Last week was an incredibly busy week for me. There has been a massive increase in demand for remote working systems for businesses. For a lot of my client, this was already installed and running so there was no problem, but for many new ones, there was lots of work to be done. Having seen and met a variety of different businesses, I only have one piece of solid insight that I need you to understand. Do not panic.
As a business owner, you’re in a bad situation, I can understand that. There seems to have been so many people who are panic investing in technology that will not benefit them in the long run, once this has all died down.
Here’s the secret: This is something you should have been doing from the start. I won’t name the business, but a recent client of mine had a system in place. Whenever they made a sale, they would print out the bill, and they’d staple it to the card reader print out. They would then file this away in a big cabinet behind them.
This was so that the boss could come in, open up the cabinet, and look at the photocopies.
Your immediate response to this should be: “Why didn’t they just do this all online?”, as was mine. Why not have it in a shared folder so that you can access it remotely? It’s more efficient, and it the boss and staff don’t have to waste time coming in to look at paper documents. I asked them why they worked this way. The second I hear anybody respond with “that’s just the way we’ve always done it”, I immediately know that that process needs to be looked at.
It’s likely inefficient, it’s likely outdated, and it’s likely costing your business money.
During this time, I highly suggest you take a moment to think about your business. Think about where it might have bottlenecks, think about where it might be inefficient, and if there’s anything that “you’ve just always done it that way” – ask yourself why? As a business owner you owe yourself and your team an efficient business. Panicking at the moment and bulk buying 100 Google Drive accounts might not be the best thing to do.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with me. Advice is free and I’d be more than happy to help you prepare your business for the coming years.
