Month: May 2023

When you own, or run a business, there are many considerations to take into account to keep it successful, and relevant. One of the things you need to constantly evaluate is how to scale your business. Here are several important things to consider when it comes to scaling a business.

Investing in your employees

When it comes to building anything from the bottom up, you want to ensure that you have a strong set of foundations. When it comes to scaling a business, your employees form a large percentage of these foundations. A large number of employers will mistakenly not see their workforce as an overly important pillar of their business, but instead see them as a means to an end, and just as a way to get from A to B. The businesses that run with this mindset will often become unstuck rather fast due to employee satisfaction, lack of skills, poor engagement, and low morale. To make sure that this does not happen to you, you should carefully consider each employee that you plan to take on as a part of your team. Ensure that they are provided with the relevant training, tools, equipment, and support so as to complete their role to the highest standard, and take on their feedback whether it is good or bad. The money that you invest into your workforce is an investment and will help you scale your business due to a reduction in staff turnover, along with higher engagement levels, and of course a higher quality in work output.

Outsourcing work 

If you are looking for ways in which to scale your business, then often you will need to make use of tactical delegation, and outsourcing within your company. The way that this will help you scale your business is that although you will inevitably be spending money on hiring others to complete a variety of tasks for you, you will be freeing up a lot of extra time, and effort, not just for yourself, but for your business as well. For example, rather than doing things such as creating all your employee ID cards in-house, you could get ID cards online printed out by a third party. As you can see, this not only saves you time and effort, but you will not have to purchase or maintain any extra equipment. In addition, the results of outsourcing various tasks to third parties will likely be of a higher quality than what you could have produced yourself, as these companies are professionals within their industry, and want to provide others with a quality service. Rather than looking at outsourcing as an outgoing, or a drain on your business’s expenses, look at it as an investment or a tool to help your business grow.

In-depth competitor analysis

Scaling a business often focuses primarily on improving the way you run your company, and either producing more, or better products or services for your clients, while simultaneously attempting to attract new ones. However, another way in which you can help yourself scale a business is by doing competitor analysis. By doing this it will help your business stay relevant, and competitive, not to mention you will be able to observe and respond to any weaknesses in your competitor’s business plan that you see. For example, if you both sell the same product, but they have opted for a cheaper, low-end, and slower delivery service, it might be that you decide to look into focusing on your delivery timescales. This would increase customer satisfaction, and as a result, make you a more favorable choice to purchase goods from. At times there may be opportunities that arise while analyzing your competitors that would have otherwise been missed. These opportunities may be the crucial pieces of information that help your business grow.

Think about the customer experience

One of the most, if not the most important factor for any business looking to grow, is their customers. After all, your customers are who pay your bills, support your business, and grow your business’s success. Without customers, every successful business would be non-existent. So, make sure that when you are making alterations to your business plan, discussing new ways of doing things, and bringing out new products or services, you think about your customer experience and their journey with you. You can gather information from your customers in a variety of ways such as analyzing old data, and sales figures, sending out feedback questionnaires, connecting with your customers through social media platforms, or even through the complaints that you have received. Regardless of how you do it, make sure to think about your customer experience, because if you consistently look to improve it for them, they will notice, and it could have a huge impact on the speed at which you can scale your business.

Don’t compromise the quality of your product or service for higher profits

When you are looking to scale your business, it can be tempting to cut corners to create the illusion of larger profit margins, which then allow for larger investments into the business. However, if you are looking to continually scale your business you should make sure that you do not follow through with this option. The people who buy your products or services from you are not going to be naive enough to simply feed into a reduction of quality, and in the end, all that this will achieve is a shrinking of your customer base and a host of bad reviews. This is of course the last thing that any business wants. Instead of lowering the quality to boost your profits, why not think about what you can do to enhance or add to your product or service for a premium? This way your customers will see you have not compromised the quality, but are instead offering them an alternative with added benefits if they are that way inclined. This will over time help you to scale your business, rather than destroy it.

Sometimes making improvements is hard, and you may need to embrace change to grow your business. So, why not consider implementing a selection of these ideas into your business?

To stay sustainable and productive at all times, you need cloud apps as a tool in your business arsenal. Although cloud computing as a concept has been around for 20 years or so, it has only recently gained wider usage and public knowledge. Because of this, around 70% of businesses use cloud computing in some way, from simple document storage to real-time data processing in the field. So, here are some of the main ways your business will benefit from the cloud.

Provide Services from Anywhere

With the easy and widespread access to internet services via Wi-Fi and mobile data networks, cloud services are coming into their own as vital tools for most businesses today. The beauty of cloud systems is that you can access them from pretty much anywhere, which lends itself well to many sectors. For example, you can access BuildOps field service management software to provide effective solutions to your construction project, increasing efficiency at your business.

They’re Very Cost Effective

It can be easy to assume that cloud services will be expensive if you aren’t familiar with them. Yet, in most cases, they offer a cost-effective solution to most situations with an impressive ROI considering how much they enhance efficiency. Here are some ways cloud apps save money:

• There is no need to purchase fully licensed and expensive software packages.
• You don’t need to upgrade computer hardware to be able to run cloud apps.
• There is often no license, so you can cancel your cloud service subscription anytime.
• The cost associated with IT teams to manage equipment and software is eliminated.
• Most services offer tiered packages to suit the size of your business needs.

Cloud apps are as easy to use as any other mobile app you are already familiar with, in most cases. So you don’t need experts to set them up and use them. Additionally, many of your staff will be familiar with how apps work, meaning limited to no training requirements to use them.

You Need Cloud Apps for Improved Security

Cybersecurity is a major issue these days for every business. From the smallest mom-and-pop store to the largest multinational corporation, you will need security. However, you can eliminate the chances of data loss or theft using cloud services and reduce liability. This is because the cloud services you use are responsible for most of the security issues on their end. Additionally, you can more easily meet compliance requirements in your sector if you use cloud software.

Easy Scaling Solutions

Business scaling is a complex task to manage, and flexibility is the key issue. As a business, sometimes you will see more demand for your services, and other times demand will decrease. Fortunately, cloud services allow you to easily switch packages and terms based on your current needs. This means you can more easily scale accordingly. This includes systems such as tiered service packages, IT services that your business needs, and even access to office software.

Instant Access to Company Data

Mobile apps are designed to be just that. And your business might rely on mobile workers. Of course, this presented problems in the past if your workers needed to access specific company data. One of the most common ways was to provide remote access to your network. But this presents security issues and is a little unreliable. However, you can provide access to cloud services for accessing stored documents, required apps, and other pertinent data and apps.

Finding Data Through Insights and Analytics

The world of data and information is big business these days. Data can be bought and sold and even stolen. But as a business, data is invaluable because it means you gain real insights into what your customers do. This means you can make changes based on what they want. Most Cloud services offer excellent custom data analytics tools as a means of providing a wider perspective concerning information without having to personally go through masses of data.

Better Collaboration Efforts

Collaboration is a bit of a buzzword in modern business. But it is also an effective tool, which showed how useful it is during the COVID-19 pandemic. From a small local team to international offices, cloud-based collaboration is no longer an optional part of the business:

• Cloud services typically offer multiple-person access, making collaboration easier.
• Authorized members can view and share data in real-time or upload and download.
• The security of your data is handled by the cloud service you use to collaborate.
• Some cloud apps come with “social spaces” for engaging with multiple colleagues.
• You can offer support and finish projects when working from home.
• The asynchronous method means workers don’t need to wait for others to finish work.
• Documents and data are easily accessible in real-time as soon as they are available.
• Multiple users can work on the same document or company project at the same time.
• There are chat systems in place when you are working on a project with others.

You can provide a seamless and secure integration across your company using cloud-based collaboration apps. There are many you can use. Some of the most popular cloud collaboration apps that the world’s biggest companies use include Google Drive, Slack, and GoToMeeting.  

Consistent Data Types

For ease of use, security, and, in some cases, compliance, data and practices must be consistent. For example, it doesn’t help your business if there are multiple document formats that workers must access. They may not have the right software to open them. Fortunately, cloud services offer a single data format when you store documents on their servers. This is useful for many reasons, such as poor data, clear revision history, and reduced human error.

Improved Disaster Avoidance

A computer disaster can be a nightmare for your business when trying to recover. And if the disaster is bad enough, recovery can be impossible. So imagine your business loses proprietary designs for projects. Then you have no business if your network is compromised and they are stolen, or you are held to ransomware. Yet cloud services can have you back up and running in four hours because your company data is stored remotely for an easier restore as needed.

Convenient De-Centralized Access

Further to preventing disaster, your company data is much more secure and easier to access via the cloud because of its decentralized nature. Foregoing the standard local storage that we were used to meaning you can avoid problems if desktop PCs or local servers are damaged. For instance, should you forget about a ten-year-old SSD and forget to replace it, you won’t lose data if you use cloud services since what you need isn’t stored on the local computer store.

You Need Cloud Apps for Auto Updates

A cornerstone of efficient software and app usage, and also security, is updating. Yet this often requires an expert team of IT technicians and/or a network administrator. Any of which are expensive. Yet even if you can handle IT services yourself, you can forget about updates if you are busy. Yet cloud services govern themselves, so updates to software and security services are done by the cloud service you use, improving cybersecurity and reducing overall IT costs.

Staying Ahead of the Competition

Cloud services afford you the chance to blaze a trail and leave the competition behind. The quick and easy access means you can offer instant services to your customers. This gives you an advantage since many businesses still keep their services on less efficient local devices:

• Competitors will be playing catch up in your sector as you are more efficient.
• You have access to much more data that’s not available anywhere else.
• Your employees can engage with customers and colleagues more efficiently.
• The insights you gain can help you model new business processes moving forward.
• Using reliable cloud services now will help future-proof your business for later.

You can drive enhanced customer relationship strategies when you use cloud apps. From analyzing data to offering support from office to office, complex systems become more manageable. As a result, you will have the competition wondering about your magic formula.

Part of an Eco-Friendly Strategy

Sustainability in the office and your wider company’s carbon reduction policies are an ongoing process. For all your energy efficiency efforts, recycling encouragement, and trying to go paperless, it might not be enough. So, you need to come up with real solutions that support standard eco-friendly practices. Cloud services offer a way to do that because they exist almost entirely virtually. This means no physical products, carbon emissions, or more wasted energy. 

Summary

If you are wondering why you need cloud apps, there are many you should consider as a real 21st-century business. One of the most useful is that they allow you to offer services to your customers from anywhere you can connect to the internet. Yet cloud services also offer a viable method of collaborating with your staff and colleagues much more effectively. Finally, cloud services also offer a unique eco-friendly way to power your business as they aren’t physical.

As a small business, you might find yourself the target of burglary or intruders. Small businesses typically tend to have less security and are easier targets for theft. It’s important that you don’t let your small business fall victim to property damage or theft, so you should follow the necessary steps. 

It’s not just about preventing theft, it’s about keeping your customers and employees safe. As a small business, you can’t afford to have your reputation damaged by a lack of security measures taken, it’s just not worth the risk. Investing in security should always be one of your top priorities.

Secure locks on doors

First things first, you should consider what it is that’s keeping intruders out of your workplace. Can anyone just walk in? Is it a key lock? What’s the best way to handle this? Well, if you want something that’s professional and convenient, digital door locks might be what you’re looking for. You likely would have seen them before, blocking off access to anyone who doesn’t have the correct key to get in. These can be unlocked with things like NFC chips – which make the whole process much quicker and simpler for your employees while keeping burglars out.

Safety training

Sometimes the danger comes from within the business, and it can be cultivated through poor practices. You should ensure that all of your employees know how to go about the day without creating hazards – and in the event of a hazard, they know exactly what to do.

No matter what kind of workplace you’re in, this kind of training is essential. You never know when there will be an emergency, whether it’s a fire, a break-in, or otherwise, you’ll want everyone to know what to do to handle it as safely and efficiently as possible.

Consider cameras

It doesn’t take many cameras on display to deter burglars, and the camera itself doesn’t even have to work. While it would be ideal to capture all of the footage throughout the day, having that level of security on display is often enough to prevent people from acting. It shows that your business is protected and that there are going to be consequences for them if they tried to break in. The same goes for alarms. Having alarms visibly displayed on your property will decrease the chances of being burgled significantly.

Identify common safety hazards

Every workplace has hazards, and they can pop up from even the most simple of tasks. Knowing how to spot these hazards and being aware of them is going to keep you and your employees safe on a daily basis. Things like loose cables being run across the floor, chemicals being easy to access and stored in places where they may fall. Electronics are potentially faulty and at risk of starting a fire. Understanding what can put you and your team in danger is important if your workplace is going to be safe. While you may want to put your faith in the common sense of your employees, that’s not a valid excuse for negligence.