Business Process Series: Ideas For Operating with Fewer People

Thursday, January 22, 2009

As the economy continues taking its effect on business, SMBs and large companies alike are consolidating their work force. For many companies the drop in revenues is the catalyst for cutting operations, finance and marketing staff but it does not necessarily mean the amount of work in those departments drops as significantly. Those who are still there must think of new ways to get everything done with fewer people.

Now is the time to be creative and research services that can ease the burdens of manual process. Services out there can help companies:

Automate or “electronify” tasks actual people were doing, i.e. employee expense management (PEX Card), business expense report management (Expensable) and HR management (Administaff), sales and customer contact and communication management (Salesforce), and email delivery (Constant Contact).
Think about part time service providers who can work on a per-project basis. There is a lot of talent on Craigs List who have been laid off that are willing to work for little money.
Review services you may already use more closely to determine if there are unused features. Sometimes a simple change in how you incorporate a service provider into your business can impact how much is actually required monitoring or managing the service. It may be worth calling a sales person or account manager for ideas – they love talking to people about what their companies do.

When things slow down, it’s a really good idea to make the most out of your services. It may require extra time upfront but its worth the effort.

Labels: Business Process, Paperwork