“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” – Stephen Covey – Author and Educator

The management of most businesses think that their business is very efficient but there is always some room for improvement. These days the competition is tough to say the least. It’s the law of the oceans that apply aptly to the current scenario where big fish eats the small one. Businesses need to up their game if they expect to keep up the struggle to grow their market share and eventually get to the top. One major step is in the right direction is to continually find ways to improve efficiency both your teams and yours personally.

The following are the 4 simple ways through which any business can make use of technology and increase knowledge of business operations to their advantage in the form of increased efficiency.

1. Rapid Access to Information for Employees

New IT, hardware and software definitely improve efficiency and productivity in the specific industry. This was proved way back in a 2005 study by Stanford University. The information shouldn’t be available for all the employees but for some of them who need rapid access to critical information. Let me offer you what Mr. Mathews Mathew think about this matter who is the CEO of ePROMIS Solutions.

“Small businesses have small staffs; large business have departments. Employees have to have access to the information they need when they need it. Often that access has to be secure and permission-based. If you have old, slow networks that are unsecured or often down, get a cutting-edge tools and secure network with intelligent routers and switches.”

2. Minimize Face to Face Meetings

A daily meeting of only 10-15 minutes is enough to keep everyone in a department or in a small company in-sync. It’s all the time everyone needs to discuss ideas, brainstorm or look for some suggestion. Else, keep everything for the end of the day as the most productive hours of the day are wasted in meetings.

In just the US alone, there are interesting stats available on how meetings usually are not productive as there are lots of complaints about unproductive or disorganized work leading to no firm decision as a result. That’s why keep face to face meetings to a minimum for best results.

3. Learn to Delegate

Many small business owners look to supervise some tasks even if they have allotted it to certain managers or team leads. This micromanagement leads to several problems as it takes a lot of time to look after each task. A simple task management tool can save their day. Another easy way is to delegate it to a person after measuring his strength and then leave the rest of him. After initial monitoring, there is no need to check back. This trust will lead to more tasks delegated to other people so that the business owner/ top management can work on other important aspects of the business.

4. Self-Customer Service

Customer service is very important for any business these days as your competitors look to pounce on your mistake you commit to get those customers from you. The majority of young customers these days look for automated self-service customer service. Give it to them. And as a result, your customer support staff can focus on those who have bigger problems, like a delayed shipment from another state, and need flexible, personalized solutions.

According to a recent research statistic on customer experience/service, the key stats are as follows:

• An American Express survey come to know about 78% of customers will bail on a purchase if their service experience is poor.
• Loyal customers are critical to a business: on average they are worth more than ten times as much of their first purchase because they support a company and are more likely to purchase a product in the future than a new customer.
• And lastly, the biggest reason; $41 Billion is lost each year by businesses whose customer service is poor.

Final Thought: Take Some Action

Time is money when you own a business. The more efficiency you will show in managing time, the more profitable your venture will be. Small business and startup owners have to wear multiple hats and being efficient with time will result in more work-life balance for them.

Just one more thought for you: It’s high time to take some decisive action as mentioned in this blog. I am sure that you will get plenty of food for thought from this piece of writing as I have provided you relevant stats as well to prove my point. Businesses which are not efficient are bound to doom so make applying efficiency your priority in managing your venture.

Do you have any tips for improving business efficiency? Or want to give feedback for this blog? Please use the comments section below.