Seven cost-cutting tips you need to consider
It doesn’t how big or small your business – saving money is always welcome. Here are seven cost-cutting tips to consider.
Saving money is important not just because it allows you to enjoy short-term profits, but because re-investing money into long-term strategies is one of the best ways you can ensure your company’s survival in the future.
Here are seven ways you can cut your costs.
1) Print Less
Printing is expensive, requiring lots of equipment and printer ink, which is more expensive per drop than human blood.
Try to make things as digital as you can and make everything computer-based. Just make sure you regularly back up everybody’s system.
2) Outsource accounting
If you have an accounting department and you can’t automate the whole process for some reason, just outsource it to a country where the dollar has a higher value than in the US.
You can get some very bright minds who will be an invaluable part of your team but just work a couple thousand miles away.
3) Discover and eliminate idle inventory
Idle inventory are those inventories which take up space and are a waste of resources. Your business should be running as lean as possible.
You might be drawn in by a company’s economy of scale, but unless you are selling large quantities, this will be invested capital that has a high opportunity cost, as you could be investing it into something with a higher return on investment.
4) Hire interns
Interns are a great symbiotic relationship – you get to save some money and they get some experience: a win-win. What’s more, internships are smart as you can assess their competence and give them more and more significant tasks.
At the end, if they’re a good fit with your company, you can hire them and save on the training cost.
5) Phone tech
Using phone technology instead of landline can create a virtual office network and allow your employees to work remotely or save money by cutting out the landline and using a unified communications service.
RingCentral is a good example – they offer IM, email, chat, video calls, desktop sharing and business SMS into one package, meaning all communication is secure and can easily be remote, saving office costs. For more information, the ringcentral review from virtualhostedpbx.net is excellent.
6) Second-hand equipment
Even if you just need minimal office equipment, buying used equipment is a great way of cutting your costs and expenses for very little if any difference in performance.
Make sure they’re energy efficient, though. Look for the energy star logo on any appliance or equipment that you buy.
7) Energy efficiency policies
Electricity adds up and any wastage is bad for business. That’s why it can be helpful for you to have an energy policy that you enforce in the office. If a device isn’t being used – unplug it. Make sure all rooms have turned-off lights. If it’s possible to use sunlight instead of electrical light, do so.
Little bits of cost-cutting not only save money, but they teach frugality to your employees and create a culture where wastage is looked down upon.
Photo by Reinaldo Kevin
