Literally, every business on the planet is guilty of wasting at least a little of their time, money and resources. Most will do what they can to find areas where savings can be made, but because a lot of them look in completely the wrong places, they never quite manage to improve their efficiency and make those all-important savings.
If you’re a business looking to reduce waste in the time, money and resource departments, here are some of the most important areas to look at:
Sticking With Outdated Processes
One of the biggest ways that businesses waste time, money and resources every single day is by sticking to outdated processes, which may once have served them well, but which are no longer as efficient as they once were. I mean, things have moved on a whole lot in terms of technology and what is possible in the last year, let alone the last decade.
So companies that are rigidly sticking to Excel when they could be using Quickbooks or who are manually filing papers instead of using something like Hubstor to archive files online, are missing out. Not only are they missing out, but they’re wasting precious time and money too!
Too Much Communication
A lot of business owners and company managers think that organizing a daily meeting, sending out seven emails every day and just constantly being in touch with employees is a good, even necessary thing for the smooth running of their operations. This is not always the case.
Obviously, some communication between staff is vital, but if you’re holding meetings just for the sake of it CCing everyone in the office into every email you send and constantly having staff heading off to talk to each other at their desks, you’re wasting your time and your most precious resources – your employees.
Taking the time to schedule meetings only when they’re vital. Only to email employees who really need to be in the loop and perhaps using an app like Slack, which allows employees to communicate quickly and effectively when needed, will all help to boost your business. You should notice an immediate increase in productivity once you put this into place.
Lack of the Right Data
If your business is not collecting and storing the right kind of data, it can lead to all manner of problems, from making poor decisions, to losing customers and wasting money on products or campaigns that simply will not work, which is why you absolutely have to focus your efforts on data collection if you want to cut wastage within your company.
Not Outsourcing
Even just a decade ago, outsourcing might not have been the best option for the majority of businesses in the majority of circumstances, but that has all changed now. As well as it being more efficient to outsource manufacturing, it is often a better use of time, money and resources, to outsource everything from advertising and content creation to your admin services, so that you and your staff can concentrate on what it is that you really do best.
Getting on top of these four major sources of waste is sure to be a great start, but if you want to make your business as efficient as possible, you must constantly monitor your use of time, money and resources, and make changes where necessary.
