As the new year rolls around it’s time to consider your business resolutions. Do you want to save money in 2019? How about improving productivity?
Cutting back on business spending doesn’t have to mean operating in a Spartan environment. In fact, many business cost reduction strategies will improve the productivity and morale of employees as they work with more efficient systems!
Here’s how to tighten your business budget – without an atmosphere of austerity.
Five Easy Steps to Business Cost Reduction
Reducing business costs doesn’t have to take a long time or a lot of effort. With a few small tweaks and updates, you could save thousands of dollars each year.
1. Ditch Old Technology
Do you still use phone landlines in your office? Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services such as Skype are easy to use and significantly cheaper.
Instead of paying a line rental each month, you only pay for the cost of a call to a mobile or a landline. Even better, VoIP to VoIP calls are free!
A little investment can go a long way to reducing your long-term business costs, too.
For example, buying a new printer will reduce downtime due to errors and repairs, and cost far less in maintenance. Scanning your paper records as digital files will make them easy to store, access, and match up to customer accounts to improve productivity.
2. Install Energy Saving Tools
Utility bills are a regular headache for small business owners. The good news is that there are many ways to reduce them with ease.
Motion-sensor lights, for example, will automatically turn off when no movement is detected after a while. This will save energy and also act as a security alert if lights start to go on when they shouldn’t!
Install water-saving tools, too. Toilet tank bags, for example, will significantly reduce the amount of water used with each flush – without affecting the efficacy of it.
3. Update and Integrate Software
Legacy software, outdated versions, and different software types across departments all slow down business productivity. Inefficient office processes like this have a significant impact on operational costs.
There are many companies out there, such as eCIFM, that specialize in customizable workplace management systems designed to bring all business operations into one piece of software.
Investing in a software streamlining project like this will lead to huge savings for several reasons.
Software license management and program updates are handled all by one provider. There’s no downtime for updates, as software is updated in the cloud, so your business is always operational.
Savings are also made through productivity improvements. Each member of staff will have access to all files that they need to carry out their role, without needing to search across multiple platforms to find them.
4. Focus on High Return Marketing Strategies
A solid marketing strategy will use multiple channels to capture as many potential leads as possible. However, this is difficult to do on a tight budget.
Reduce your marketing costs by identifying which avenues are the most profitable based on your initial investment. For example, many companies use social media to generate valuable organic leads without paying for advertising.
5. Consider Remote Working
A remote workforce saves a business a lot of money, and thanks to technology almost all roles can be based from home!
Customer service agents can have calls routed to their homes, while sales representatives can work on mobile devices in the field. Members of the marketing department can work from anywhere with an internet connection.
Free project management software such as Trello will help you manage your team wherever they are in the country.
Invest Your Savings for Business Growth
Your new business cost reduction strategy will see you save thousands of dollars over the next year. Even better, the improved productivity you’ll notice will provide plenty of opportunity for business growth and increased profit.
However, instead of just banking profits, there are more things you can do with the spare change you’ve created.
A business investment advisor is the perfect person to help you decide how to make those dollars you’ve saved grow even more. Interested in learning more? Here’s our guide on choosing the best investment consultant for your business.