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Nobody builds a house on a weak foundation, so why operate your business based on unreliable data? According to research, bad data costs US firms over $3 trillion every year, and roughly 40% of company goals fail as a result of inaccurate information. Data is everywhere, and if you are not utilising it to your advantage, you are missing out. It is found in emails, customer profiles, inventory systems, or basically throughout your entire workflow. But relying on outdated or inaccurate information can lead to confusion, slow down your team, and ultimately cost you a lot of money. Here’s the good news: you don’t need an entire IT department to manage your data effectively. With the right IT partner and a few simple steps, you can keep everything clean and running smoothly. Why Good Data Is Key It is challenging to run a small business, and bad data makes things worse. With accurate data, you can make smarter decisions, satisfy customers, and run your operations more efficiently, as a result, boosting sales and benefiting your company without wasting resources. You might be wondering, isn’t that the same as data integrity? Actually, no. Data integrity focuses on protecting data from leaks or corruption, it’s more about security and ensuring records stay safe and intact. Data quality means your information is accurate and useful. It helps you make smart decisions, while data integrity protects the data you rely on. What Makes Data “High Quality”? It is simple. If your data ticks these boxes, you’re already on the right path: 1. It’s Accurate Your data reflects what is going on in the real world. This means it should be free of errors such as spelling mistakes, inaccurate invoices, or old contact information. 2. It’s Complete All the pieces are there. No half-filled forms or missing phone numbers. Incomplete data often leads to guesswork, which slows everyone down. 3. It’s Current Outdated data can be worse than no data at all. Relying on last year’s sales trends to guide this month’s decisions can quickly lead to problems. 4. It’s Consistent If a customer’s name is spelled three different ways across your systems, it creates confusion. Clean data looks the same, wherever it lives. 5. It’s Unique Duplicates skew results. You don’t want “Bob Smith” entered five times with five different emails. One record per person. Simple. 6. It’s Useful Your data should be just detailed enough to help you, no more, no less. Too much unnecessary information makes it harder to spot what really matters. What Happens If You Ignore Data Quality? Let’s say you’re preparing for a big email campaign. If your list is filled with old addresses, spelling mistakes, or duplicate contacts, your open rates tank, and your reputation with email providers suffers. Or imagine your team keeps delivering orders to the wrong location because the customer's info hasn’t been updated. That’s time, money, and trust gone. Here’s the thing: fixing these issues after they happen requires far more effort than preventing them from occurring in the first place. 7 Simple Ways to Keep Your Business Data Clean 1. Decide What Info Actually Matters Identify the key data that keeps your business running smoothly, like customer contacts, order details, or payment terms. Then, create simple guidelines your team can easily follow. When everyone uses the same format, it keeps things organised without making it complicated. 2. Show Your Team the Right Way to Do It Most data errors occur when people aren’t sure what’s expected of them. Rather than overwhelming your team with lengthy manuals, provide a simple, clear guide. How should names be formatted? What’s the correct way to enter addresses? A brief, straightforward session without jargon can make a big difference in maintaining consistency. 3. Tidy Things Up Often Don’t wait too long to clean up your data. A quick monthly review helps you spot duplicates, fix mistakes, and update old info before it creates bigger issues. 4. Use Smart Tools to Prevent Errors Some mistakes can be caught the moment they happen. You just need the right tools: Use form validations so emails, dates, and numbers follow the right format. Make certain fields required, like phone numbers or email addresses. If your CRM allows it, set up automatic checks for common errors. 5. Give Your Team a Way to Flag Issues Your staff are often the first to notice when something’s off. If names are getting mixed up or records are incomplete, they should feel comfortable pointing it out. Create a simple way for them to flag these problems and help fix them before they grow. 6. Keep Your Documentation Updated Things change fast with new systems, tools, and team members. That’s why it helps to keep a simple note on where your data comes from, who handles it, and how it should be used. 7. Watch a Few Key Metrics You don’t need to track everything. Just keep an eye on a few key things: Are there a lot of duplicates showing up? Are important fields being left blank? How accurate is your customer info? Quick checks once a month will help you stay ahead of any issues. Don’t Let Data Be the Thing Holding You Back You don’t need a complete system overhaul, just a few smart adjustments. Begin by cleaning up your existing data, setting some simple rules, and reaching out for help when it matters most. That’s where we come in. We help small teams like yours get your data organised without the hassle.  Better data means smoother workdays, clearer decisions, and happier customers. Ready to stop wasting time on messy info? Reach out today and let’s get your data back on track.

In the past, teams relied on sticky notes and endless email threads to manage tasks. But with today’s hybrid work environments and fast-moving deadlines, that approach just doesn’t cut it anymore. Effective project management is now essential to stay on track and ahead. According to McKinsey, the average worker spends 28% of their week managing email and nearly 20% just hunting for information or colleagues to help . This article introduces Microsoft Planner, a versatile tool that's just as effective for simple task management as it is for complex enterprise projects. It’s easy to get started with, yet powerful enough to keep multiple projects organised and on track. With a bit of guidance from an IT partner experienced in supporting small teams, Planner can transform the way you organise, collaborate, and deliver results. Teams Wasting Time on Endless Emails and Missed Tasks When tasks are not properly organised, it’s hard to monitor your team's progress: Team members cannot keep up with deadlines Essential details are missed through conversations. Projects stall over small miscommunications Managers struggle to get a complete overview. These things get in the way of productivity and make it harder for your team to stay motivated and move forward. A Simple Way to Manage Tasks Microsoft Planner brings everything together in one place, making it simple and intuitive for small teams to jump in and start using right away. Here’s how Planner helps you stay productive: 1. Organised Task Boards Think of Planner like a shared to-do board where your whole team can carry out the following: Create tasks quickly Assign responsibilities Add due dates, checklists, files, and notes Move tasks through stages like To Do > In Progress > Done This organised view allows everyone to stay on track without the need for long email threads or disappearing messages. 2. Flexible Views for Better Oversight Planner offers multiple ways to help you track your work, including: Board View: Tasks are displayed as cards grouped in columns (buckets). You can drag and drop tasks to update their status or move them between buckets. Great for visual task management. Grid View: A list-style layout showing tasks with details like due dates, assignees, and progress. Useful for quick scanning and editing. Schedule View: Displays tasks on a calendar by week or month. You can drag tasks onto the calendar or view unscheduled tasks separately. People View: Displays workload distribution across team members. Timeline View: A Gantt-style chart that shows how tasks connect, and which ones are key to keeping the project on track. Assignments View: Gives you detailed control over how much effort tasks take and when they’re scheduled. These views help teams at every stage, from daily task completion to big-picture planning. 3. Task Details That Keep Teams on Track Every task in Planner comes with all the details you need. Just click on a task to: Set start and end dates Assign priorities and include checklists Attach files and assign responsibility Set dependencies to ensure tasks are completed in the correct order Link to relevant Teams channels for context and collaboration This makes sure nothing important falls through the cracks and keeps conversations right where they belong. 4. Templates Save You Time Why start from scratch when you don’t have to? Planner offers ready-made templates, some are available in the free version, while more are available in paid plans. Just pick a template, customise it, and you’re ready to go. It’s a quick way to launch projects without reinventing the wheel. 5. Smooth Integration with Microsoft 365 Planner isn’t a standalone app; it’s designed to work seamlessly with the tools you already use. Here’s what it integrates with: Teams: Create and assign tasks right from chat or channels. Outlook: Turn flagged emails into actionable tasks. SharePoint and Loop: Embed Planner tabs in project sites for seamless updates. Power Platform: Automate repetitive workflows with Power Automate. Excel and Power BI: Export data to analyse tasks, timelines, and workloads. Viva Goals: Align tasks with company-wide objectives. With everything linked together, you gain clarity, reduce friction, and create real momentum. 6. Built-In AI to Supercharge Efficiency In July of 2024, Microsoft added Copilot to Planner, which helps you with the following: Summarise tasks and plans. Create tasks or subtasks using natural language. Get progress updates and reminders automatically. Microsoft’s new Project Management Agent goes further, analysing goals, breaking work into tasks, and even suggesting who should handle them. These helpers free your team to focus on creative work, not mundane task management. How to Get Started with Planner Step 1: Open Planner in Teams or the web app. Step 2: Choose “New Plan” and pick a template. Step 3: Build your board. Add buckets and tasks and assign people. Step 4: Customise each task with dates, checklists, attachments, and links. Step 5: Explore views to track daily work and overall progress. Step 6: Automate reminders or notifications. Step 7: Invite your team and walk them through the basics. It’s an easy, step-by-step setup that helps your team start collaborating quickly and smoothly. What You’ll Gain With Microsoft Planner small businesses gain many benefits including reducing email overload and meeting grind, keeping everyone accountable and aligned, and being able to visualize project progress easily. You’ll also be able to launch new initiatives faster, use AI to save time and reduce manual effort, and connect tasks with the tools your team already uses. This keeps your projects moving and gives you more time to focus on your customers. What Happens If You Don’t Act? When tasks are scattered and tools don’t connect, problems are bound to happen. You’ll be more apt to miss deadlines, employees will be confused about who’s responsible for what, and team members will feel overloaded and overworked. Wasted time in meetings and poor visibility on project status will slow your business down and waste money. Make Planning a Habit, Not a Hassle Planner is more than just a tool, it keeps your team organised, on track, and connected, without the hassle of scattered tasks or missed updates.  We’re here to help you every step of the way. From setup to confident use, we’ll tailor Microsoft Planner to fit your team’s unique needs. Let’s simplify project management together, schedule your consultation today.