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How to streamline your business processes in 2016

18th February 2016 Print

Regardless of how successful and well-run your business is, there is always room for improvement. And in today’s high-tech environment – where there’s literally an app for everything and a platform to suit practically any business – we’re finding that it’s possible to push the bounds of productivity to new heights. In short: it’s an exciting time to be a business operator. 

In the spirit of the New Year and in honour of the ever-improving brigade of technology at our disposal. We’re going to take a look at a few ways that you can improve your business processes and streamline them for higher productivity in 2016. Here are some tips: 

Centralise data on a server.

If you haven’t done so yet, it’s time to pool all of your company data onto a centralised server that your employees can access remotely. This ensures that data you track has a centralised home and doesn’t get edited across a daisy-chain of computers – leaving multiple, varied copies of itself along the way. Your server can be based in the Cloud or maintained on site, depending on your needs and preferences.  

Focus on improving work flow. 

It often happens that the processes that a company utilises come to exist out of necessity – rather than through design. For example, when a new sales channel becomes available, it may essentially be drafted into an existing framework for generating and following up on leads without giving any real thought to whether this was the best way for it to integrate with the system. From time to time, it’s important to re-examine the company’s work-flow chain to see if any changes are in order. 

Automate everything. 

These days, you’ll find that so many more of your company’s systems can be automated. For example, your accounting software may be able to generate invoices. Likewise, it may even have the ability to send off reminders to your clients for issues such as late payment or an upcoming need to renew a subscription service. The more that occurs on an automatic basis, the less you have to worry about. 

Prioritise CRM Integration.

Your company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system is one of its most important assets. This system is responsible for tracking customer interactions, compiling data about their previous purchases and helps to log the steps needed to go from an initial interaction to a finalised sale. When properly integrated with the company’s business processes, a CRM becomes an invaluable tool that drives sales and ensures sound customer service. If you haven’t looked into better CRM integration recently, it may be time to re-examine its role and functionality within the company.

The above are just a few steps that you can take to streamline your business processes. Above all, it’s important that you have a keen eye for inefficiencies within your current framework. Once you can identify potential problems, it then becomes much easier to correct them with better, more efficient systems as you move forward.