The writing is on the wall. High street businesses are closing by the day. It’s predicted that 25% of American malls will be closed by 2022. In the world of e-commerce things are much brighter, as we undergo a profound global shift in the way we purchase, but our technology is now moving at such a frenetic pace, that today’s successful e-commerce business could easily wake up to find itself tomorrow’s outmoded relic. Once upon a time, a successful business could coast, rest on its laurels, there was always plenty of time to adjust to changes. Now, those changes can happen literally overnight and the business that lacks the agility to respond is doomed. In the current febrile business environment, keeping a firm grip on business costs has never been more important.
Create the best budget you can
A good budget will help you grow your business, secure external finance and measure your success. A well- constructed budget will ensure that current financial commitments will be met, that cash-flow problems can be identified swiftly, and that money can be allocated for future projects.
Track your budget
Checking your budget at the end of the year is way too late, quarterly checks are better but monthly checks better still. Ideally you should be using cloud accounting software which gives you a real time overview of where the money is going.
Streamline the way you track expenses
Tracking employee expenses is too often a time consuming and negative exercise. A light touch approach can encourage staff to overspend and an insistence on every last receipt can breed ill will. Companies like Soldo can provide your business with prepaid credit cards, which give your employees the financial freedom they need and give you a real time overview of expenditure. Employees upload expenses documentation via the app and you can see exactly what is being spent and who is spending it.
Switch to cloud computing
Cisco’s Global Cloud Index, estimates that soon, 86% of workloads will be processed by cloud data centres. Businesses benefit from faster, more secure systems and save on hardware costs and IT staff. General Electric plans to move 70% of its IT into the cloud by 2020. By moving a configurator application that processes about $600,000 of business to the cloud, the company was able to slash its running costs from around $65,000 to $6,000.
Reduce fixed costs
It’s inevitable that energy prices will continue to rise, so make sure that you are doing your bit for the environment and your bottom line, by cutting down on the energy consumption of your business. In part this can be done by encouraging your staff to develop energy saving behaviours, such as switching off lights, turning down the heating and unplugging machines which are not in use. You should also ensure that all new equipment purchases made are the most energy efficient available.
Always be on the lookout for where savings can be made
Review contracts with your suppliers regularly, negotiate on existing prices and look around for alternatives.
