Running a Small Business Made easier

Professionalisation is the process an organisation goes through to develop into a professional, smooth running and stable business.

In short, yes and yes. Our staff are situated all over the UK and the only additional fees are to cover travel (and accommodation if necessary). Fees will be advised in advance and are calculated as the travel time at the hourly rate, plus any costs incurred.

Our phone lines operate 24/7 and our staff have the flexibility to work any hours they feel appropriate. Morning people can start early and night owls can work into the evening. This gives our staff flexibility to work when they are most productive, reducing your costs and helping us manage a better work/life balance. It means we can adapt to your requirements if you need something urgently.

Different methods are suitable in different circumstances, so we have three methods for our staff to use:

1. Time logging app: Our staff install the app on their laptop or PC, which will then record their activity. As they finish a task they allocate their activities to the relevant account. The app logs the time worked to the second, the applications used, and is the most accurate method we use.
2. Block logging software: Time worked is rounded down to the nearest 10 minutes, meaning you get some free minutes (so for example 38 minutes worked will be logged as just 30 minutes).
3. Manual logging: Staff log the start time and finish time in a spreadsheet. We use this for bigger pieces of work like on-site visits.

As with any other professional service that works on a time basis, any time that involves working for or communicating with you, gets logged. We also deduct time if we incur costs on your behalf, like for example Companies House filing fees. Whatever the cost incurred, we deduct an equivalent amount of time from your account. For example, if the cost incurred is £40 and your hourly rate is £80, then we simply deduct half an hour from your account.

This is something we take very seriously. Our staff understand the importance of recording time as accurately as possible and they are provided the tools to do so.

There is no reason or motivation for any of our staff to log extra time as their time records are only used for allocating to your account and bear no relevance to their pay or performance.

In addition, staff only log productive time, which means recording stops even if work pauses momentarily, like to answer a call or chat to a colleague.

Note that for on-site visits we record the whole day.

You can contact whoever you need via our reception. This centralised system allows us to work flexibly, helps us keep our costs down and makes sure you always speak to a real person. It also means that when staff are working for you, distractions that can impact their flow or train-of-thought are reduced.

Our Virtual COO’s / Operations Directors, generally have more hands-on business experience than business consultants, yet our rates are considerably lower than the average consultant charge of £100-£150 an hour.

We are business operation experts, so as you would expect our internal operations are second to none! It is the combination of the services we offer, how we structure our operations internally and how we delegate, that allows us to maintain an unbeatable ‘one-of-a-kind’ service that is constantly evolving.