Taking advantage of technology.

Small business owners should use digital tools as extensions of their companies

Small business owners should not discount being creative when it comes to saving time and money. Introducing, Time & Money: a new BE column that will help small business owners save both, and redirect these savings toward the growth and expansion of their businesses. To that end, we first turned to Dell Computer Corp.'s small business division, and discovered these suggestions for creativity.

According to a study by International Data Corp. (IDC), a marketing research firm in Framingham, Massachusetts, small businesses should look to "hiring the Internet" to delegate and manage time-consuming activities, potentially cut operational costs, and increase revenue. Those businesses that make use of available Internet technology as a support tool in their daily business functions will most likely report higher annual revenues than companies that don't.

Terry Sadowski, vice president and general manager at Dell's small business division, says, "Areas that the Internet could help facilitate but [that] some small businesses may be overlooking are day-to-day operational duties, such as handling finances, recruiting employees, and identifying sales leads."

Often, Websites will uncover "Internet employees," says Sadowski, "which can be hired to perform roles such as accounting, marketing, office management, human resources, and administrative."

Taking advantage of Websites, such as www.delleworks.com, www.blackenter prise.digitalworks.com/biztools, and www.americanexpress.com (under the small business tab), will provide tools to manage these labor-intensive tasks so that business owners can concentrate on their core competencies.