This month, we’re focusing on the growth of your business to celebrate our release of three new bundles of COATS Staffing Software and options that capture the three different stages of a business’s growth. Today, we’re looking at established businesses with 25 users or more. We call them “power users.”
By the time your company has reached this stage, you’ve accomplished a lot. You’ve survived the first few years of existence (more than half of all businesses don’t). You’ve established a strategy to differentiate yourself from your competition and have reaped the rewards of growth. So… now what?
Now you keep review your operations to see if you can save some costs by improving efficiency. Here are some ideas:
Review your processes. If you’ve been in business for a while, chances are that your processes are an amalgamation of procedures with instructions, habits that have “always been done that way,” personal idiosyncracies from employees who may no longer be with the company and general randomness. Not only is reviewing the processes and procedures for every job a great way to find spots for efficiency improvements, it’s a great way to make sure everyone in your company understands how their job correlates to your company’s mission and strategy. It’s also a great way to make sure everyone understands exactly what their job is—and that you understand their jobs, too.
Double down on what’s working, discard what isn’t. Assuming you’ve conducted a process review, or at least have an accurate idea of the tactics your company is using to accomplish its strategy, it’s time to look at which tactics are working and which aren’t. This will probably require some major objectivity on your part, especially if a tactic you really loved is having no positive effect on your business. Let it go; you’ll think of other, better tactics (or you can ask your business advisory team to help you come up with them).
Help your people work with as few interruptions as possible. Obviously, in a responsive business with lots of public contact such as staffing, you’re going to have interruptions. However, they don’t have to affect everyone in the company. If possible and feasible, let some of your workers work from home or work flexible hours so they can concentrate on important projects. Increase your admin staff so placement specialists can focus on interviewing and filling job orders rather than answering every phone call. The more people can focus on their work, the more efficient they are.
Automate whatever processes you can. Tasks such as timekeeping, invoicing, contact management and report generation can easily be handled by software. In fact, they can all be handled by COATS Staffing Software. Let your people use the higher-level thinking that makes us human and automate the tedious stuff as much as possible.
Buy rather than rent. You’ve got plenty of capital; cashflow isn’t a problem anymore. So now’s the time to take advantage of the savings you can get by buying rather than leasing. This applies to both physical goods, such as buildings, and virtual goods, such as staffing software. The COATS Power User bundle is purchased rather than leased, so you can save money in the long run while getting free updates from here on out.