Another fortnight has flown by and after many months of behind-the-scenes building works, the new store shop front is up and wowing the village.

While the village folk look forward to what the new store will bring, I have to plan ahead and pay particular focus to time management. I’ve always been a believer in working hard and, above all, working smart. In my early apprenticeship days I would often work like a disorganised fool, for ever trying to catch my tail. However, many years on technology has dramatically changed my business landscape. Rather than working a few days behind, I am now in control through managing tasks and planning ahead.

Utilising Costcutter’s epos system means I can work remotely and log in from either site to place or check orders. Rather than spending many hours over a week on the road, technology allows me to spend my time more efficiently. When the new store goes live, having the ability to log in to the other stores and place orders will be a massive bonus as it will allow me to spend a good proportion of my time at the new site. Furthermore, synchronising the order days across all three sites will enable me to spend ordering time on certain days, rather than doing the same job every day.

Using other forms of technology will also pay dividends. DropBox, LogMeIn, MyCloud, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and mobile banking all give up-to-date and real-time information. Above all, they all in some form give connectivity, be it with the business, our staff or our customers.

For example, the big benefit of DropBox is that any member of the family and staff can access relevant spreadsheets, templates or pictures at any time and from any device, especially helpful 
as emailing large documents can sometimes 
be difficult.

Whether we prefer to use the traditional pen and paper, iPad or tablet, being organised and managing time efficiently is key if you want to operate multi-sites. Above all, using technology in the right way enables every business owner to stay connected and manage their workload efficiently.

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