A trip from Chaos to Efficiency Issam Sultan, managing director of UK flight support company FltCtrl.
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Mind you, very few of those who brought it up were able to advise me on how they were able to translate it into an actionable real-life plan. Therefore again we were left in the dark to figure it out on our own.

After lots of trials and hit and misses, the following tools have proven their worth in our company. They not only increased our efficiency but also saved us a lot of money. Kindly note that we are not affiliated with any of these tools, and I am merely listing them to share our experience, and in turn, I hope this might bring you and your company some value.

1. I started looking at the office productivity suite we were using. We, like so many companies, have always used Microsoft solution but as time progressed I have found that switching to Google's G Suite was a wise decision for a lot of reasons - to name a few. Google offers real-time collaboration - so editing and sharing documents is easy. I can have my entire team work on the same document effortlessly and at the same time. No more downloads, installations, updates, backups to worry about. G Suite apps are simple, and what they lack in features and functions of Microsoft Office they make up for by using 3rd party add-ons. Most importantly, the search functionality on G Suite is outstanding. When I was using Outlook, I had a folder for every contact and would move their emails from my inbox to their specific folder so I can revert to it when needed - as the search functionality in Outlook did not work for me. With G Suite, I would archive a message when I'm done with it, and then use search to look it up when needed.

2. Started using only one calendar - G Suite! It syncs across all the devices we use - on office computers, our phones, and on our laptop and in turn we can record and keep track of everything. Plus it is easy to share our calendars with each other.

3. Cloud storage by Google Drive has helped with sharing documents with my team and contacts and saved us a lot of time otherwise spent emailing documents back and forth. I am now confident that our data is available even if one of the computers we are using decides to go haywire.

4. If your email inbox consists of a collection of thousands of emails received over the years as I did - it’s time to clean up. It’s important to manage your inbox so that you only see the messages that need your attention everything else had to either be archived or deleted. I found that Mailstrom  was the perfect tool to help me tame my inbox - this includes unsubscribing to newsletters and subscriptions that I am no longer interested in.

5. A key to being organized is finding the right solution for writing down tasks and notes. I found that Evernote was the perfect tool to do this. When in a meeting I would use a simple notepad and by the time the meeting is over - I would use the Evernote app on my phone to take a photo of my notes making it easier to share my notes with my team if needed. Then by the time I get back to my office - those same notes are synced to my computer ready for me to work on them.

6. LastPass has saved us a lot of time in managing our passwords. We no longer waste time looking for our login information for all the tools we use. Plus it has increased our security - as we no longer use the same password for everything or keep them on sticky notes posted on the side of our computer monitors. But storing passwords in a single consolidated and organized location has its risks - what if I forgot my LastPass password? You should know that LastPass will not retrieve it for you. For that reason, we have saved our LastPass password in secure offline place as a precaution.

7. Since switching to Xero  - taking care of our invoicing, accounting and billing processing has improved tremendously. Xero is a multi-user - multi-currency solution that is just fun to use. Plus being a cloud-based solution meant that we did not have to worry about backups. Another advantage for Xero is their robust mobile app (iOS and Android).

8. Managing customers, leads, payments and other information is an ongoing challenge. If you’re disorganized – it becomes challenging. We use Close.io CRM solution to help us get organized in that department. The simple easy to use interface of Close.io resulted in a smooth adaptation of this tool by our team producing a more enhanced and productive workflow.

9. We work as a small, close-knit team. It’s essential to plan and prioritize work so that everything is completed as efficiently as possible. Trello   is a fantastic tool which creates interactive lists that can be updated and modified by all our team members. We use it to plan for complex projects, assign tasks to individuals and arrange them in terms of priority.

10. Communication is a critical factor in any line of business including ours. With the use of Slack , our entire team can seamlessly exchange and discuss information and ideas in one place. Plus the integration of the apps we use with Slack allows us to stay up to date as to what is going on effortlessly.

When dealing with a lot of repetitive tasks, it’s important to make sure that you do not get overwhelmed. Know that with a little planning and utilization of the above and many other readily available solutions, managing all of these can be simplified and in turn increase efficiency within your organization.

Next week is the conclusion of this trip. Thank you for sticking around!

Previously: 'First things First' | 'Declutter' | 'Prioritize' | 'Delegate'

 

www.fltctrl.com

About the Author

Issam Sultan is the Managing Director of FltCtrl Ltd headquartered in London, UK. Combined, the company’s team of professionals, FltCtrl has over 40 years of aviation industry experience and currently specialises in developing aviation IT solutions to the aviation industry.

While working in the UAE with flight support services firm RamJet Aviation Support for more than 17 years, Issam became increasingly frustrated by the complexity of the flight operations process – it was crying out to be simplified. Aviation requires quick decision making and to do this, one needs to have all the relevant information at their fingertips. Team synchronicity is invaluable. From that seed, the idea for FltCtrl was sown. Using the latest technology, FltCtrl has also started Flock.aero, a Community Driven Aviation Directory that aims to give aircraft operators and suppliers the power to connect and succeed in their business. At its very core Flock is a directory of all the airports and suppliers operating at these airports, but more importantly it is a platform where operators and suppliers can connect and find new opportunities to improve their business operations.