One of the chief complaints of most business people is that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

While there’s nothing anyone can do about that, there are all kinds of software platforms available to help you get more done.

Here are some examples of areas where a good business software can help you work less and get more done:

Scheduling

Bookeo is an online bookings software for businesses offering services that include:

• Guided tours such as boat or helicopter tours
• Activities like whale watching, scuba diving, rafting, and more
• Classes and courses like yoga, language courses, cooking classes, and swimming lessons
• Professional services like consulting, photography, or accounting
• Health and wellness like spa, beauty salons, and medical and dental services

Because it’s online, it lets your business book appointments 24/7.

It also manages confirmations, cancelations, automated reminders, date changes, as well as your staff’s calendar.

Bookeo allows other users to modify your calendar, if you’re so inclined, which comes in handy if you have a receptionist or personal assistant. The platform prohibits people from claiming an open timeslot until they make an online deposit.

If you need your schedule shared with your website’s users, CoffeeCup Web Calendar is worth looking into.

With Web Calendar:

• Visitors see when your next blog posts get published, or when you’re hosting another event.
• You can sync third-party calendars like iCal.
• You can choose from a variety of calendar themes that are also customizable.

SEO

If you want to get found online, SEO is non-negotiable.

The problem is that most of us aren’t SEO experts. A lot of organizations also don’t have a huge marketing budget.

This is where SEO solutions come in.

SEOprofiler is a tool to optimize your website across Google, Bing, and Yahoo. While the first is obviously the most important, the other two search engines have their own share of proponents, so it’s a good idea to not dismiss them altogether.

SEOprofiler lets you:

• Monitor your web pages’ search positions for all of your keywords
• Spy on your competitors through intelligence tools that return data on their backlinks, Google rankings, and Google AdWords ads
• Maintain the health of your site’s backlink structure via a link disinfection tool to weed out harmful links
• Find the best possible keywords for local and global searches
• Protect your site’s online reputation through social media integration
• Automatically receive weekly website health checks
• Generate comprehensive and fully customizable white-label reports
• Collaborate with your team
• Integrate your Google Analytics account for a better understanding of your site’s visitors

Education

Learning is a never-ending process, particularly if you’re an entrepreneur:

• “The moment you stop learning, you stop leading.” – Rick Warren
• “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” – Albert Einstein
• “Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.” – Brian Tracy

There are all types of software you can use in this regard, one of which is Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

Built to combat information overload and help business professionals maximize the limited time they have on their hands, Soundview Executive Book Summaries provides business book synopses, webinars from top authors, as well as video interviews with executives from all over the world.

All content can be downloaded on your mobile device.

Educating yourself is one thing, but what about your staff?

Wondershare QuizCreator is an app that allows training professionals and educators to create Flash-based quizzes and surveys, and track the results.

Features include:

• Quiz creation tools such as images, Flash video and audio, voice-over, and text-to-speech
• 18 question types – fill in the blanks, multiple choice, matching, short essay, Likert scale, and more
• Math and Science symbols for quizzes in Math, Chemistry, and Physics
• Self-grading system
• Randomization and time limits
• Customizable templates
• Multiple publishing options
• Results monitoring and reporting

Employee management

Talent plays a role in business growth, which is why it’s crucial that you hire the right people.

To expedite the process and make sure no application falls through the cracks, talent acquisition solutions are now the norm more than the exception. Once you’ve rounded up the talents to eventually partner with, next comes employee management.

BambooHR is an HRIS (human resource information system) that organizes all the data related to your employees.

It’s equipped with the following features:

• Time-off management
• Employee information centralization
• Role-based user access
• Reports generation
• Alerts for important reminders such as an upcoming birthday, company event, training deadline, and license renewal
• Global currency and multiple language support

ShiftPlanning is another option. If it’s good enough for Uber, eBay, Evernote, Safeway, and NBCUniversal, among many others, it’ll probably work well for you, too.

ShiftPlanning works across all industry types and company sizes, and comes with functionalities such as:

• Employee scheduling
• HR management system
• Time tracking
• Payroll

Social media

Social media isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it’s bound to get bigger, better, and more influential, especially where your average business is concerned.

While social media comes with a ton of benefits, it does have its setbacks:

People spend too much time on social media, far too much that their personal productivity gets the hit.

If you’re not using software to manage your social media use – yes, even when social media is part of what you do on the job – now is the time to look into some.

While not necessarily a social media platform, Rapportive is a free Gmail extension that shows you everything you need to know about anyone who sends you a message: what they look like, what they do, where they’re from, their social media profiles, website URL, Skype contact information, and even the connections you share.

From there, you can connect with them on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Google+ without leaving your inbox.

For more traditional social media uses such as audience engagement and community building, there’s Hootsuite. The platform lets you:

• Engage with your audience
• Schedule messages for publishing
• Monitor what people say about your brand
• Measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts through reports and analytics
• Collaborate with other team members
• Integrate with other apps like YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and Marketo

Final word

Time, they say, is the great equalizer. No matter who you are, you only get 24 hours in a day – no more, no less. That means it’s up to you to make the most of the time you have at your disposal. The apps above are a great way to get more things done in less time.

The post How Business Software Can Help You Work Less and Get More Done appeared first on Cloudswave Blog.