Posts

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Operational Efficiency|5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right Now

5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right Now

/0 Comments/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Operational Efficiency|5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right NowYou’ve heard this popular phrase more times than you can count: time is money. Of course, time isn’t literally money – but it’s pretty close.

Many managers throw money into marketing when trying to increase profits. While marketing is undoubtedly an essential part of a successful business, if you’re overlooking operational efficiency, you’re going to miss out on a portion of the returns that come from a great marketing campaign.

To improve your operational efficiency, consider these five simple tips that you can implement today.

Improve and increase your analytics tracking

First thing’s first: if you don’t know where your operational efficiency is lacking, you can’t fix it. To improve efficiency, you’ll first need to make sure you’re able to see your data and analytics in real-time.

This means that if you’re still using Excel spreadsheets to track data, it’s time to make an upgrade. There are many different types of analytics software on the market today, including SAS Business Analytics (SAS BA) and Tableau Big Data Analytics.

Take some time to research your options, and invest in a software program that fits your company’s needs and goals.

Increase automation

If your IT and administrative staff are filling their time with tasks that could easily be automated, you’re wasting both their potential and your company’s operational efficiency potential.

Any task that has a repetitive nature can easily be automated. Using your data analytics, pinpoint tasks that are taking up a lot of your employees’ time and automate these. Automation will allow your staff to spend more time on the non-repetitive tasks, which is where they really shine.

Emphasize training

Poorly managed companies don’t just hurt their employees; they hurt themselves too. If you’re not putting your employees first, your business will never flourish as much as it could.

One important way to put your employees first is to make sure they receive substantial training. Don’t just do the bare minimum; make sure they don’t just know how to complete their job duties, but they have the tools they need to excel at them.

Proper training also prevents workplace injuries, thereby keeping your employees at work.

Use load boards

If your business regularly ships supplies or products, you may be able to increase operational efficiency by using a load board. Load boards are similar to a job board in that they are a resource for both shippers looking for carriers, as well as carriers looking for loads.

Load boards are mutually beneficial, as they help shippers quickly find a carrier without spending time calling and emailing. Additionally, carriers benefit by maximizing their earnings by filling their trucks to the maximum load.

Improve cross-department communication

Though your department may be communicating effectively top-down and vice versa, if there are communication issues between departments, your operational efficiency is being sacrificed.

Improving your communication software doesn’t have to be costly; it just has to work for your company’s unique needs. Set up a meeting with departmental heads and come up with a strategy to improve communication between yourselves.

This will save all departments substantial time, which at the end of the day is what operational efficiency is all about.

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |erp software|How to Choose the Right ERP Software for Your Business

How to Choose the Right ERP Software for Your Business

/1 Comment/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |erp software|How to Choose the Right ERP Software for Your BusinessERP software made its debut in the ’90s, and in its 30 years in the business world, it has proven its worth. Now it’s no longer a question of if ERP software can help your business, it’s how to find the best ERP software in 2020.

ERP software can be what your business needs to finally make changes that can help you improve and grow. It can be a powerful tool, but it’ll only work if you know how to choose the right software for your business.

Do you want to know to find the best 2020 ERP software? Follow our 4 tips and you’ll be sure to find a powerful software system that can help your business.

1. Consider Current Tech Needs

Do a little digging to see what kind of operating systems and machines people use at work. Be sure to be thorough and check each department, it’s possible that some equipment may be newer or older depending on who is using it.

If you’ve been holding off on making any major changes to your hardware or computing systems, consider making changes before you decided to go with a certain kind of ERP.

Buying software that won’t work with current systems is one of the worst financial mistakes businesses can make. Be safe and make sure you buy something that can work with your current set up.

2. Think About Desired Outcomes

ERP software has been used to improve a variety of business operations. If you want to make sure that you find the right software for your business needs, think about the goals you want the software to help you reach.

ERP software leads can help your business improve sales. Certain ERP programs can help you better manage HR, or even your finance department.

Take some time to talk to different managers and employees to see what they think needs to improve at work. Getting their feedback can make it easier to think about what capabilities your new software needs to have.

3. Don’t Always Go for Customized Options

Nearly every ERP sales representative you’ll talk to will mention all of the ways you can customize their software. Having a completely custom ERP system may seem impressive, but it may not be something your business needs.

Custom ERP software can be more expensive and can also take more time to set up. Troubleshooting completely custom systems can be difficult and more time-consuming.

Unless your business has a very niche need to meet that can only be done with a customized system, it’s okay to go with a turn-key solution you can use right out of the box.

4. Ask for References

You wouldn’t bring on a new employee without solid references. So you shouldn’t use ERP software that lacks great reviews.
When you’re talking to your ERP sales representative be sure to ask for reviews from other clients or case studies. Any ERP software that’s worth using should have plenty of evidence to back up claims.

Also, this is a great opportunity to tap your personal professional network. People in the same industry may have some recommendations for ERP software that helped their business.

ERP Software and More

Finding the right ERP software is simple when you know what to look for. If you follow the tips in this post you’ll be well on your way to finding a software solution that works for your business.

Do you want to learn other ways to improve ROI? We have a lot of helpful content on our site for business owners. Browse the rest of our content to learn more about topics you care about.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Money Management|It's Time To Tighten Our Belts : 4 Essential Money Saving Strategies For SMEs

It’s Time To Tighten Our Belts : 4 Essential Money Saving Strategies For SMEs

/0 Comments/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Money Management|It's Time To Tighten Our Belts : 4 Essential Money Saving Strategies For SMEsNo matter what your company’s vision and values, proper money management will play a significant role in its success and longevity. Unfortunately, there are so many ways that your business could be hemorrhaging money unnecessarily. The good news is that educating yourself on these issues and their solutions can help your company tighten its belt, and still work effectively and productively.

Check the efficiency of your IT

Few businesses operate without the extensive use of complex IT systems. What that means is if you want to keep outgoing costs low, your system’s performance and network efficiency need to be as refined as possible.

Of course, perfecting your company’s IT system to the point where there is no redundancy is usually a task that is beyond your in house IT support. Fortunately, there are specialist managed It services like
Navious Technologies out there that can help you do just this. Something that means the entire infrastructure of your business will run as efficiently as possible. Therefore thus preventing downtime and saving you valuable business resources.

Cut back on overheads

Another way that your business can significantly reduce its outgoing costs is to cut down the amount you pay for overheads. Of course, traditionally, this was done by using fewer material resources such as paper, office supplies, and even manufacturing supplies.

However, in our connected world, there is an even easier way to drastically reduce overhead costs and its setting to a remote working model. After all, if your employees work from home, a costly premises is no longer needed. Plus, many employees will see this as a benefit as they no longer have to count on money, time, and making a positive difference to the environment. It really is a win-win situation.

Review your purchasing policies

Next, if you want to tighten your company’s belt, be sure to take a long hard look at your purchasing policies. In fact, there are several things you can do here to slash outgoings.

The first is to make sure that instead of buying in dribs and drabs, you stock up on the most used resources in bulk, making sure you buy them when the price is low.

Additionally, making sure you have a good relationship with your suppliers is critical. Then you will be able to negotiate longer payment terms, and bulk discounts, which can make a massive difference to how much you end up paying out.

Automate

You can also make significant savings by choosing to automate many of the tasks your business needs to do in a day. Of course, automation isn’t just about investing in robots for the warehouse or production line. In fact, it can now be put to work in just about any type of business there is.

The reason being that many online tasks can be automated with the right software. Something that means your employees will be free of the mundane and reactive tasks that can damage morale, and that you get to make significant monetary savings as well.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Productivity|5 Simple Methods for Boosting Employee Productivity

5 Simple Methods for Boosting Employee Productivity

/0 Comments/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Productivity|5 Simple Methods for Boosting Employee ProductivityWithout hyperbole, employee productivity is arguably the biggest factor that determines if a business is successful or not. When those productivity levels are labored, this negatively affects every aspect of the company.

Yet when everything runs smoothly, where employees are completing their tasks on time and in an effective manner, the entire business will thrive. Although, as the saying goes, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. If a single staff member fails to do their job as expected, it will be felt at all levels of the company.

Due to this, it’s imperative to maximize the effort of every worker. However, how do you reach this point? How can you turn an average performer into a productive powerhouse?

This article is here to help answer those questions. Below are five easy methods you can implement for boosting employee productivity.

Be clear with goals and instructions

When you are setting tasks for your employees to complete, you need to do so in an effective and careful way. If you feed them instructions which are muddled or complicated, this is only going to compromise their productivity.

Worse, it might even lead to them doing the task wrong.

As a result, provide them with clear instructions and goals to target. The less time they spend confused and asking for assistance, the more efficient they will be.

Streamline work with automation

Automation is a gift which your business should cherish. Rather than your employees spending precious time on completing monotonous tasks, this can be completed automatically with technology. This then gives them additional time to focus on more important tasks.

Automation can be utilized in various different ways. For instance, software specialists PaperSave can assist with streamlining invoice management and data entry.

Give them a break

It might sound counterproductive on the surface, but allowing employees to take regular breaks from their work is recommended. It gives them a chance to recharge and have a mental break from their work.

Based on research, 52 minutes of solid work before a 17-minute break is an ideal balance for productivity. While you don’t have to be quite that specific with your timing, it demonstrates why allowing employees to regularly rest pays off.

Measure their work

If you fail to measure the work of your employees, you won’t be able to gain an accurate picture of their productivity. Are they meeting deadlines? Are they following directions? Is the work of a high quality? The answers to these questions might slip away if you don’t measure their productivity.

Thankfully, the task is made easy due to the number of effective software tools available for monitoring employee productivity.

Reward success

When employees complete their job to a successful standard, don’t let them feel their hard work was overlooked. Acknowledge the work they did and supply them with a healthy dose of praise. Even just a few kind words will help boost their morale.

However, you could always take it a step further and provide the employee with a reward. This could be everything from the afternoon off to a free meal at a local restaurant.