Cost reduction is vital in any organization. It is important to find ways that you may be overspending or ways your company is losing money unnecessarily. Here are a few ways to find and cut unnecessary expenses in your organization.
Paperwork
Plenty of time is spent printing and reading products circulating your office. You may also find you have to deal with printer issues – sometimes jammed, running low on toner, or simply offline and unavailable, potentially putting you in an “Office Space” rage. That frustration can also be felt on your company’s budget. If you reduce the amount of paperwork that is created and focus more on a digital-based product, not only do you help cut material costs, but you are also cutting time wasted dealing with printer issues and saving the environment at the same time. Even if you aren’t printing everything – how much time are you spending creating spreadsheets to email around the office? Moving to a cloud-based platform that your team can use to get their information when they want it will save you quite a bit in labor currently spent creating spreadsheets!
Insurance
It is extremely important that your insurance policies are reviewed every time they come due. Knowing exactly what is covered in the company policy and what might not be needed any longer and can be dropped could save essential money. Too often, this is seen as a transaction -once it comes due the payment is made and never reevaluated. Your company could be paying for items to be covered that are not needed, and you should shop around to make sure you are getting the best insurance coverage at the best price. The other side of this review? Determining if your current coverage still matches what you need. An unexpected loss that isn’t covered can be devastating. Does your insurance coverage still match your needs?
Energy-Efficient Technology (Facility)
Much like your house, if you make small changes and opt for more energy-efficient appliances, the savings start to stack up. You can do the same thing at your company by making similar small changes – LED light bulbs. Energy-efficient computers and screens. You can also consider motion sensor lighting and smart thermostats for the office. All of these can be small moves to save money, and much like a domino effect will add up quickly.
Needless Office Space
Be honest about the actual amount of space your company needs. It’s always smart to start small and keep the option to move into another space rather than “grow into” space. That puts a lot of pressure on you and the company to fulfill benchmarks set to make the larger space worth it. Also, consider the costs of heating and cooling a larger building. Items like that add up and will stack up to unnecessary costs. One option to consider – provide your team with hoteling stations and the ability to telecommute at times when it works for both you and them. You’ll save on office space costs and provide a benefit that your employees will appreciate.
Online Marketing
The internet has ushered in an era of marketing that is both effective as well as cost-efficient. Most ads placed online only end up charging for how many people have seen it – that’s the idea behind pay-per-click. This is a huge change from placing an advertisement in a magazine or billboard, hoping it gets noticed, and ending up with people just mindlessly passing it by. Online content can deliver results back to you with real-time numbers and analytics that show when and where it was most effective. And unlike print media and billboards, you can change your message instantly to adapt to what’s working and pull ads that aren’t.
Integrate your Software
Your company might be using several different software products to track expenses, time cards, and the products that are being shared within the company. Best in breed is a great way to stay flexible and keep up with new technologies – but can also create a lot of extra manual re-entry work if those systems aren’t integrated. In this situation, it’s important to integrate your various systems to keep the data moving seamlessly and reduce manual re-entry. You may have an initial investment to accomplish this, but you will save money in the long run.
