If you run a small-to-midsize enterprise, the old business cliches reflect hard reality: you’re always looking for ways to “do more with less” and “work smarter not harder.” Fortunately—from cloud-based data management technologies to business card rewards programs—there are many ways to drive more value and business innovation without excess cost. These business resources can transform your size and scrappiness into a competitive advantage.
1. Stop Expending Energy That Doesn’t Add Value
You can’t do everything. So, focus on identifying things you’re doing now that aren’t worth your time and money. Stopping those frees more business resources for what matters.
Some of this involves the traditional “blocking and tackling” of effective management. Work on delegating more tasks that don’t require your special expertise, or aren’t core to your value proposition. Some tasks can move to subordinates; others to outside services. If you’re constantly “putting out fires,” step back and look for a root cause you can fix once and for all.
Beyond obvious timewasters like low-priority email, look for resource wastage specific to your business—for example, products you’re still tracking and inventorying but that no longer sell.
Here, “lean thinking” is valuable. In a “lean” model, any activity that consumes resources but doesn’t bring value to your end customer is considered waste. Some of that activity is necessary anyway: you’ve got to pay your taxes. But some of it is pure waste: for example, resources that are waiting for work, or being moved or stored for no good reason, or defective products that need to be fixed before they can be sold.
2. Automate to Save Resources and Improve Effectiveness
As with taxes, you’ll find tasks you wish you could stop doing, but can’t. The next best thing is to automate them. That’s where the second piece of good news comes in: we live in a golden age of online tools for automating and streamlining operations. In some cases, these tools won’t just save you time and money, they’ll also help you promote greater business innovation. For example:
- Time trackers are data management tools that may pay for themselves by making it easier to capture billable hours that would otherwise slip through the cracks;
- Email automation tools help you stay in touch with customers on a regular and planned basis, or quickly connect with them when a new opportunity arises;
- Scheduling tools can let customers quickly set up appointments on a “self-service” basis, improving service and saving employees’ valuable time;
- Collaboration tools make it easier for your teams and remote contractors to work together, so you can deliver projects faster and more successfully.
These days, many business tools operate “in the cloud”: you access them via the internet, and store and manage your information on the service provider’s equipment. You keep using the computers (and/or smartphones) you already have, and the service provider is in charge of managing (and securing) the hardware and software they use to deliver the tools. (The tradeoff: you’re trusting someone else to manage your data. If it’s business critical, you’ll want to know how they safeguard it, and how you can export it if you ever want to take your business elsewhere.)
Beyond obvious timewasters like low-priority email, look for resource wastage specific to your business—for example, products you’re still tracking and inventorying but that no longer sell.
3. Leverage Your Spending to Get More Benefits
As you pursue the “holy grail” of maximizing limited resources, look for better ways to leverage your spending. Sometimes that involves centralizing expenditures on a specific category of items, so you can negotiate a volume discount with a supplier who’ll value your increased level of business.
You might also move spending to business charge or credit cards that offer higher rewards on large purchases you need to make anyway—for example, seasonal inventory or equipment purchases. Some business cards also offer added bonuses or higher reward values when you purchase technology or online advertising—things you might need anyway.
The Takeaway
To drive more business value and innovation, refocus scarce resources on higher-value activities, automate wherever you can and use tools like business charge or credit cards to get more leverage from your spending.
Photo: Getty Images
