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No doubt your company undertakes a number of tasks that cut into your strategic focus and keep you from attending to the bottom line, dealing with customers, and growing your business. Fortunately, there are ways to streamline your business that end up saving you money and time. Here we look at some of the best ways to do this.
Digital Filing
Digital filing will take away your reliance on physical documentation, which will also save you storage space that can be put to better uses.
For this, you will need a shared location. This could be a network account, the cloud, or a server. Network and server storage can be backed up by the IT department or a dedicated person in the company.
It is easy to move to a digital filing system by following this guide.
Review And Streamline Procedures
Although this will involve an investment of time on your part, ultimately it will ensure a smoother, more efficient workflow across the business.
Examine each procedure to look for bottlenecks that delay other departments’ inputs. You may need to shift staff to the problem area or process work in batches to get things moving. Check for and remove duplications.
See which aspects of a process can be automated, especially repetitive ones. For example, your HR unit may be having to input employee information during onboarding, training, payroll, and performance management. Streamlining your HR functions with HR technology software from G&A Partners means you only have to add an employee once. Additionally, it will automate all these processes.
Outsource
Some jobs take up time but are not worth paying the expenses of a full-time employee. They may also be more difficult to automate. These can be outsourced and will cut your costs and free up staff to focus on operational work.
The easiest tasks to outsource are website maintenance, content marketing, and lead generation. You can also team up with another business to share secretarial and admin services. This works well for medical practices. Some companies hire a contract Chief Financial Officer (CFO), which could be costly, but is offset by the CFO helping you to improve overall profitability.
Before taking on a contractor, you should ask to see their completed projects as you will not be overseeing their daily work and need to know that they can deliver.
Reduce Staff Meetings
Employees may come to work fired up to get on with their work only to be called into yet another staff meeting. The value of many meetings is overrated. For example, almost three-quarters of executives felt that these meetings failed to achieve any clear objectives.
Have fewer meetings and make sure that the ones you do hold have a stated purpose and outcomes.
Reorder Your Schedule
Sales representatives may call your office at any time and be given an open slot in your diary. However, every interruption is costly as it disrupts your focus. Set aside a fixed time for such meetings, and if nobody is scheduled, you will have extra time on your hands to catch up with other work.
Return all calls in the hour after lunch. When your secretary can inform callers when you will get back to them it reduces the chances of them calling back repeatedly in an effort to reach you.
A business that is streamlined is easier to manage and more efficient.