Scheduling software for your small business - Part 1

Most businesses owners could benefit from scheduling software to keep their business running smoothly, on time and without conflicts. There are many types of scheduling tasks that are time sensitive and that need to be managed carefully.

To deal with the problem, software developers have created a whole host of scheduling software packages including:

• Resource scheduling software
• Employee scheduling software
• Appointment scheduling software
• Room scheduling software
• Service scheduling software
• Etc.

While many of these scheduling applications are easy to use and implement, there are some major drawbacks. Well look at some of these shortcomings and then look at one of the best and most affordable scheduling applications available to you.

The problem with scheduling software

1. Many scheduling software solutions are extremely task specific and they have limited flexibility. For example, you may get a program to help you with meeting scheduling, but it doesn't necessarily help you with scheduling resources, like rooms, projectors, equipment and other things you need to manage an effective meeting.
   
   As another example, you may find a good employee scheduling software to arrange work schedules for your staff, but it may not allow group scheduling. And with workplaces increasingly dependant on collaboration between employees, not having good team scheduling functionality can be a real problem.
2. Scheduling software can often be expensive. Whether it's staff scheduling, workforce scheduling, task, office or team scheduling, scheduling software with specific functions is expensive.
   
   For example, employee scheduling software, that is software specifically designed for managing staff scheduling can be very expensive. Software packages can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
3. Probably one of the greatest problems with most scheduling software packages, however, is that they are sold as desktop applications. This means that what's at the office stays at the office. If you are out in the field or at a customer's office, you have no way of accessing the information you need, when you need it. You may have a great resource scheduling software at the office, but if you need to put together a client meeting with all that entails and don't know who or what's available to you, that great software package is completely useless.

The solution

There is a simple, easy to use solution to these common scheduling software problems. And it lays in a web-based application that it generally known as "groupware". In part two of this article, we'll look at an example of one of the top groupware applications available online at Pretzel Logic (http://www.pretzel-logic.ca). And I'll show you how this inexpensive easy to use application can be used to solve your scheduling problems.