Streamlining your business isn’t something that ‘makes things more convenient’ Rather, it’s a necessity. The average company loses between 20 and 30% in annual revenue due to a lack of efficiency- that’s shocking!
We want to put an end to that, so we’ve listed four ways you can start to streamline your business in 2019. Let’s delve in.
1. Integrate Sale and Accounting
Do you have separate software for both orders and accounting? If so, there’s a good chance you’re paying someone to enter data from one program to another.
This is a waste of money.
Not to mention, you’ll inevitably suffer glitches due to human error.
If you can relate to this scenario, consider using an integrated software platform. There are tons on the market; you just need to find one that meets the needs of your company and complements the niche you’re working in.
2. Cut Back on Paperwork
Paperwork is the worst. It mounts up quickly and more often than not, takes more time than necessary. The answer is to go through your mountains of paperwork and ask yourself the following questions:
- Have my employees added anything to it? If so, was this strictly necessary?
- Why do we need this document? Is it, essential?
- Does this paperwork help someone do their job better?
These questions work wonders for deducing whether there’s wriggle room to streamline the paperwork you and your colleagues handle.
Yes, this process might take some effort. However, you’ll free up so much time in the long run.
3. Automate Routine Tasks
For any business to run smoothly, you’ll need to conduct routine tasks. More often than not, they’re incredibly time-consuming. To streamline these jobs, we recommend doing the following:
- Listing all the jobs, you do regularly
- Recording all the software and workers, you use to get the jobs done
- Noting how much time it (roughly) takes you each week to complete these tasks
Using this info, you can see if there’s potential to consolidate any of these jobs. More often than not, you can purchase software to take care of numerous tasks. These days programs can automate your email blasts, schedule your social media posts, automatically update your software, etc. (the list is endless!)
There are so many processes you can automate; you just need the know-how. Once you’ve streamlined these repetitive tasks, you and your team can turn your attention to ‘higher-value’ tasks.
4. Reduce Travel Time
Yes, face to face meetings still have their place in business. However, it’s not always necessary to travel miles if you’re discussing something that can be resolved in ten minutes.
This is even truer if you’re handling international clients. Needless to say, traveling can disrupt your workflow. The time you save on traveling could be better spent on tasks that directly grow your business.
Nowadays, video conferencing using software like Skype or Zoom is the industry norm. With a few clicks, you can screen-share, send files, and add notes to documents. This tech facilitates entrepreneurs to achieve what might have once taken them two days traveling in the space of a couple of hours!
Final Thoughts
The above suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other things you can do to streamline your business. For example-
- Remote working
- Outsourcing
- Mobile access
Just to name a few!
As such, it’s best to view streamlining as an ongoing process. By this we mean, create a plan of action and attempt to tackle one update a month. Before you know it, your business will be running more efficiently than ever before!