Small Business: The Balancing Act to Productivity

Our team has had the opportunity to sit down recently with many small businesses owners and their employees. We know these workers are constantly strapped for time — but we were looking to understand more about what’s filling their schedules. We recently spoke with a woman who manages multiple parts of a small Bay Area-based biotech company. She wears many hats for the company — marketing and communication, business management, purchasing, and several one-off day-to-day tasks. Her job is a constant balancing act. For her purchasing role, she relies on a series of disparate national and local merchants: an office supply website, a Big Box discounter, travel booking sites, a packaging vendor, a lab product supplier, and more. She then manages her expense reports from an Excel spreadsheet. She would love to organize and integrate the whole process better, to make it less time consuming, but pressing business needs have always gotten in the way. This is one of many similar stories we are hearing: small business employees do anything and everything that’s needed to get the job done and make their companies successful. But, they need help saving time on all the administrative tasks they do — especially in the back-office — so they can get back to serving their customers and building their business.

As I continue to have these conversations, it is reinforced for me that small businesses are the backbone of the American Economy. According to the Small Business Association (SBA), small businesses create two-thirds of net new jobs in the U.S., and over half of all working Americans either own or work for a small business. And as there is still tremendous ongoing pressure and uncertainty, adversity is nothing new for our small business customers.  And they, along with their employees, are stretching themselves to the limit as they look to grow their businesses with hard work and dedication. In talking to small business folks, this small business balancing act definitely comes to life for me. I know technology can help small businesses manage some of this burden — which is why we’re working so hard to make Deem at Work a time- and money-saving solution for small businesses.

I’m excited to be attending this week’s San Francisco Small Businesses Week, recognizing the “Heroes of Our Economy” and celebrating the contributions small businesses make to our cities and towns. Small businesses are coming together to collaborate, join forces and inspire each other — finding ways to not only survive but to thrive. Team Deem is participating in the conference and talking with small business owners about their views on business productivity. (Watch this space for more results of these conversations.) We’re also inviting small businesses to try Deem at Work, which gives them big business buying power. We believe it will help make the jobs of small businesses a little bit easier.

Let’s do what we can to support small businesses, and help them thrive. And if you are also at the San Francisco Small Business Week conference, please come talk with us about your business at our booth in the Expo!

Randy Reynolds is a small business champion and Vice President, Product Management at Rearden Commerce.

 

2 Responses to “Small Business: The Balancing Act to Productivity”

1. Linda Chen says:

   May 16, 2012 9:20 am at 9:20 am

   So true. Running a small business is a 24×7 job. My brother owns his own business and can’t take a vacation. One of my good friends runs a restaurant in NYC and she pours every last dollar into it. She just got engaged and is thinking about bleaching an old bridesmaid dress in order to save money. This is the passion and dedication that small business owners have for their businesses. They are definitely the “Heroes of our Economy”!

   Reply
2. Song Huang says:

   May 16, 2012 4:04 pm at 4:04 pm

   Full disclosure: I work for Rearden Commerce.
   So I was shipping a package to my Mom and decided to compare the “Open Market” prices with our Deem offering. I was delighted to find that I could save about 40% on shipping (using FedEx standard shipping in this case)! Then I tried the same thing on Rental Cars and got even better savings!

   I don’t know if everyone will see the same result, but I’m glad to know that the system we use ourselves work well and I’m happy that we can extend the benefits to our customers.

   Reply