Key to strengthen your Small and Medium Business
We present to you a few keystones to strengthen your small and medium business, with the objective that it is capable of resisting a shifting market as the current one. Something to keep in mind is that cost reduction should not affect the quality of the product/service, image, and cost effectiveness.
- Optimization of the financial management Everything must be done to keep the financial health of the business. Pre-planning, from investments, as well as from incomes and expenses or the foresight of any change that can affect the business is in itself a tool for reducing costs to keep in mind. The first step is to assess the company, thoroughly analyzing your incomes and your regular expenses. And with the obtained data, design a circumstance tailored savings strategy internal and external. Because the environment also counts, and a lot. To document all the financial movements that happen during the day to day will also be very beneficial since it will help to visualize easier those expenses that might be unnecessary. This will help to manage the business from the principle of efficiency.
- Reduction of administrative costs. To understand where you can save, first you must analyze which are the basic expenses, those that are associated with daily performance such as rent/mortgage, phone services, IT maintenance, payroll, insurance, equipment, taxes… On the other hand, you must review all the contract with providers, to ensure that the agreement reached is aligned with the needs of the business. Also, with budget. On the other hand, it is important not to lose sight of the minor expenses that many times are dismissed precisely due to the low amount they represent. To analyze where the leak of minor amounts is, also represents big savings if these measures are taken regularly.
- Take full advantage of the available information. We must highlight the importance of optimizing the information with which the organization works that is generated on a day-to-day basis. Having that information available will allow to take smarter decisions. Definitely, data-driven companies are more efficient and cost effective than those that support their decisions on intuition or “business sense” of their managers. But, besides this interna data, small and medium businesses must also be aware of the information that moves in the sector of their business, in their market and of course in everything that involves public support and tax benefits that can impact their business. Grants, special loans or any other measures, specially directed to small and medium business, should always be in the managers’ radar.
- Review of relationships with providers. Analyze the price and quotes from different providers that you are working with to assess the likeliness of quality, delivery times or service with the agreed upon terms. Also, to determine if it’s worth it to keep the expenses associated to each provider or if it’s possible to reduce them. Associated to this review is important to check that the collection and payment processes work intertwined. An unbalance in this matter could bring serious tax issues that must be avoided at all costs.
- Optimization of available technology. En general, la idea debe apuntar a obtener el máximo rendimiento de la tecnología. Pero, cuando hablamos de gestión esa maximización debe poner el foco en el ERP. Un ERP permitirá automatizar los procesos y, con ello, gestionar sobre el principio de la eficiencia y la reducción de costes. La contabilidad digital, por ejemplo, utilizando un software de gestión en la nube, facilita la gestión, proporciona información relevante y, en última instancia, contribuye al ahorro de costes.
Management of a small and medium business is complicated. Many times, even though they have a business plan that is perfectly structured, they encounter difficulties in the day-to-day management. Administrative tasks that are repetitive and demand too much time and too many resources, lack of collaboration between departments or difficulty in finding the necessary information at the right time are just the tip of the iceberg.
Recomendaciones para impulsar la colaboración interdepartamental:
- Disponer de las herramientas tecnológicas adecuadas para facilitar el acceso y el intercambio de información.
- Delegar aumenta el rendimiento del equipo y proporciona tiempo para poner el foco en funciones más estratégicas. Delegar implica también no caer en la trampa de la micro-gestión
- Facilitar el acceso y el intercambio de información a través de soluciones del tipo ERP para agilizar los procesos, haciendo que todos los que intervienen en una tarea o proyecto sientan que, de verdad, aportan soluciones de valor sin restar tiempo a los demás.
Recommendations to avoid these wastes of time:
- Automate everything you can. El tiempo ganado se puede dedicar a analizar los datos, identificar tendencias, planificar, asimilar posibles escenarios a futuro o simplemente para optimizar los procesos operativos del negocio. Además de emitir facturas, enviar solicitudes de cobro/pago, calcular amortizaciones, asientos contables, acceder a de cuadros de mando para obtener una visión global y/o parcial de la compañía, etc.
- Easy Access to Data.. Only if the technology provides an easy access and an intuitive handling will it have sense. If not, the company by itself, will become the biggest time thief of the company. That is why, easy access and real time data is necessary for objective decision making.
- Analyze all the data. Current ERP include analytical functions that allow access to data, but above all to decipher the information that it holds, its origin, its composition, its impact over a specific area or on the business in general, etc.
