Oftentimes, cutting business costs requires wholesale shifts in business strategy, leaving the business vulnerable to a slump in quality – it’s a risky endeavour, by anyone’s standards. But it’s not entirely necessary. With some simple adjustments, well within the purview of a department manager, you can cut your business costs without potentially sacrificing the quality of your services. It’s all about looking around at your immediate surroundings and evaluating what can be changed. Here’s a list of five ways you can cut costs tomorrow without losing a step.
Office Relocation
On the list of cost-cutting measures, yes, this article is diving first into perhaps the most drastic option. Why? Because office relocation can greatly reduce overhead costs, making some of the measures further down this list unnecessary. Moving a business to a less expensive part of town, or (if it’s an option) operating online or from home, can save your business untold sums of money. Many businesses may think they need that downtown office overlooking the financial district, when in reality they could function just as well elsewhere – it’s often a blend of ego and pride that keeps a business downtown during tough times.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing your legal needs can end up saving you a lot of money, since, when you work with a legal outsourcing company you get the same level of legal service at a fraction of the cost. And the time of employment is flexible; if you only need someone for a few days to review a couple contracts, you only need to pay for those few days. It works out to be far less expensive than retaining full-time legal support.
Using Productivity Software
Cutting costs can be expressed another way: making the absolute most out of the money you are spending. To this end, productivity software can be immensely helpful in keeping employees focused, coordinate and working towards making your business more money.
Going Paperless
Not only is it better for the environment, but it saves money – $80 per employee annually, to be specific, according to a study done by the EPA. That might seem like a small amount of money, but it’s a relatively easy process to implement and will continue to save you money. In all likelihood, this is the way business is going anyways, so you might as well get ahead of the game and save some money early.
Cutting Down On Travel
Between Skype, and the myriad other ways businesses and people can keep in touch, you really need to re-evaluate the amount of money you spend on travel. What’s being gained paying for someone’s travel and accommodation costs? What’s the dollar value of that in-person meeting, and would it not be better meeting online? Ask yourself these questions before booking that next flight.
Following these five tips, you can cut down on costs and make your business as efficient and profitable as possible. Even if your business doesn’t need to cut costs, solutions like outsourcing and productivity software should still be considered as a means for improving your business.