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(ARA) - It’s that time of year when the weather warms, vacations are planned and office clutter comes into full bloom. As the days grow longer, you may want to take a look at your office’s productivity in a new light, because becoming more organized and efficient can mean more time to enjoy those favorite summertime activities.

A recent LexisNexis survey on workplace productivity found that 42 percent of information workers, whose job primarily involves accessing and entering information, spend at least an hour a day searching for previously created documents or e-mail messages, and 41 percent strongly agree that not being able to find the right information at the right time is a huge waste of time. In addition, more than half (55 percent) said they spend at least an hour on an average day attending meetings.

This response indicates a broad demand for productivity in the workplace, which is especially important to small businesses because their profitability can take a serious hit from such inefficiencies. Revisiting some of the fundamentals of an organized workplace, including taking advantage of technology, can help you recover much of that time. Take action by following these simple tips:

De-clutter Your Desktops -- Both Physical and Virtual.
Piles of paper may be strewn across your desk, making it difficult to find what you need. To solve this problem, provide structure to your workspace. Organize business information in a way that helps you easily track long-term planning needs, quickly identify work in progress and archive information on topics relevant to your business. Once you have your physical desktop organized, think about ways you can easily navigate your virtual desktop. There are various tools built right into your PC’s operating system that can help you simplify searching and get work done more efficiently. For example, PC users on Windows Vista can take advantage of the Instant Search feature to quickly and easily locate files and e-mail messages anywhere on their computer.

Prioritize Your Activities, Then Delegate.
Prioritize your activities when planning your schedule. Technology can help you become better organized -- for example, use calendar reminder applications on your computer to help you remember daily tasks and priorities. You can also track tasks while on the go by keeping your customer, schedule and other information at hand by syncing your cell phone or mobile device with your PC. If your staff includes more than just you, remember the importance of delegation. Assigning tasks to others not only increases an individual employee’s value, it also gives them a sense of ownership in the business and frees up your time.

Take Control of Your Time.
Responding to unplanned events and interruptions can make you feel randomized and in constant crunch mode. Regain control by limiting the time you set aside each day for meetings, responding to customers, developing new business leads and other activities. Consider investing in a tablet computer or ultramobile PC. As more business is conducted away from the home or office, mobile computers and programs become essential to your success -- especially with the broad availability of wireless Internet access. For example, Windows Meeting Space allows you to easily create an ad hoc wireless network so you can share files face to face with a small group of colleagues or customers.

These are just a few guidelines for getting your business organized. Applying these methods to your work style -- and revisiting them frequently -- can increase your productivity and give you greater control of your business -- and your life.

Go to http://www.windowsvista.com/vistasmallbiz to learn more about how technology can play an important role in your small business.