Running a business can be complicated if you let it. While overseeing your employees and performing core activities, you also have to deal with details like labour laws, taxes, and more.

Worse still, you have to manage all these concerns continually.

Before you know it, your company has become slow and inefficient, and running it is more convoluted than it has to be.

You can address this by simplifying your business. Here are several cost-effective ways how.

Review and streamline your processes

Many companies strive to become lean and capable of responding rapidly to change, and with good reason: it reduces cost and enables them to do more with less.

But no matter how agile your organisation becomes, it’ll inevitably add new layers or steps to adapt to circumstances. Unfortunately, such updates will likely make your processes bloated.

To address this, take the time to review your processes at least every couple of years. There are typically four steps in carrying this out:

1. Map out individual processes from start to finish. For best results, draw up a visual representation of each process (e.g. sticky notes) to make it easier to analyse.
   
   
2. Meet with stakeholders (including staff and customers), talk about why issues exist, and how to address them.
   
   
3. Create an action plan while taking into account the issues raised. Make sure you set measurable and achievable goals that align with your company’s objectives.
   
   
4. Determine how to integrate technology into your action plan. The technology should make your process more efficient.

Ask for a bank analysis statement

It’s common for entrepreneurs to deposit business earnings in the bank, but many don’t know how much they’re actually spending in service fees every month. No matter how seemingly small these charges are, they all add up.

Solution: ask your bank for an analysis statement to stay informed about your fees.

Aside from a breakdown of pricing specifics, a bank analysis statement may also come with upcoming price changes, including their effective date.

With the data from the analysis statement, you can make an informed decision about whether you should keep certain services – specifically those you don’t need (e.g. overdraft protection, maintenance and paper statement fees).

You can then reinvest the savings into areas that will help generate more revenue for your organisation.

Develop your own software

Creating your own software is expensive. The more screens it has, the more work that needs to be done, and the more costly it’ll be to develop.

But if your proprietary software addresses an expensive problem, you might end up simplifying your business and saving more resources in the long run.

You also have the option to sign up for software-as-a-service platforms, which eliminate the need to acquire hardware and maintain your own computer systems. However, just one subscription can cost anywhere between $500 to $2000+ per month, depending on the plan you get.

These recurring expenses will eat into your company’s profits.

If done properly, proprietary software can have a lower cost of ownership than ongoing subscription fees. Nevertheless, it’s on you to determine whether creating your own software is worth the expense. You’ll have to consider various factors including:

• Development length
• Total development costs vs. subscription costs
• Employee effort to define software requirements and map out processes
• Program support

Switch to a paperless office

Does your company still use paper forms? That’s a complication you can do without. The benefits of a paperless organisation go beyond environmental considerations.

Here are a few ways it’ll make your business more efficient:

• You won’t have to deal with physical clutter in the office or spend so much time sorting through mail.
  
  
• You have quick access to information from any device connected online. This enables you to do many tasks like updating your books or banking online whenever and wherever you want.
  
  
• Through online collaboration tools, you can work with your staff and share knowledge with them quickly and conveniently.
  
  
• With digital invoices, you can process customer payments right away and with less hassle.
  
  
• You can simplify tax payments. In In Australia, for instance, you can log in with your myGov account linked to the Australian Taxation Office.

Introduce a budget process

Adding a process to an existing pile of systems may seem counterproductive when you’re trying to simplify your business, but creating and monitoring a budget is crucial to your company’s success.

Implementing a budgeting procedure will help you:

• Manage your resources more effectively.
• Recognise problems before they occur.
• Discover issues you may have missed.
• Allot appropriate resources to projects.
• Keep track of your company’s performance.

Having a budget process in place will involve estimating, allocating, and approving a financial plan. Introducing this will enable you to evaluate how much you’re spending on your operations.

Outsource everyday business functions

One of the most effective ways to simplify your business is to entrust its everyday functions to a remote virtual assistant. Doing this allows you to:

• Cut costs by paying only a fraction of what you pay a local employee.
• Concentrate on doing high-value (i.e. income generating) activities.
• Gain access to expertise, higher output, and efficiency which larger companies enjoy.

To hire the best people for your business, team up with Remote Workmate. We do all the heavy lifting for you, including payroll and onboarding. This means finding the ideal VA becomes so much easier.

You can actually choose from our pool of top candidates right away. Simply click the button below to browse a wide range of profiles on our Hotlist page.