The key to any successful business today is really about collaboration and managing communications. We have learnt this the hard way and therefore, it features as our top priority in whatever we do today. When you are small, it is fairly easy to manage all communications and information at work but as you grow, it goes out of hands. Having said that, at every stage of your business there is a need to get organized and work smarter by optimizing talent & technology, even when you are small and as you grow into mid-sized and then into a large outfit.
As we were growing, some of the problems we faced in our small enterprise were to do with email clutter slowing down our system, wasting a lot of time hunting for information, basic communication challenges at work where the output was sometimes not as expected, timesheet problems and to many revision files hanging around, to name a few. It was frustrating to land into crises situations with clients that too on weekends or holidays because of some wrong information sharing or lack of communication that had nothing to do with our technical capabilities at work.
With all this chaos going on in my office, I just sat one day researching for the right enterprise solution that would save us from all the trouble, but really nothing was available for a small firm like mine. This is really the story behind the evolution of our brand TaskTrek. I put all my forces behind the designing and developing of TaskTrek for managing office communication and information management. It was a tough decision we took compromising new business but a wise one, so that it not only benefits us but many other SMEs with same problems we faced.
We have been using TaskTrek with our clients for the last two years and it has helped us immensely. My team is far more focused, there is better accountability, and most importantly I have my team communicating seamlessly on work related matters with clients and internally. Investing in TaskTrek, has given us an edge over others as we are better informed and work in collaboration that wins us more business from our clients, also on the look of it more professional. Most of our internal issues were resolved when TaskTrek was put in place and now we are helping other SMEs across businesses to get organized by allowing customizations in TaskTrek that fits into their business, their way.
I’ll be wrong if I say that there are limited enterprise solutions available today but really nothing to fit into our small business. Talking of TaskTrek as a technology that helped our business grow and save us from crises, we have truly gained a competitive edge not only in terms of our clients but cost and innovation. One, it is available to SMEs at a cost they can easily afford. You don’t have to really think twice about getting it or not irrespective how small you are as a company. TaskTrek costs only Rs. 100 per employee per month to organize all information and communication in one place.
The other important thing about SMEs is their loosely defined hierarchy structure or informal way of working with continuous resource sharing for optimizing manpower. In scenarios like these, it is really not easy to replicate actual working online or automation through technology. TaskTrek can fit into all organization structures with a flexible hierarchy function so that it’s easy to map your team online and collaborate seamlessly with them.
In today’s fast changing environment, where most of companies allow their employees working from home internet is really the key. You need to be connected always and be able to work from where ever you are. So, why not put all your work online and collaborate with team and clients on online. That’s really the point I’m trying to make. Without any dependencies, you should be able to access your information from your client’s office or wherever you are. As a manager, be on top of all information and communication that your subordinates are exchanging amongst themselves or external. In crises or any which ways, you should be able to seamlessly communicate on work related matters, delegate team to work or the other way round, and efficiently run your business without having to worry about nitty-gritty matters. If you can adopt technology that lets you do all this more, then what is really stopping you? TaskTrek has given empowered us to do more that we really could wonder. It is fast, and really easy with abundant features to get us going smoothly.
Our TaskTrek service for SMEs is secure. All data rests on our private servers with regular maintenance and backups. So, needless to worry about cloud, or security of your data or confidentiality contracts signed with your clients’ when you signup an agreement with us for use of TaskTrek. SMEs don’t have to invest hugely into IT infrastructure or team or multiple softwares to man their business. That’s another plus point.
Talking of my enterprise, the team is small here but large enough to manage all the business we are getting. In my small team, we have divided all our work into projects and tasks (or sub-projects) and allocated resources on each of them with clients on board. So, communication becomes really easy with the sharing function of TaskTrek. All messages appear in a trail like format. As a manager, I can view all messages my teams are sharing between themselves and clients without having to ask them individually. I have a report of all messages going out to external email IDs and all responses to the messages get integrated with internal messages seamlessly under the activities or tasks. So, if I have to get an activity report on some work, I can easily pull out all the communication and information related to it in fraction of seconds.
All our project information or data is also well organized under projects and tasks. It is easy to email files, discuss files, share heavy files and attach files to messages using TaskTrek. There by, integrating all communication and information in one place.
Not only this, as a manager, I can access my team calendars, manage my projects and keep a tab on activity or team performance through customized reports that are in built into our TaskTrek account.
Adopting TaskTrek technology, there is really no loss of information or outdated information being used.
As an entrepreneur, and as a technologist, I truly believe that TaskTrek is a state-of-the-art technology for SMEs not because it is our business proposition but because it has evolved after thorough research and addresses to a need gap for a easy to maintain and use solution that is affordable and fit to all organizations where managing communication and information from one place is the key. There is no need for multiple softwares or solutions the TaskTrek way. It threads together functions of communication management, document management, resource management and project management into a robust collaboration tool.
In our country, people are still fearful to use technology to their benefit. The truth is that most of us are still on social media, using tabs and blackberry’s etc. As long as technology is easy to use and implement there is nothing to fear. TaskTrek has a very user friendly interface and simple to use. Our training sessions for TaskTrek to SMEs are more about how to address the basic challenges at work and change of mindset than about technical training of TaskTrek. There is no need for technical training.
As you plan to start up your business, and lay out a budget for it do make technology an intrinsic part of your plan to get you a smooth sailing throughout. Choosing the right technology comes only by actually trying it out to see what will work best for you. TaskTrek has helped us meet day to day challenges at work; similarly, you need be cognizant of your problems at workplace and then be open to solutions to counter them. We understand it is not easy from running a small to a mid-sized company; therefore like I stated right at the start of my piece, at every stage of your business there is a need to get organized and work smarter by optimizing talent & technology.
