There’s nothing more depressing than seeing your hard-earned profits demolished by ongoing procedural costs and overheads if you run a business. Sure, some costs incurred by companies are unavoidable (staff wages, manufacturing supplies, etc.), but many firms suffer from overpaying for goods and services they simply don’t need.
For example, a recent study in the US found that, on average, companies waste a frankly staggering $247 (approx. £180) per PC on software that is never (or very rarely) used.
Common culprits that drain your company profits
There are likely many ways you could cut costs in your firm from software to utilities and supplies while also improving efficiency and reducing waste. Below are some ideas to try if you want to reduce your operating overhead.
Increase automation in the workplace: Computers, tech, and, in particular, Artificial Intelligence (AI) have improved leaps and bounds, especially over the last decade. If you find you or your staff waste time doing largely repetitive, time-consuming jobs, think about ways to automate more of your processes. AI is particularly adept at performing repetitive tasks – just the kind of duties that are a sinkhole for time, money, and corporate resources.
Change energy supplier (or at least research options): Of course, all firms need the energy to operate, but just because you’ve been with your current supplier for many years, don’t assume you’re getting the best deal. Indeed, many energy companies have been accused of excluding ongoing customers from their best prices, so you should compare business energy costs and change supplier if you find lower prices elsewhere.
Perform a full audit on your software: As mentioned above, most firms waste huge amounts paying for software they simply don’t use. Therefore, you should put aside time to take an overhead view of how you currently work and the software you need. In most cases, you’ll likely find you’re paying costly subscriptions for apps you don’t use. Also, even if you do use certain applications, check around for possible replacements that might be cheaper. For example, Photopea is a free, online image editor that closely resembles Adobe Photoshop and can handle most of the common photo editing tasks equally and its costlier rival.
Outsource more: Some of the roles in your firm are essential for its day-to-day running. However, equally, you’ll probably find other employees are only busy from time to time. Take a step back and see if you might be better outsourcing these workers’ work to reduce costs and benefit from taking a more ad hoc, on-demand approach. The freelance sector has grown massively in recent years, featuring skilled professionals that can perform a huge range of roles. In particular, jobs delivered digitally function best, e.g., marketing, photography, web maintenance, etc.
Move your IT to the cloud: Cloud service provision has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in the whole computer and tech industry and is bringing huge benefits to companies big and small worldwide. If you haven’t already, consider moving your digital services to a cloud provider and removing the substantial costs and headaches of running your IT internally.
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