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Productivity and Workflow
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How do you and your employees use your technology tools? If you have your web site and your e-mail up and running, if you have your computers networked
and you have a great Internet connection, what next? Here are a few of the solutions that I've worked out to help some of my customers improve
their efficiency and productivity.
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Calendar Sharing
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Having a
company-wide calendar really improves your communication. With a shared
calendar, everyone will be reminded of important deadlines, meetings and
appointments. Once you are networked and always online each persons' calendar
will be updated regularly.
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Contact Sharing
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This works
much like the calendar sharing. Think of the time you can save having a complete
and up-to-date directory of all the important contact information. You will have
your customers' and vendors' addresses, phone and fax numbers and e-mail
addresses at your fingertips. With this information in your Outlook file, you
can quickly send an e-mail, auto-dial a phone number, send a digital fax or
print an envelope, label or letter.
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Messaging
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This can be a
very useful tool within your office or with outside contacts. You can quickly
notify someone of a call holding or a visitor waiting. You can send someone a
phone number or web link that will display on their screen. Instant messaging
can reduce inter-office paging and voice mail. Many people use this tool to
touch base with contacts on the outside as well. It works great to quickly
confirm meetings or appointments.
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Online Ordering
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Once you have
a good Internet connection, you will soon discover that you can save time by
ordering supplies and material online. If your vendors aren't ready yet with
E-commerce web sites, you can usually order by e-mail. I can help you set up
suitable order forms and tools to expedite most of your purchasing.
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Electronic Billing
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You may be
able to save time and postage by sending invoices digitally to your customers.
Using Adobe Acrobat for example, I can show you how to send out a professional
looking invoice from almost any accounting software. Statements and reminders
can also be sent out quickly and easily.
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Other Ideas
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There are
many more ways to use the available technology; Internet postage, Internet
shipping and tracking, employee and operations manuals online, project tracking
etc. Every business is unique and requires unique solutions to improving
efficiency and productivity.
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