Jan 2, 2020
Slashing Business Expenses By 50% in 2020
Looking to Cut Your Business Expenses?
Businesses exist for the purpose of profit-making. As a result, most of them have a very natural interest in raising their revenues as well as cutting their expenses, both of which are potential paths to profit maximization. However, if businesses are looking to slash their business expenses by as much as 50 percent in 2020, they need to put some serious care and consideration into looking for proven solutions. After all, businesses can’t run their revenue-earning operations without sustaining expenses, meaning that the careless cutting of business expenses can have catastrophic consequences for their business performance.
What Are Some Proven Ways to Cut Your Business Expenses Without Hurting Your Business Performance?
Here are some proven ways that interested companies can cut their business expenses without hurting their performance in 2020:
Embrace Automation
The kind of AI seen in pop culture is still something limited to the realm of science fiction. However, there is no doubt about the fact that machines are becoming more and more capable, which in turn, means that automation is becoming more and more useful for businesses. In fact, it should be mentioned that while automation has already devastated a number of blue-collar professions, there are clear indications that automation is poised to do the same to white-collar professions in the not too distant future. The exact consequences remain to be seen, but there are estimates of incoming losses of 40 percent to 99 percent of the jobs that exist in the present time.
Regardless, automation can provide businesses with a number of important benefits. First and foremost, automation enables dramatic reductions in a business’s workforce, which in turn, means dramatic reductions in a business’s payroll as well. However, it should be mentioned that automation can provide other benefits — with common examples ranging from increased productivity to a reduction in the number of errors thanks to more consistent results than otherwise possible. From the business’s perspective, automation can be an incredible advantage. Moreover, it promises to become more and more vital as machines become more and more capable.
Utilize the Cloud
Cloud computing means using a network of remote servers to handle the computing tasks that are entrusted to local servers in more traditional setups. As such, cloud computing isn’t a single service so much as an entire collection of services run in such a manner, which happens to include a number that can prove very beneficial for businesses.
For instance, suppose that a business is reliant on a particular piece of software for its revenue-earning operations, which was once offered in a traditional manner but has now switched over to being a software-as-a-service.
First, this is beneficial because the local hardware becomes nothing more than a terminal, meaning that companies can make use of the software-as-a-service so long as they have something capable of connecting to the Internet. The ease of accessing a business’s information, even after considering all the security measures, boosts productivity by allowing employees to access such data anytime, anywhere, and from any device.
Second, since the local laptops, desktops, and mobile devices are nothing more than a terminal, businesses can save on hardware costs by buying machines suitable for use as terminals rather than machines that can serve as computing endpoints in their own right. This is something that can save them a fair amount of money, particularly if they used to have to upgrade their hardware on a regular basis to keep up with the demands of their industry.
Third, software-as-a-service means that it is always up-to-date, which is particularly important for businesses that need to protect important information from malicious outsiders who would love to get their hands upon it. On top of that, the very nature of software-as-a-service means that it tends to be better-supported by the developers, which in turn makes it that much easier for businesses to get much-needed assistance from SaaS providers when something problematic comes up.
Of course, software-as-a-service is but one example of how cloud computing can benefit businesses. There are other possibilities out there, which come with their own potential savings as well as other potential benefits, something that should encourage businesses to look further into them.
Implement a Cost-Effective ERP System
When a business is still small, it is possible for everyone in its workforce to communicate with one another in order to understand the current situation before proceeding further with their own tasks. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for even medium-sized businesses, not least because of the inefficiencies involved in said process.
Fortunately, the computerization of business means that there are various solutions for such problems — with an excellent example being ERP systems. In short, ERP stands for enterprise resource planning, so it should come as no surprise to learn that ERP systems let businesses manage the main components of their revenue-earning operations in real-time as well as in an integrated manner — something that wouldn’t be possible without the computerization that exists in the present time.
Of course, there are plenty of ERP systems such as Odoo, SAP, and EUROPA that can be found out there, meaning that businesses need to choose the right one for their particular needs and circumstances.
Furthermore, while some businesses might think that ERP systems are beyond their means, they should know that modern platforms that operate on a cloud basis can be very affordable, particularly since they come with minimal setup and thus minimal setup costs.
Smart Marketing
To a considerable extent, marketing is a matter of learning by doing. Essentially, as businesses execute their marketing campaigns, they should be gauging the effect that those marketing campaigns are having on the desired demographics. Once that information has been collected, businesses can analyze it to produce insights regarding how they can refine their current marketing campaigns as well as how they can better target their desired demographics with their future marketing campaigns. By engaging in this process, companies can make their marketing more effective and more efficient, thus making for more gains at a reduced cost.
Having said that, the sheer amount of monitoring means that this kind of thing can’t be done without considerable digital assistance. After all, businesses need to track everything from the people who are visiting the various parts of their online presence to how their emails are being treated by their intended recipients. On top of this, even once businesses have managed to collect this information, there is a great deal that the right software can do to turn it into a comprehensible format for human eyes. Still, this process of continuous refinement is very much worthwhile, so much so that marketing without it can be compared to navigating a maze with a blindfold on.
Streamline Communications
Most people understand the importance of external communications on an intuitive level. After all, a business can’t get any business if it can’t get out information about its products and services to its potential customers. However, internal communications receive less attention, which is a real shame because it can be just as important if not more so than external communications.
In short, effective and efficient internal communications are what enables businesses to move about in a coordinated manner rather than pull themselves apart by straining in different directions at the same time. As such, it makes sense for businesses to look for various ways to facilitate internal communications. One excellent example would be the relatively new model called ChatOps, which automates some tasks that were once manual, and thus error-prone, through chatbots while making these tasks visible to everyone for increased transparency. This is something that can work wonders for a team’s collaboration so long as it is implemented in the right manner with the help of the right tools.
A Solid Plan for The Future
If you are a freelancer, small business owner, or Fortune 500 executive, now is the time to begin thinking and planning on how you can help better improve your business operations.
Whether you are considering consolidating data in an ERP system and automating your business through it, utilizing the latest and greatest cloud technology, executing smarter marketing strategies, or streamlining communications, a well thought out plan for the upcoming year can help save your company significant money and earn record revenue.
