5 Tips to Help Streamline Your Business

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StrategyDriven, Business Management, Business Plan, Bussiness Software, cIt’s important for any business to ensure it’s making the most of its resources. Often, you don’t need to add anything to your company in order to improve its performance; you’ve just got to make better use of what you’ve already got, and this is where streamlining comes in.

Here are five tips to help you streamline your business.

Planning

There’s got to be a plan, and there have to be goals that everyone is aware of. If you don’t have these two things, then it’s difficult to know what direction your business is going in. The better your planning is, and the more people understand their individual goals, the more efficiently your business is likely to run.
Make sure you’re taking the time to invest in your business planning, and be open with your communication in conveying goals.

Finances

It’s much easier to do that planning and create realistic goals if you’re on top of your finances. You should know exactly where you are with your finances, and the best way to do this is to get the best bookkeeping services in Boston.

Not understanding how your finances stand is a perilous situation in business, but the more you know, the more you can streamline how you use that money.

Finances are clearly a vital aspect of any business, but too often, people don’t pay enough attention to them.

Hiring

It’s extremely difficult for your business to run efficiently if you’re not hiring the right people. A company can be a complex, interconnected entity, and if there are just a few pieces that aren’t working well, then it can cause problems for the whole system.

This means you’ve got to put care and attention into every hire and really make sure you’re focussing on the process of how your recruit.

When you need to make a quick hire, this can be very difficult, but so often it’s worth taking the extra time and making sure you get the right person.

Software

Even if you’ve got amazing employees throughout your business, they can’t do their job effectively if they don’t have the right tools.

Any business today needs to make sure they’ve got the right software. It can be expensive to invest in new software, but it can quickly earn that money back through streamlining processes. If you think about all the small inefficiencies you have across your business, then they can add up to a huge amount, and the right software can help in this area.

Culture

Culture plays a huge part in how well a business operates.

If there’s a negative culture where people end up doing the bare minimum, then it’s going to have a big impact. However, when you create the right culture where people can thrive, then you will find everything becomes much more streamlined.

Business culture isn’t something you can change overnight, but you can take active steps to create the kind of culture you would like. A positive atmosphere can make the world of difference, so it’s well worth investing in.

How To Make Everything Easier For Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | How To Make Everything Easier For Your BusinessIs taking care of your company a challenge? Even if your business is thriving, there may be a lot on your plate. You may feel that there are too many responsibilities to take on. This is a normal thing to feel when you are taking on a large project, such as starting and maintaining a business. Even years down the road, you may feel that stress again. Here are three things that can make your life and the lives of your employees easier.

1. Get An Office

If you have lots of responsibilities, it may be time to rent an office. An office can be a space where you and your team can focus on the goals and needs of your company. You may also need an office so all of your workers have space to work. This is an important stepping stone for many companies as it makes the business feel established. Mail can be delivered to the office, you can store company equipment and you have a place to conduct meetings.

Once getting the office, you can more fully organize the company. You may consider delegating smaller tasks to all who work there to lighten the load and increase productivity. It may be easier for you to meet with clients and customers and host incentives.

2. Use Cloud Services

Tired of storing all your data on your computer? Make accessing data ten times easier and safer by using cloud services to back up your information. You can also use these services to run software and applications through the internet, making it efficient for all members of your team to do their duties. Microsoft Cloud Solutions offers security, IT service and flexibility that can make your company run smoothly.

3. Make Good Goals

If you are feeling overwhelmed with the responsibilities of your business, it’s time to make some serious goals. Have a meeting and plan out your yearly, monthly and daily goals. What are you trying to achieve? Where do you want the business to be in five years? Make sure to plan financially and take account of what expansions you want to make in the future. Try to keep your goals reachable and inspire your team to work hard. You may want to think about some digital marketing, local advertising and improved customer service to help you progress.

As you expand your business, increase digital security and make achievable goals, you can take on the responsibility of a business step by step. Don’t forget to make it a team effort!

Why London Businesses Should Think About Making the Switch to Green Cleaning

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Why London Businesses Should Think About Making the Switch to Green CleaningAs individuals, we know the importance of being as green as possible. Utilising reusable plastic bottles, avoiding fast fashion and making the investment into electric and hybrid cars. However, it is businesses that are the largest to have negative impacts on our environment and they need to know how and why to make the change.

While paperless offices and carpooling colleagues are becoming the norm, many do not know the importance of green cleaning in the workplace. London is home to thousands of businesses of every size and even if just a fraction made the switch to green commercial cleaning London services, it will be a fantastic start. If all made the switch, we would begin to witness a huge difference to our planet.

Now that keeping a workplace clean is more crucial than ever before, here is an assessment of the benefits of switching to green cleaning within a professional environment to the business, employees and visitors.

Green Cleaning Produces The Same Results

A common misconception is that green cleaning products just don’t work as well as chemical cleaners.

This is usually down to the lack of soap bubbles generated during lathering. In reality, phosphates are added to conventional cleaners to generate these bubbles to give the appearance of better results.

Green cleaning products can produce the same effects and commercial cleaning companies will provide their staff with full training on how to get the best outcome out of these products.

It is also a frequent error that people believe you need harsh chemicals to kill germs and bacteria. Many green cleaning products have been proven to kill the common cold and flu virus, leading to staff and visitors being protected against any bugs going around the office.

It Can Increase Employee Productivity

If helping the planet isn’t a concern of company directors, ensuring top productivity from their staff certainly is.

Chemical cleaners can reduce air quality in the workplace, especially in areas where air conditioning replaces open windows as toxic fumes circulate constantly.

In turn, this can reduce the performance of cognitive tasks among staff members.

It has been revealed that those who worked within a green office space performed these tasks at a rate of 61% higher than those who did not.

Within these green offices, when ventilation was doubled, the results increased to 100%. Making this small switch to a green cleaning supplier can make a massive difference in the work produced by colleagues.

Money-Saving

With an economic crisis just around the corner, it is imperative that cost-saving solutions are found in every area of the business.

Consumable products quickly add up and can be a large factor to the monthly invoices. Swapping paper hand towels for reusable, washable one is just one example.

While this initial cost may be more than their disposable counterpart, this will save costs in the budget which will eradicate the monthly delivery costs of these products.

During the pandemic, staff members are now requesting more cleaning products to use within their personal space, not wanting to wait until the end of each day for commercial cleaners to see their desks, phones and keyboards.

Businesses are under an obligation to provide these and it is generating significant costs. Green cleaning products don’t have to be purchased from a supplier, they can instead be created from common household ingredients. Despite the potentially large expenses, these ingredients will go a long way and will last far longer than the pre-made products.

Looks After Employee Health

Conventional cleaners can be detrimental to the everyday health of colleagues and Monoethanolamine is a chemical that is commonly used in many cleaning products.

If inhaled, this then causes inflammation of the lungs and brings on attacks and even be fatal. For this reason, this ingredient is regulated within schools and hospitals, but there is nothing in place for other workplaces.

Few cleaning products openly declare this on their packaging, which means that staff who are feeling the effects of this may not even know why.

Nowadays, there is no excuse for London businesses to not make the switch to green cleaning, it is cost-effective, protects the health of all those within the workspace and ensures employees are producing the best work possible, also leading to happy clients and potentially higher revenue.

3 Sustainable Switches Your Business Can Make Today

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Sustainable Business|3 Sustainable Switches Your Business Can Make Today We should all be doing our bit to head into a more sustainable future. There is some intense debate swirling about what is best for our futures with the threat of climate change. Many companies are trying to combat this with switches to more sustainable supplies or practices. Here are some of the best switches you can make today.

Plastic Pallets

We automatically think that plastic is not sustainable. However, in the right circumstances it is a brilliant option for all sorts of business. Plastic pallets are one of the best choices that you make. They are sturdy, meaning they can handle heavier loads without breaking.

Due to this, they should also last longer, so an initial investment will play out over a greater length of time compared to the repeated buying of an inferior product. If you want to make this switch, this is the largest plastic pallet inventory that you could choose to buy from, and their products are a brilliant step for any company who wants to make a sustainable switch.

Reusable Water Bottles

If your company provides bottled water for employees, you could be generating an awful lot of plastic or glass waste each year. Even if you choose to recycle this (as you should) you are still going to be producing a lot of waste.

Instead, it might be a better idea to include a reusable water bottle in employees’ welcome packs – in addition to rolling them out amongst existing members of staff. Employees can then fill them up as they choose either from the tap or from a drinking fountain you might provide. This easily solves the issue of providing water to employees in a sustainable manner.

Go Paperless

Paperless offices are the way forward. While the switch itself can be a real headache, it can also ensure that you are not producing massive amounts of waste in terms of old documents and scrap pieces of paper. To get the most out of a paperless office, you need to make sure that the transition to digital data is swift and efficient. You might keep some documents as physical copies instead of digital ones, and these need to be secured away somewhere they will be properly protected.

Another fantastic advantage of the paperless office is the neatness. If you feel like you have a perpetually messy office and you are concerned about the effect it could be having on employee productivity, this sort of switch might be just what everyone needs.

These are just three of the many sustainable switches that your business could make. We all need to make sure that we are playing our part, no matter what that might look like. Whether we are at home or in the office, choosing to make a small sustainable change will have a knock-on effect that can help a lot further down the line. Take stock of what is currently happening in your office. Making quick and easy sustainable changes might be far easier than you think!

How Can I Choose Management Software That’s Right for My Church?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |management software |How Can I Choose Management Software That's Right for My Church?Thinking about what software is best for your church but aren’t sure what to consider?

It needs to work with your growing congregation by recording and offering the right information. But what information does that include? And what features are a must-have?

This article looks at how to choose the best management software for your church.

We consider 5 areas where the right software can help your church to grow. From event registration to money management, you’ll discover the easiest way to administer your membership.

1. Event Registration

In the pandemic era, it’s essential to track who will be attending your church events.

Smart management software allows your church attendees to register online on your website or via their phone. The system can even print labels for when they arrive. And you can market your events on social media directly from within the application.

The system is self-managed. So that means less time worrying about administration and more time focusing on the events themselves.

2. Contributions and Finance

Keeping records of donations, contributions, and other financial records is a must for any company. But it’s a legal requirement for non-profit organizations.

Non profit money management is governed by FASB rules.

They produce the GAAP principles which state how non-profits should have a fund accounting system in place. As not all software offers fund accounting bookkeeping, it’s essential to choose the right service.

Some members audit their giving and ask for a financial breakdown. So you also want to keep track of your church congregation’s individual contributions.

Churches also have to separate donations to see how much money has been donated to each mission. The right software produces reports that can do this with ease.

Using the right technology not only keeps your books in order but also ensures you’re compliant with current legislation.

3. Church Attendees

Do you know who attends your congregation? When they came? How to contact them?

Church management software can record a range of basic contact details. That could include names, addresses, and phone numbers. But it can also flag upcoming important dates, family structures, and volunteer data.

Working with children and young people also requires guardian information. And everything needs to remain safe and secure.

All church apps include a secure connection and control access. No one gets to view sensitive data who isn’t cleared to do so.

4. Member Communications

Constant communication is the key to any organization’s success. And that’s especially true of a church.

The best apps integrate email, text messaging, and social media alerts. That means you can share prayer requests with just a few taps.
Members can also contact other members using your secure online directory. That’s great for building up teams like worship and prayer groups.

5. Combined Calendar Management

Matching your events and attendees with your calendar may seem like a chore. But with the right software, it’s a breeze.
As most apps are modular-based, it means they work together to create and manage your calendar.

You can track individual members’ attendance, for example. Or if you postpone an event the app automatically updates everyone on the guest list.

Choose the Right Church Management Software

We’ve outlined five issues to consider when choosing the best management software for your church.

Remember to factor in cost, support, and minimum agreement terms before signing up. And if you need advice on issues like smart management read our other online guides.

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