Reducing your business’ overhead costs can be challenging in itself, but trying to do so while staying compliant with government regulations is a whole new level of difficulty that most entrepreneurs and business owners are often unprepared for. Nonetheless, there are ways to reduce your business’ expenses and, as a result, widen your profit margins. In fact, here are seven of them:
Go Digital
Your business’ paper trail isn’t only environmentally irresponsible; it’s also costing you money. Reduce paper consumption by emailing invoices rather than sending traditional snail mail. You will save on office supplies as well as postage costs. Going digital can also save you from needing to buy and maintain office equipment, such as printers, copiers, and fax machines. Keep in mind that it is important to fully understand and honor government record retention laws. If regulations allow you to and you do decide to store your documents digitally, make sure you can retrieve them for the required time frame.
Lower IT Costs
Your business’ computing needs can and should be switched to the Cloud ASAP. Doing so can give you a wide array of up-to-date software solutions without having to purchase the hardware. You can save a significant amount of money from pricey data storage and inefficient server design. Web-based programs don’t require tedious installation or maintenance procedures thus removing the need for full-time IT support. If you do run into technical issues, most cloud computing service providers have in-house IT support staff who can assist you 24/7.
Minimize Office Space
Businesses allocate a great portion of their budget on leasing office space, but in today’s digitalized world, you don’t need that much physical space to operate; you don’t even need to be in the office in many cases. You can virtually be anywhere in the world and still keep in touch with your employees, keep track of inventories, and manage sales and marketing campaigns. Move to a smaller office and/or allow your employees to work from home. Keep property maintenance costs low by switching to low-cost Energy Star-certified lightbulbs and using draught excluders. If you do need to maintain a physical brand presence, work with a virtual office service provider.
Use MDM Software
Both redundant and vital information lands on your doorstep on a daily basis, making it inefficient to try and separate the gold bits from the rest of the dirt. From sales transactions to customer information, the longer you stay in business, the more data you accumulate and the higher the tendency for redundancy. Using Master Data Management software, such as that of Profisee, offers several benefits including elimination of redundancies and bottlenecks, effective and accurate analysis of business data, and consistency in data sets. Backing up sensitive information is also quite easy with a single centralized data source.
Rent Equipment
Renting equipment makes more fiscal sense than buying it. Renting requires less capital investment and allows you to get a much better tier of equipment while saving on repair and maintenance expenses. To save more with your rental equipment, go for Energy Star-certified equipment.
Involve Your Employees
Employees are at the frontlines of your business operations, whether it’s on the floor talking with customers or in the backroom managing your IT infrastructure. They hold valuable advice as to how you can improve cost savings and improve efficiency at work. Granted not all of these suggestions might be compliant to regulations, but it does give you a good starting point from which to expand ideas.
Rent Out Your Assets
Your under-used assets, like company trucks or commercial kitchen equipment, are costing you money on a daily basis, whether you’re renting, leasing, or buying it. By renting them out to other businesses who need them, you alleviate the financial pressure on your budget while also potentially building an income stream for your business. Equipment isn’t the only thing you can make money from; you can also rent out storage or office space that you rarely use. Of course, before doing so, make sure you check your lease terms first to see if subletting is allowed.
By partnering with companies like Profisee, involving your workforce, and being smart about how you use your business’ assets, you can effectively lower overhead costs and accelerate your business’ growth rate.