Four Ways to Boost Business Efficiency 

In the world of modern business, the environment is a highly competitive one where costs are kept to a minimum and budgets are stretched. Business resources need to be used most efficiently to ensure that they offer the highest return on their costs and staff need to be well motivated and able to work quickly and effectively. In business, efficiency is a key trait that is shared by all successful companies.

Being efficient in all spheres of operation can allow a business to maximize its revenues and, therefore, its final profits. All business leaders and managers are continuously looking for ways to boost efficiency and productivity in both the operation of the business and its employees.

In this article, four key ways in which a business can boost its efficiency are discussed and each example will allow a business to become more agile and potentially maximize its profits in these highly competitive times.

The Move to Increased Outsourcing 

Outsourcing can be defined as the hiring of third-party organizations to undertake business activities so that they do not need to be done in-house by the business itself. This can prove to be an effective way to cut costs for many organizations as you save on recruitment and training costs for in-house employees in addition to needing less office space.

Outsourcing to well-established firms for activities such as finance or customer service can instantly give you access to highly trained staff who specialize in these types of work and who have access to the latest technology in these fields. In the UK today, many companies outsource their finance functions to accountancy firms such as AK Tax Accountants in Rochester. By doing this, they gain access to highly trained accountancy professionals that use the latest accountancy software which can provide businesses with real-time positions of their financial situation.

In some business operations, such as customer service, many western companies outsource these functions to companies based in the east (for example in India) where lower labour costs mean that these services can be provided at a more competitive price than in their own country, thus saving the organization significant sums of money.

Hold Shorter Meetings

For many employees across the business spectrum, meetings are perceived as being too frequent, and too long, having the effect of keeping workers away from their day-to-day tasks and in some circumstances leading to lower levels of motivation.

This can be especially prevalent when meetings are seen as happening “for meetings’ sake.” A recent Forbes article stated that 37% of meetings are considered as adding no value to the organization. Such meetings are counterproductive and reduce the overall efficiency of a company.

It is a fact that many meetings can be cut down significantly in their duration whilst still disseminating the key points and facts and allowing for discussions to take place. In terms of regular team meetings to give updates and share information, these have the potential to be limited to ten minutes once a week. As a result, significant amounts of time can be saved every month that can be directed towards actual task completion. 

Use Task Management Software

Communication on shared projects within teams used to be done via long email trails and phone discussions in addition to regular meetings. This has been recognized as a highly inefficient way of working. Thankfully, in today’s world of business tech, there is a range of apps and software that can promote efficient team working on projects whilst minimizing long lines of communication.

One excellent example is the Trello app. This is a project management app that promotes effective collaboration by allowing teammates to post task lists and project-specific information onto a shared set of boards that can be accessed online.

The main benefit of software such as Trello is that all project members know exactly what stage the related tasks are at in a simple, user-friendly interface that requires minimal training to become competent. Many project collaboration apps also offer free versions (that tend to be scaled down in functionality) making them an exceptionally cost-effective option for businesses looking to improve their efficiency in tasks and projects.

Automate Repetitive Tasks 

There is a range of low-complexity tasks in the business world that require little knowledge but significant amounts of time to complete. One such task is data entry, especially when it is a case of taking data from one source and using it to populate another application. This practice is common in healthcare, especially in the world of clinical audit where data is taken from patient records and inputted into databases and spreadsheets.

When undertaken manually, this is a hugely time-consuming practice and one that is not satisfying work for many employees. Today, by using scanning software or electronic patient records (instead of paper-based), computer technology can transfer this information quickly and efficiently, saving significant amounts of working hours. 

To Sum Up

Four key ways in which a business can improve its efficiency are by outsourcing some of its functions, holding shorter meetings, using task management software, and by automating repetitive tasks.