and adp has an app for that.
good news for accountants and payroll providers alike: small business owners say in a new survey from adp that they need to spend less time managing their businesses in order to grow.
“in today’s economy, small business owners are watching cash flow more closely than ever. that reality, combined with ever-growing time pressures, means small business owners are looking to spend more time growing their businesses and less time on the administrative burdens of running them,” said regina lee, president of adp’s small business services and major account services.
but adp’s larger goal in making news for the survey is to gain attention for its new iphone app, available at adp.com/mobilepayroll or at itunes, which accesses adp’s run product, used by 70,000 businesses. after a week into a soft launch, clients had downloaded the app 264 times. no private data is stored on the iphone; it’s all in the cloud. android and other platforms are coming soon, the company says.
“to best serve the needs of today’s business owner, companies serving the small business sector need to adapt with them, leveraging new technologies like smartphones and faster networks to bring trusted resources to clients wherever they choose to work.”
while 80% of small business owners have been hurt by the economy, more than 50% expect their businesses to expand in the coming year.
adp, the nation’s leading payroll company, has 550,00 clients, 400,000 of them busineses with 49 or fewer employees. adp pays one in six u.s. workers.
in the survey, respondents identified several key areas where improving operational efficiency can help grow their business:
- 50% would dedicate time saved on administrative functions to running their businesses,
- 42% to running them.
- 33% believe that redeploying time spent on payroll to other activities would lead to an increase in company revenue.
- 50% would be interested in using their mobile devices to aid with administrative tasks (e.g., payroll).
- 90% spend at least some time outside of the office, with an average of 9 hours per week—23% of a 40-hour work week.
- 30% of those say the amount of time spent outside of the office is increasing.
- 60% own a smartphone and
- 80% of smartphone users use them for business.
- respondents using mobile devices for business do so primarily to aid with customer relations (77%) and time management (53%).
in other highloights of the survey, while most small businesses are feeling the affects of the recession, accounting firms, a primary distribution channel for adp, are faring better than most other industries.
instant download: get the full report here — adp 2010 survey of small business owners (pdf, 24 pages)