible for workers in the entertainment business to reach their public, although from a distance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced school curriculums to adapt to technology; creating what some call school 2.0. Innovative tools were used to provide learning experiences remotely as the classroom shifted online. Technological tools allow teachers to provide students with a more interesting and inclusive learning experience, but also increase accessibility for students with a variety of special needs.
Technology is transforming the healthcare sector, with online consultations, over-the-phone visits, and even diagnosis apps and platforms assisting in the early detection of illnesses. We all know how time-consuming visits to the doctor can be and technology has made this process significantly more convenient for everyone.
Many businesses are employing technology to provide their services remotely as a result of the lockdown that forced shops and businesses to close. In reality, eCommerce sales surged in 2020. As a result, there has been a boom in popular online shopping platforms, as well as an increase in contactless payments since the reopening of stores.
Why should businesses invest in technology?
Here are 5 apps that are helping companies post-pandemic:
One of the simplest and most efficient ways to manage a hybrid team is to integrate a time clock software into your organization. With time-tracking software, you can keep track of your employees’ working hours and collect useful data. Mobile-Punch is a monitoring tool designed to collect and analyze information to facilitate your operations.
Any organization that wants to improve how they record hours worked should use the integrated Staff Geolocator App. The geolocation feature provides various advantages in terms of resource distribution, work assignment, and itinerary organization. You’ll be proactive in implementing proven strategies to enhance your workforce’s productivity while eradicating time theft.
Thousands of businesses use Mobile Punch to save time and money, whether it’s for in-house employees, extra compensation for internal or external employees, or subcontractors that need to track their hours. Mobile Punch is Canada’s most popular time management solution. On top of tracking time accurately, it also has the feature of a business mobile app to generate optimized work schedules and work management.
Miro is a collaborative online whiteboard that allows teams to work together from anywhere in the world. Working as a team when you are not in the same room is difficult for anyone who works from home. Miro is the solution to this problem as it provides an online collaborative space. As we adjust to the new normal, technology like this is very valuable.
Miro’s online whiteboard is a digital whiteboard that allows users to present ideas and communicate in real-time. The online whiteboard may also be used to discuss ideas, hold agile seminars and classes, and many more features. Hundreds of templates are available in Miro’s Template Library to meet any demand.
FlyPay is a cutting-edge food tech firm that is revolutionizing the way people order and pay for meals. FlyPay allows you to request your bill automatically at a restaurant. It is not only quick and efficient, but it also reduces contact with others. You can use the Flypay app to place an order, add food and drinks to your order, pay your bill, and split a bill with your pals.
Simply download the app, ask your waiter for your table number, review your bill, and then either add to it or pay it! Flypay saves you the trouble of asking for the bill, waiting for the credit card machine, and dealing with all the paperwork. All you have to do is pay and leave!
EventAce is a family-run firm based in Scotland that aims to revolutionize the events market post-COVID. Smaller vendors can use EventAce’s app and web platform to get in front of event organizers. This type of technology is more important than ever in helping the events and hospitality industries get back on their feet.
As a customer, you can find suppliers using EventAce. EventAce will share available suppliers who are either based near you or are happy to travel to your event’s venue. Instead of wasting time calling vendors who are either unavailable or uninterested in your event, you can use that time to speak with true contenders for your business.
With mental health struggles increasing since the pandemic, people are increasingly in need of support. Pocketwell is a government-led app that works to support mental health and combat substance abuse. The PocketWell software allows users to keep track of their mental health over time and gives them free access to counseling services. The software generates a score-based report based on a periodic questionnaire to track users’ mental well-being. The frequency with which these surveys appear is up to the user.
Mobile Punch is a new way of keeping track of your employee’s working hours. Remote workers can be held accountable for their day of work because the application can be used on mobile devices.
Here are key benefits of the app for businesses:
Use technology to your advantage
When the traditional method of keeping up to date with time and attendance of employees at work becomes second nature, it can be difficult to establish new habits, especially when you are making the move from traditional paper timesheets to digital methods of clocking in and out.
Smart clocking is a method being adopted by many companies thanks to the numerous benefits it offers both employer and employee. It is essentially a digital timesheet that has an employee time clock within an app, allowing workers to record their work hours in a simple click.
To enjoy the full benefits of these time clock systems, it is integral that once you have invested in the software, you implement a transition process that allows employees to seamlessly convert from physical paper records to digital records.
However, it can be difficult for employees to break old habits, making this transition period more difficult than it needs to be. To ensure you do not have any problems, we have created this thorough guide on how to adopt this digital software without the need for disciplinary procedures for employees who are struggling with the change.
Employees have to clock in as it keeps a time record of the number of hours each employee has worked. By clocking in every day, employees have a way of proving to their employer that they have shown up to work when they were scheduled to, and it serves as legal proof that they showed up to work for payroll records.
Digital time tracking solution
It is extremely important to clock in and out as it is the main form of record-keeping in regards to the time and attendance of employees. It allows management to see what hours you have worked, which in turn allows them to process payroll records and calculate what you are owed based on the time record provided.
In addition to being important to employee hours and payroll records, it is important for employers, the human resource staff, and the management team to prove that they have been abiding by all the necessary laws and regulations surrounding working hours.
There are certain rules that employers have to follow in regards to timetabling and the hours that their employees work. By asking employees to clock in and out, they have an accurate record of when everyone has worked and can prove that they have been working within the parameters of the labor laws that have been set out for them.
Forgetting to clock in and out can create problems for both employees and employers, so it must be avoided as much as possible. However, if you are transitioning to a digital system from your traditional paper system, it can be disruptive to employees who are resistant to change. To mitigate these difficulties, we have collated this list of tips to help prevent all non-exempt employees from forgetting to clock in and out.
This is one of the easiest and quickest fixes to the problem of forgetting to clock in and out. Most people go to work and leave work at a similar time each day, so at the beginning of your employment term, simply set an alarm or a reminder on your phone 5 minutes before your regular clock in time and you will be sure to remember.
What is great about this method is that thanks to the convenience of modern digital technology, you do not need to set this reminder every day. You can simply set it once and have it as a recurring reminder and it will be sent to you every day you need it. This tactic is especially useful if you are using a digital clock-in app as it means people will be on their phones anyway, making the move from the reminder app to the clock-in app surprisingly easy.
You might be moving towards the digital realm for the actual clocking in and out, but trusted traditional methods of reminding employees to clock in might just be the most effective tool at your disposal.
Creating a large sign that cannot be missed is a great way to remind every employee that they need to clock in. We recommend putting this sign in a communal area or an area that everyone has to pass through. For example, if you put the sign at the main door, it ensures everyone sees it when they walk into work. Alternatively, if you know everyone goes to make a coffee before getting started, put the sign above the coffee machine.
A disciplinary policy should always be management’s last resort as it sends a negative and distrusting message to employees. Whilst your first approach should be offering incentives to clocking in and out, if that does not appear to be working, you might want to consider some form of disciplinary action.
The disciplinary practices do not need to be drastic, but they should ensure employees know that not providing a time record is not an option regardless of their job title or position. We recommend having a strike system, so if an employee forgets to clock in or out more than once, they get a verbal warning and if they do it more than 5 times, more severe disciplinary action will be taken against them.
If you ensure your employees are aware of how integral clocking in and out is to the running of a business, you might be able to avoid the disciplinary action outlined above. If employees understand that if they do not clock in and out, management will have incomplete timesheets and therefore no record of their working hours, it will hopefully incentivize them to record their time at work.
Moreover, when informing them of the importance of timesheets and time records, take this opportunity to warn them of the disciplinary action that may be taken against them. A possible employment termination should mitigate any potential timesheet issues.
Mobile time tracking apps are a modern solution to clocking in and out. They are a guaranteed way to ensure your employees maintain accurate timesheets and your business can run smoothly. Below are three of the biggest benefits of investing in a time tracking software.
One of the key benefits of Mobile Punch is how it automatically calculates work hours for management. Once employees clock in and out, their working time record is in the app’s system and it will calculate their overall working hours, which also allows for the payroll to be instantly calculated.
This is a brilliant feature as it removes any room for error which is all too common with traditional methods of timekeeping. This ensures that workers are not underpaid, but also ensures that employers are not overpaying, hence getting rid of any unfair practices that could occur with alternative time tracking methods.
As everything is done online and automatically, it means that time is saved and not wasted. Firstly, it is more efficient for employees as everything is at the touch of a button on their phones. Time tracking apps are more efficient for management teams and employers as they do not have to manually collect time records and painstakingly calculate the wages of each individual employee.
Moreover, the geolocation feature that Mobile Punch offers allows employers to know exactly when and where their employees are working. This is useful as it ensures additional work time is automatically added and things such as lunch breaks are accounted for by the app. This means that employees do not have to do the extra work of informing employers of their whereabouts and working hours as the information is automatically fed to them.
As companies are more and more conscientious about their carbon footprint and the effect companies have on the environment is under increased scrutiny, time-tracking apps offer a perfect solution. By storing everything digitally, time tracking apps remove any need for paper, therefore ensuring you are not wasting resources and can significantly reduce your carbon footprint, a factor that is more important now than ever.
If your business is struggling to maintain accurate timesheets, a digital time tracking solution is the solution you’re looking for. Apps like Mobile Punch ensure that all your data is instantly recorded so that you have a time record of hours worked and wages owed.
Mobile Punch will not only save you time but also money as you do not need an extensive team of people sorting through payroll records. In addition, it provides you with legal security and protection as all records are kept in a safe digital place. This is the ultimate contemporary solution to maintaining accurate timesheets as it is user-friendly, efficiently built for companies, and has the added benefit of being good for the environment.
The most popular time tracking app in Canada
Proper recording of work hours is just as important for employers as it is for employees. By doing it correctly, company managers can ensure employee hours at work comply with what they agreed to in their contracts. As for employees, they can avoid being unpaid for the overtime they do. However, it’s important to know that tracking employee hours only works if an effective system is implemented.
Although the configuration of such a system depends largely on the needs and characteristics of the company, there are a wide range of options, from software or hardware time clock solutions to mobile applications.
Employers are responsible for tracking employee hours and keeping a record of the hours that employees work, regardless of whether any type of software or hardware is used to track them.
Mobile time tracking solutions exist to provide a time registration system for employees who are present in the office, and who work remotely or are doing an external service. Employees can always carry the time tracking system with them to count working hours through a smartphone app.
Employee time clock software is important for companies as it saves management time and money, to orchestrate the daily operations of a business. Additionally, employee time clock software:
To ensure good work productivity, it is important to ensure that all policies related to downtime or sick days are not abused by employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated changes in the modality of work, and many businesses adopted remote work for their operation to save on rent. Given this new setting, employers have to take precautions to make certain that remunerated hours are not spent idly by their employees.
Employee time clock software permits employers to have an accurate time record of worked hours with a geolocation feature, while also delegating the work that must be accomplished during the day to each employee. The clarity it provides makes it possible to optimize productivity.
A time control system is very useful to maintain the accuracy of the employee payroll since the hours are calculated exactly as they are entered. This avoids accidental overpayment or the lack of payment for overtime.
Timekeeping apps collect accurate input data that is useful in the event of a lawsuit or review by state agencies. The information collected can be used as evidence if an employee or former employee attempts to sue for lost wages or if the state alleges that regulations are not being followed.
Here is how an employee time tracking app works:
An employee time tracking app must be downloaded on a smartphone to function at its full potential. Employers can then have the geolocation data of their employees with the app when they record their time. It is also possible to keep track of movements and record the time required to complete a project. This information is crucial for supervisors who will know how to optimize their operations with the data collected.
Entrepreneurs can also choose between different packages and select the appropriate offer based on the size of their company. To be able to use a time tracking app, employees need a smartphone. If your company has not implemented company devices, you can also run the application on private devices.
Mobile Punch allows you to throw away your pens and paper, and watch as your employees’ time records come together automatically. Rather than manually tracking employees’ time at work, Mobile Punch makes things such as payroll and attendance monitoring much easier.
Using an app to track your employees’ time has multiple benefits such as the following:
No more collecting a timesheet on paper or spreadsheets, everything uploads automatically in real time.
Lost timesheets or dubious working hours that inflate the payroll are eradicated as Mobile Punch records the activity of your operation from A to Z and nothing can be lost or made up. Things like manually converting from minutes to hours and estimating overtime is a painstaking process that is easy to miscalculate.
Did you know that inaccurate calculations cost companies up to 5% of total payroll costs? Employee time clock software eliminates room for human error and saves money by automatically performing all necessary calculations.
Mobile-Punch lets you see who has done the most overtime and who are the employees that haven’t had the chance to work overtime, therefore you can give everyone their fair share of overtime opportunities.
Absenteeism is one of those things that causes constant interruptions in the workflow. Employee time clocks make it easier for employers to monitor workers who are often absent or late regularly. Employers can monitor these individuals to prevent and minimize future absences.
See where employees are clocking in and out to prevent paying for unnecessary travel time or breaks. This method is not intrusive and permits you to know more about the behavior of your workers.
If an employee forgets to clock out, you can quickly check up on this, instead of them running hours into overtime. This also helps with attendance and employees coming to work late.
Mobile time tracking apps collect data and perform calculations automatically, and because the data entered is collected and calculated by itself, HR staff spends less time checking hours and sorting timesheets.
Using a time tracking app is a fantastic way to keep your employees safe from overworking and ease the payroll process for management. Mobile Punch is also a great way of protecting your business against time theft. Time theft always sounds harsh and most of the time it is not malicious, but it does cost money.
Looking for the best time tracking app? Time tracking software can be used for various reasons in different industries. Mobile Punch’s time tracking app is the #1 time tracking application in Canada as it offers a multitude of services other than just time tracking. If you would like to learn more about our app’s features, feel free to contact us.
Running a small business is a big job, and regardless of an entrepreneur’s experience, individuals are always looking for new ways to improve the way that their business is run. Although the ultimate aim of any business is to generate profit, it is equally important to create a healthy and happy working environment.
One way in which you can easily achieve this and increase your profit margins is to invest in apps that are specifically designed for small businesses. There are a vast array of different types of apps that can help you improve different areas of your business. For example, you can get apps to better manage your inventory, apps to help you with employee time tracking or even apps that can streamline your payments.
As the world of small business mobile apps is so vast, we have created this guide to help you find the apps to run your business more efficiently. We have split the apps that are available on the market into different categories and ranked which we think are the best.
Being able to accurately and efficiently manage your accounting and finances will ensure the success of your business and will help you maintain and promote the profit you are generating.
Quickbooks is the perfect accounting software for businesses of any size, as their features cater for individual freelancers, small businesses or medium businesses. Granted, if you are a large corporation, QuickBooks likely won’t be a perfect match for you, but will suit most business owners.
Because Quickbooks is widely considered the industry leader for accounting and finance software, it is compatible with many other kinds of apps that you might want to integrate into your business. Moreover, its popularity and great reputation ensure that accountants will be happy to work with the system. There are tiers to the QuickBook package plans, but the software can essentially help you with anything that you need help with from payroll, to cash flow, tax deductions to invoice and payments.
One of the best features that QuickBooks offers is live bookkeeping. It allows you to partner with a bookkeeper who has specific expertize in your business. They can reconcile your accounts to double-check them and make sure everything is in order. They also offer plans for any budget, starting at $12 and going up to $90 a month. You will be sure to find a plan that suits all your needs at a price point that you need.
Inventory management is a function of business that managers and owners often disregard as unimportant when in fact, proper inventory management can make or break your business as it dictates profit margins. We therefore cannot talk about essential apps for business without mentioning inventory management apps.
What is the best app for inventory management? In our opinion, the best inventory management app that proves to be universally beneficial for businesses of any size is Sortly. The variation in Sortly’s plans and packages ensure that there is an option for every business. They are one of the only options available that provide a completely free version, which is perfect for small start up businesses. Alternatively, they also offer a custom plan option that allows you to tailor the plan to your businesses’ specific needs.
Their features include the option to group items by category and allows you to customize within these categories to ensure that everything that needs to be tracked is being tracked. They also have a QR/barcode system that allows you to easily log everything in your inventory and check what you need or are running low on.
Point of Sales (POS) and payments are arguably one of the most important factors of a business. Their importance means that business management teams cannot afford any mistakes in this field. That is why relying on a digital app is the best solution to ensure your payments are accurately accounted for and collated in one centralized place.
Square have made quite the name for themselves in the business world. Square is an innovative company that has streamlined the payment system of countless businesses, making the entire process far easier and convenient for both businesses and customers.
The contactless payment processing options that Square offers allows you to process payments online or on the phone and have them instantly synced up on your centralized POS system.
It also keeps records of past purchases and remembers the buying habits of past customers, which in turn allows you to send out personalized ads and marketing tools. It is a software that offers far more than just a simple purchasing and payment system and therefore earns its spot as the best payment app for local businesses.
One of the most important components of a business is the employees. Having dedicated, loyal and skilled employees will help to ensure your company makes as much profit as possible. Regardless of the business you are in, it is essential to ensure your employees are not only well looked after but also that you have the capabilities to keep on top of your employees, as their work is just as much your responsibility as business manager or owner as it is theirs.
Mobile Punch is the best time tracking app available thanks to its breadth of features and user friendly set up. The app works on both android and ios devices, making it accessible to all workers and businesses.
Mobile Punch makes clocking in and out and keeping a track of hours employees have worked far easier than the traditional paper methods. With the app, all you need to do is have a mobile phone in hand, which everyone does these days, and with the click of the button your employees can record when they get in and leave work. The app automatically calculates the hours they have worked, making payments far easier, accurate and faster.
One of the key features of Mobile Punch that sets it apart is its geolocation feature which validates the presence of workers on the field. This offers several advantages to businesses in terms of resource allocation, task assignment, and itinerary organization. Moreover, Mobile Punch, similarly to the packages offered by Sortly, allows you to create customizable plans, hence ensuring you can find a package that suits your budget and your needs.
Communication is key to running a good business. Whether it is maintaining communication with staff and employees to keep everything running, or maintaining good lines of communication with your customers so they can know of all the great things you are offering, communication is at the heart of it.
Microsoft Teams is probably one of the most well-known forms of communication, and for good reason. The app allows you to easily communicate with your employees and manage projects in a seamless manner through video calling or group chat platforms.
Microsoft Teams helps you to easily compartmentalize your working life thanks to the fact that you can set up channels within the app. Channels are essentially different groups within which you can call, message and share documents with members.
Moreover, when you create a Teams group, a sharepoint is created. The sharepoint is a file sharing tool where Microsoft Teams stores any and all documents that are shared in the group. That way, you have all the relevant documents for each group in a safe and convenient place.
Just as employees are an integral aspect to any business, so are customers. After all, without customers, there is no business. You therefore need to maintain healthy and strong customer relationships, which can be achieved through successful customer relationship management.
One of the best ways to maintain booming customer relationships is to implement a comprehensive loyalty program. Belly is a great app that will help you do that. Whilst Belly is on the pricier side, you get a whole lot of features included in the package, and with the extra revenue you will inevitably generate from customers, it is a worthy investment.
The app allows you to digitally manage loyalty programs. It also collects data from your customers to allow you to create customizable marketing campaigns that you can send out. It is geared at increasing the reach of your business to promote success.
Project management is the final branch of business management that can benefit greatly from having an app organize and run it. Project management is essentially what keeps everything running in a business so it is integral to have a fully comprehensive and functioning system to ensure that everything is running smoothly.
In our opinion, Basecamp is the best project management software available on the market, mainly due to the categorization of projects that it allows, which makes everything far simpler and more organized.
Basecamp allows you to split all your projects up, with everything related to each project appearing only in the folder relating to that project. This helps to ensure you do not get confused when you have multiple projects going on at once. It features a message board, to-do lists and schedules to make sure everything is in check at any one point in time.
Running a small business is difficult, especially if you are a new entrepreneur with little experience. Therefore, all the help you can get will improve the overall functioning of your business.
From project management and time tracking apps to help the internal functions of your business and improving the management of employees, to payment and marketing apps that make your customers’ lives easier, apps are the 21st century digital solution to age-old issues of ineffective business management. As most of these platforms and software offer differing price points for any budget, you will be able to find options that suit the needs of your business.
Find out how to save money with mobile time tracking
The short answer to this question is no. However, it is possible to make one. If you have multiple employees, an Excel timesheet is not the most convenient way to keep track of worked hours. At the inception of Excel it may have been the case, but in our digital era, there are superior alternatives. Although Mobile Punch resolved the burden of time tracking for management and employees, timesheet management on Excel remains a useful skill.
Businesses are more than ever dependent on technology to operate fluidly. If the platform to track time crashes, a timesheet on Excel can be a temporary fix. Mobile Punch users are suggested to contact our technical support if this situation arises. In recent memory, Facebook’s system crash demonstrated that no string of code is unshakable. Mobile Punch offers this 360° article on timesheets, Excel, and the best practices to track employee time.
A timesheet is a record of how much time an employee spends at work. This data can be kept on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in a cloud-based timesheet software system. A timesheet computes an employee’s salary according to their pay rate by keeping note of when they start and end work, as well as any breaks they take.
Timesheets are no longer solely used to compute payrolls as project-based work has grown increasingly frequent. Timesheets for projects or clients are detailed records that reflect the amount of time spent on each project or client and are used for billing and project management. HR professionals can use these timesheets to analyze the activities being performed. This helps with workforce planning and monitoring.
Excel does not have a pre-made timesheet template, but it is possible to make one or to download a template online. The empty spreadsheet might be intimidating at first but there are many tutorials online to help you become well versed with this program.
The first step in choosing a timesheet Excel is to figure out which categories you will need to develop to process payroll successfully. These categories include:
Those who track hours worked in Excel can employ formulas to calculate the total hours worked. This is done by:
There are other configurations possible that may better suit your business needs but this step-by-step method is a great exercise and demonstration of a timesheet Excel.
Excel is a versatile program for data analysis and documentation. However, since timesheet management is not its sole function it is easy to get lost. Mobile time tracking apps, on the other hand, were programmed exclusively to facilitate the process to track time.
The disadvantage of using a spreadsheet tool for timesheets is that it can’t accommodate a wider range of requirements. This is true especially if the user is unaware of formulas, formatting, and data entry. If your team has specific timesheet requirements, services like online time tracking software are more productive.
Furthermore, Excel has the disadvantage of being a relatively expensive product, whereas Google Sheets gives virtually the same capabilities for free. A simple spreadsheet template may be adequate for organizing your team’s time logging, but it will not provide you with the reporting insight that will help you improve your timesheet management techniques. It also won’t help you streamline your billing operations.
Time tracking apps are the most valuable timesheet option. Mobile Punch can help you keep track of your time more efficiently by automating your timekeeping. The reporting insights you may acquire from our reports features will allow you to make well-informed time management decisions. Monitoring the comparative value per unit of time for various jobs or projects has never been easier.
The best time management software services support several time tracking platforms. For example, having an iPhone time tracking app linked to your office time tracking service allows you to control your time both in and out of the workplace. Not to mention that you also won’t need to be a coding expert who can deploy various complex formulas into spreadsheets. With tracking apps, ease of use and access is key!
To have an efficient time tracking procedure, you must make time tracking simple and uncomplicated for your employees. Timekeeping can be tedious, especially if you have a lot of activities to complete. Mobile Punch is simple to use and has a short learning curve, so your team won’t be slowed down by its integration!
It should become increasingly clear that timesheet Excel has numerous issues. If you truly want to reap the benefits of modern timesheets then get yourself a tracking app as the following are just some of its advantages:
Quite simply, time tracking apps let you access a whole other level of efficiency that spreadsheets can’t offer.
Mobile Punch is the greatest work time tracking app in Canada when all features and benefits are considered. Because of its accessibility on Android and Apple smartphones, it is the most popular time tracking app in Canada.
Mobile-Punch saves thousands of companies time and money. Call us to find out how we could do the same for yours!
We are located at:
5955, rue Saint-Laurent
Lévis, Quebec
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