Technical Difficulties

SMB leaders spending 13 hours per week on tech-related issues

Tech tools are supposed to make business owners’ lives easier, handling time-consuming work to free up entrepreneurs for the important things. But a business.com survey of 550 leaders of small and medium-sized businesses found that they spend far more time dealing with tech-related issues than they do on growth.

“Technology decision making is increasingly top of mind for small business leaders, especially with the emergence of AI. One in 3 say finding the right tech solutions is a major challenge and for nearly 1 in 10, it’s their top concern,” managing editor Chad Brooks wrote.

There’s so much they’d rather be doing to transform their business into a larger one, but they find themselves spending valuable hours troubleshooting and switching systems. Without help, they can find themselves in a paradoxical trap where they can’t grow their businesses because they’re too busy dealing with tech issues and they can’t find or afford the right tech solutions until they get bigger.

“The practical reality is, there’s a lot more to the business side of this,” Brett Sussman, head of marketing & sales for American Express Business Blueprint & Banking, told Reboot. “There’s a need to make that business side easier for small business.”

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Where Does the Time Go?

SMB leaders spend:

• 13 hours per week on tech troubleshooting, researching new software, and onboarding staff to new systems
• 3 hours on actually growing their businesses
• 35% of leaders manage to dedicate any time to growth opportunities each week

The fix: Leaders need to make time for what’s important rather than allowing the business to run them. Just an hour a day carved out for strategic planning can add up quickly.

“I have this view that all things can be changed in 90 days,” author Puja Bhola Rios told Reboot. “Whether that is looking at a company’s revenue and figuring out how to make it either a grow faster or grow, period. So my view is 90 days, 90 days of consistency and you will see such a change in the way you attack your business life and your personal life.”

Growth Obstacles

• 51% struggle to identify the right tech solutions for their needs
• 42% can’t break free from outdated systems, even when better options exist
• 82% spend up to a whole business day each week managing email
• 40% of leaders spend up to 5 hours weekly on IT issues that could be delegated
• 80% of small businesses are understaffed, and some of the most significant hiring gaps were in IT and tech positions

The fix: Hiring even a part-time IT consultant could free up valuable hours that leaders can dedicate to thinking about the bigger picture. They can also recommend software tools that can be leveraged to grow the business, making them a valuable investment rather than time suck. An IT expert will know things leaders spend countless hours – and dollars – finding out.

Bigger Goals

• 44% of leaders spend time each week on ensuring quality standards, at an average of 8 hours per week
• 43% spend time on team leadership and employee motivation, at an average of 7 hours per week
• 42% spend time on strategic planning and goal-setting, at an average of 5 hours per week
• 40% spend time on maintaining and nurturing client relationships, at an average of 7 hours per week
• 37% spend time on financial management and budgeting, at an average of 8 hours per week

The fix: Getting those numbers up to 100% across the board. Relationships are the lifeblood of any business, be they relationships with employees, suppliers, or customers. “Leadership should be defined as the ability to connect with staff and customers,” Fierce Inc. founder Susan Scott told Reboot. Planning for the future is the only way to turn a small or medium-sized business into a bigger one, or one that stands the test of time. As Dale Carnegie famously said, “An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.”

*Source: business.com Time Trapped: The Productivity Crisis Facing Small Business Leaders