Maintaining your costs under control is what sustains the survival of companies in competitive markets. In many cases there are companies still using manual processes. These manual processes require large amounts of rework due to human error, wasted time, reports with unreliable data, an excess of printing costs and in some industries even large quantities of wasted raw materials in the production process. Business automation uses strategic and operational management software (systems) which, along with contributing to #costreductions, should improve the overall performance of any size business in any industry.
The best companies outperform because their strategies are clear, differentiated and well-articulated. Their organizational structures support key capabilities and have efficient decision making and talent in the right places. Most importantly, their culture of cost management extends to the front line.
Putting these 6 tips into practice can increase your company’s competitive edge, leading to sustained growth.
- Build a culture with employees that embrace automation.
Employees are often reluctant to embrace automation because they’re concerned they’ll automate themselves out of a job. Yet in most businesses, the highest performers tend to automate the most, whether formally or informally. When you talk about automation, talk about the benefits to employees, both in their current functions and in how it will allow them to grow into higher-level positions.
- Hire a Programmer
It’s important for business owners to stay on top of their accounts receivable, and one of the best ways to do that is to invoice early and often. But filling out and sending an invoice every time a customer makes a purchase can consume a lot of time. A programmer can automate and customize invoicing and reporting to meet your needs, which means invoices and reports go out on time, every time.
- Create a Faster Response Time
Setting up an automatic process for leads will not only increase the customer experience but also allow for faster response times. Automate your incoming inquiries to directly drop into your CRM (example: Salesforce) and assign a representative immediately, so they can be alerted right away and create a faster response time.
- Provide Contracts Digitally
Contracts provided digitally to your existing and future clients makes the execution of contracts traceable for both parties, shows the history of changes, and limits cumbersome processes like scanning/emailing or even faxing completed contracts back and forth to one another.
- Automate Finances and Marketing with Digital Tools
There are dozens of online systems and software programs that have automated business functions. Accounting, website hosting, marketing communications, payroll and more have all benefited from programs and services that make it easier to manage business.
Making payroll is more than just cutting checks to your employees once a week. It involves filing the correct payroll forms with the IRS, calculating the right amount of taxes due, and paying those taxes on time. Payroll takes a great deal of time and if you make mistakes, you could pay heavily for them in the form of fines and penalties. There are so many options for businesses to automate payroll, time tracking, financial processes, and provide business analysis. Automating financing where possible allows your organization to focus on other, more time-consuming tasks.
- Inventory Management
Managing your inventory can take up a lot of time if you do it manually. After all, you have to enter the information for each product, keep track of its location, delete it when it sells, and predict when you need to reorder it. But when you use an inventory management system, it will automatically keep track of your products’ location and availability — and it will automatically calculate how much product you need to reorder and when. You will be able to scan bar codes instead of typing in product information by hand, and if you need to retrieve information about a specific lot number, most inventory management systems allow you to do so easily.
You should always be looking for ways to make your business more efficient- automating processes can do just that. By tightening up your processes and procedures, you can reduce waste (both materials and time) and therefore, decrease costs. Empower your employees to look for inefficiencies and identify ways to save time and money.
For more on how your business can reduce operating cost and maximize profits contact us at: 866-504-4050 or click here: CONTACT LIMITLESS
