Small businesses waste a month a year on admin

Government legislation and finance top business worries

Half of the UK’s small businesses waste more than 24 working days a year on non-core business activity, such as finance, IT and HR, according to the latest research from BT Business[1].

And ten per cent of small businesses are only running their businesses for two thirds of the year because they are distracted by admin tasks for a day and a half every week.

Government legislation and regulation are the biggest concern for more than half (56 per cent) of small business decision makers, followed by company finance, which is the number one worry for 27 per cent of companies.

BT says SMEs can free up their time to concentrate on their core business by working with BT Business to manage their IT and communications.

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business, said: “We can’t do anything about tax, but what we can do is help smaller companies reduce the time they spend on their IT and communications and, in turn, help control costs.

“It sounds simple, but by bringing together fixed-line and mobile phones with broadband, businesses can cut the number of suppliers they have to manage. This not only reduces complexity, but also brings down cost, giving companies one bill, removing the headache of running a business and helping UK SMEs get back to doing what they do best.”

BT Business One Plan, the UK’s first “triple play” - landline, mobile and broadband service - designed just for business, gives customers a wide range of benefits by delivering cost
and time savings. These include a 50 per cent reduction on BT’s standard capped UK landline rates [2] capped at 5p for up to an hour, and the option to cap landline calls to mobile at 20p [3].

Customers can see and track their landline and mobile costs when using One Plan’s free Billing Analyst software. And One Plan now includes switch maintenance [4] giving customers just one bill, a single point of contact for all billing, fault and service enquiries, as well as BT’s enhanced support service, BT Assurance Plus [5].

Additionally, to help companies manage their costs at all stages of development and get the most from their IT and communications, BT Business has launched its latest free guide for small businesses, Understanding How to Control IT and Communications Costs for Business. To download a copy of the guide, go to BT Business Insight at www.bt.com/insight.

For more information about BT Business One Plan go to www.bt.com/oneplan.

Notes to editors
[1]Based on a working year of 240 days per year and businesses decision makers spending more than ten per cent of their time on non-core business activities, such as IT, finance and HR. Independent research conducted by Vanson-Bourne amongst 435 businesses with less than 50 employees across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
[2]Applies to calls to UK landline 01, 02 and 03 number ranges. Reduction based on comparison with 10p cap for calls on BT Business Plan.
[3] Applies to calls to the four main mobile operators only. Exclusions (including the 3 network).
[3] From January 21, 2008, BT Maintenance contract spend on any of the switches below will contribute to the customer’s annual spend commitment under One Plan (Committed Spend) and will be eligible for their annual reward within BT Business One Plan:
• Micro
• BT Versatility
• BCM
• Norstar
• Option 11
• Meridian
• Succession
• Inspiration
• Avaya
• Servassure (BT maintenance on third party switches)
• UC500 (Cisco)
[4] BT Assurance Plus is also provided free of charge across all products on a customer’s plan (normally charged at £9 per quarter per line). This provides customers with 24 hour fault reporting, guaranteed fix time and UK-based call centre agents. Additionally, customers can get a five per cent discount on their annual communications spend on all the elements within the plan (the reward is based on eligible spend and the level of spend customers reach. Reconciliation fees apply if 90 per cent of customer’s annual minimum spend is not met. See www.bt.com/mypackage for details).

One Plan also offers the ability to make further savings on fixed and mobile line rental spend, including:
• An additional 4.6 per cent line rental credit on all eligible landlines.
• Three months free mobile line rental when BT Mobile Talk Time is added to a customer’s One Plan package.

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