4 tips for increasing operational efficiency for SMBs

To say that the world is brimming with small companies sprouting at every corner would be an understatement of the century. This is an era of entrepreneurship, startups, innovative small companies, and one-person operations that work on a global scale. The Australian economy alone relies on the successful operations of over two million small businesses across the continent, making SMBs the core of the nation’s growth and prosperity. 

How these SMBs operate every day can either make or break that success rate, inspire more companies to join their ranks, and create more jobs for Australian residents. Those daily tasks that most neglect by focusing predominantly on long-term goals are the foundation that every SMB needs to operate smoothly and reach its goals. Here are a few tips to help your own business succeed by bettering your daily operational efficiency.

Enable efficient collaboration

Time-wasters for any small business often hide in plain sight. If some of your employees depend on the information typically kept by another team, which is the case with, say, your marketing team and your social media managers, then they need to have access to relevant information without delays. Make it happen! You can easily implement a collaboration platform such as Basecamp to make it easier for employees to share data, assign tasks, get notified of changes, and keep an eye on milestones.

Of course, transferring key data to a cloud your employees can access at any time is another simple way to empower collaboration, especially if you have a mix of on-site and remote workers. The same applies to using CRM tools, since handling customer information should be made as simple as possible. 

Resolve issues quickly

Whether you’re in Sydney, Adelaide, or Broome, you need a reliable problem-solving structure in place to handle all of those unexpected tech issues, system troubles, or phone line breakdowns. SMBs often need to rely on external help and call in experts, since they don’t have the capacity to keep such professionals on staff. Instead, you’ll find that it’s best to have an expert on speed dial who is available 24/7 when you need emergency computer repair in North Brisbane, since such a solution can help you get back on track with your operations. 

That means you can reduce your down time, help your employees keep their computers in top-notch condition, and enable them to get back to work in no time. The same applies to your other operations, since different experts need to be called in for various issues – create that “emergency protocol” for those occasions and make sure your employees know who to call in each situation.

Focus on employee wellbeing

Operational efficiency heavily depends on the people who ensure it, which means your employees hold the reins of your success. That is why everyday satisfaction matters, not just from the perspective of your customers, but also from that of your workers. In a sense, their happiness will make them more productive, motivate them to come back to work every day, and it will be the key to their work-life balance. What you do to ensure that will make all the difference for your operational efficiency. 

For starters, you can survey your employees or ask them for anonymous feedback, to see if you have any issues, such as too much everyday stress, improper workload distribution, burnout issues, and the like. That will be a great start for finding the most optimal, personalized solutions. Some employees may benefit from a few days off, a paid fitness course, psychological counseling, or a change of pace in their work, so they might work from home. 

Outsource certain tasks

SMBs can count anywhere from one to a dozen people, whereas some of the larger SMBs can even have over a thousand people aboard. In any scenario, such organizations typically need to run a tight ship and ensure that every task is assigned to the right person without overburdening their teams. That is why your small business could benefit from outsourcing certain time-consuming tasks that your teams can live without, and the value of outsourcing could far outweigh the costs.

So, for instance, you can outsource your bookkeeping and accounting, your IT maintenance, and even your customer service. You can work with outside marketing experts who can take over your content creation and your marketing strategy. This will enable your in-house team to focus on those immediate tasks that are essential for your daily operations, and thus increase efficiency over time.

Each SMB is different, but certain commonalities can cause equally burdensome issues. These tips can help you streamline your workload, make your employees happy, and provide that must-have structure for unexpected issues and problems. Use them to your advantage, and your SMB will have all that it needs to flourish!