Manage Your Operations

The Business Value of Technology

What is Business?

• Purposeful activity: busyness
• Role or function: to go about one's business
• The coordinated effort of one or more persons to achieve an objective

What Business is NOT

• An opportunity to fire one's boss
• A quick, easy way to make money
• A public service, charity or social activity

What is Management?

• The organization and coordination of the activities of a business in order to achieve defined objectives

• Utilizing the material and human resources at one's disposal to achieve the objectives of the organization
• Leveraging knowledge and experience to do what needs to be done in the most effective and efficient manner

What are Operations?

• A process or series of actions or activities involved in a particular form of work
• The tasks required to manage a business
• The unit or department within an organization that carries out the planning and execution of the fundamental tasks required for the business to function

How does Tech help?

• Automates repeated tasks and activities
• Enables businesses to standardize actions and results
• Eliminates wasted time and effort
• Allows businesses to repeat what works, and avoid what does not work

Operations We Discuss Today

• Communications Management
• Data/Document Management 
• Time Management

Tools We Will Review

• Google Account
• Google Calendar
• Google Drive
• Google Voice

Why Google?

• It's FREE
• Accessible from all devices
• One account, many tools
• Key to building a "no-cost" infrastructure

What is Infrastructure?

• The framework or components of a system or organization

• The physical and logical things that make up your business, not considering customers or cash flow

• The connections between the people, parts and processes that make up the operations of your business

Google account

It's MUCH more than GMail.

A Google account gives you access to many of the essential tools you need to create your own Small Business infrastructure.

One account to Rule them ALL

There are MANY useful online tools; only a few will be covered in this workshop series.

Your Google account provides secure access to all these tools with only one login ID.

GMail labels

Better than folders, labels allow you to categorize your email, helping you to sort through the clutter of an overloaded INBOX

GMail filters

Create rules that automatically apply labels to your incoming emails:

GMail labels

Create labels directly from emails.

Step 1 of 2

GMail labels

Create labels directly from emails.

Step 2 of 2

GMail filters

Create email filters directly from emails.

Step 1 of 4

GMail filters

Create email filters directly from emails.

Step 2 of 4

GMail filters

Create email filters directly from emails.

Step 3 of 4

GMail filters

Create email filters directly from emails.

Step 4 of 4

Google Calendar

• Synchronizes with Outlook, iPhone and Android Calendars
• Send and receive invites via email
• Configure to automatically create alerts - never miss another appointment

Email calendar invite

It doesn't matter what system the other party uses: if they can send an email invitation, GMail + Google Calendar can automatically accept and import it.

...straight into your calendar

Create default alerts:

Time Management: Use a S.W.O.R.D.

• SCHEDULE the task/appointment
• WRITE it down
• OBSERVE the schedule
• REMIND yourself
• DO the task

Complete Date vs. Deadline These Biscuits Do Not Look Tasty

• To Be Done No Later Than
• STOP waiting until the last minute to get things done
• Give yourself "buffer days" - plan for the unexpected
• Do the task as early as possible - then relax!
• Deadlines are not excuses for wasting time. If you're getting things done < 24 hours before your deadline - you're already late!!!

Google Drive

• 15 GB of FREE cloud storage
• Store and share images, documents, presentations and more
• Share files via email
• Real-time collaborative online document editing

No more attachments

• Share many links to one document
• No more multiple copy confusion
• Edit the same document, no matter how many editors

Many editors, one file

Google Voice

• A FREE phone number (local area code) to manage all your phone communications
• Voice mail stored in the cloud, transcribed and emailed to your GMail account as text
• Text messages emailed and archived
• Manage multiple phones with one number
• Connect many phones to a central "office number"
• Stop giving out your home or cell phone number
• One constant number, even if you change phone numbers or cell phone providers

Get your number

Manage texts, voice mails online

About Cornell Green

Cornell Green is an IT Services professional with over 24 years of experience with such firms as Lehman Brothers and Paine Webber.

Since 2010, Mr. Green has been an independent consultant, working with NYC-based Small Businesses, helping them leverage the power of technology.

About BTI

Blue Tech Initiative - BTI - is a consortium of NYC-based IT Services companies united in the spirit of "co-opetition".

These business - CommunIT Solutions, OpenChoice IT and Gotcha Techs Harlem - join together to provide effective solutions for New York's Small Business community