6 Outdated Practices That Are Slowing Your Business Down

To be profitable as a business, you should always be attempting to evolve with the times. Not doing so can lead to major inefficiencies and losing your competitive advantage to more savvy competitors. Below are six outdated practices that could be slowing your company down.

Keeping Everyone in the Office

One in five Americans now telecommutes rather than drives into work. While using a work-from-home policy may seem like an abdication of direct management, it can be a great way to slash expenses for certain kinds of work that don’t need to be completed in office.

Not Utilizing Digital Inventory Management

Taking inventory used to be done with a pad and pencil. This wasted time and created opportunities for plenty of human error. Instead, your inventory should be digitally updated automatically by a software program as products or supplies move in and out of inventory. The reordering process can be made automatic to keep your operations as efficient as possible.

Sticking with In-House IT Services

IT experts are extremely expensive to employ and it may be a good idea to outsource your IT services to an outside firm if you don’t deal with these issues every day. With the use of cloud computing technology, most of what you need can be provided by software vendors since the programs load directly from their servers.

Not Using a POS System

Every retail business should employ a point of sale system (POS). These days, you don’t even need to invest in expensive equipment. There are smart phone and tablet apps that can be used to perform check-out procedures and process credit and debit card purchases. This can be great for a business on-the-go, and can keep you competitive wherever you are.

Sticking to a Brick and Mortar Business Model

The internet can allow you to sell your products to anyone in the world at any point during the day. If you aren’t considering online sales in your plans, you could be forfeiting a huge possible revenue stream that could help offset some of the expenses of brick and mortar locations. Expanding this way can be daunting, but if you have an expert come in and analyze your data, you should be able to come up with a small online store you can on your own.

Not Collecting and Analyzing Data

Many companies in the past simply worried about their accounting in regards to their revenue and expenses. Instead, you should be recording and storing as much data as you can about sales, customers, products, and more. This data can be invaluable for future analysis to determine the proper course for your company.

Overall, don’t be afraid to change with the times. New updates for how you do business can make your company more efficient and more profitable.

Author: Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information on outside IT help check out IT Services in Ottawa. Contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.”