Business Basics: How To Be More Efficient And Save Time

Anita Ginsburg

March 09, 2015

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Running a successful business first requires that you master the techniques that will make your business efficient in terms of time, money and human resources. This means that you need to learn to employ a number of techniques that may not be readily apparent. Below are six basics that can help your business become more efficient while saving time.

1. Make Information Accessible to Employees

Time is precious, which is why your employees should be able to access necessary information as quickly as possible. Slow Internet connections, busy phones and records that haven't made their way into the digital age are some of the major causes that can hurt your business. Spend a few extra dollars to ensure that your business's infrastructure is up-to-date so that your employees can access information like financial transactions, time sheets and product inventory lists quickly and easily. You'll save in efficiency more than you spend by doing so.

2. Control How Quickly Your Business Expands

As the adage goes, haste can make your business extremely wasteful and inefficient. That makes controlling how quickly your business expands a vital part of making your business more efficient. Carefully adjust your production, your employment and any other expensive factors before you expand. You want to gradually tweak them so that they reflect the size of your business while staying efficient.

3. Collaboration is Key

One individual may have a handful of brilliant ideas, but your entire workforce can work together to make your business even better. Make sure that they have some way of collaborating and offering suggestions to you. This has been proven to make businesses more efficient, as General Motors, one of the most successful automobile manufacturers in the United States, has made collaboration and rewarding employees for their ideas two integral parts of their daily operations.

4. Carefully Consider Human Costs

Integrating new technology into your existing production lines is relatively simple if it's already automated. The problem is that integrating technology with your employees may not be so simple. They may require additional training, more supervision and other supplies to ensure that they can use new technology efficiently. Weigh the costs of the human side of your business carefully before you dive in to expand your technology.

5. Less Waste Makes for Fewer Costs

You should always move to implement ideas that require less waste. These typically save on labor and materials costs, which allows your business to perform better. For example, consider roadway and concrete slab work. Removing concrete is an involved and costly process that leads to a large amount of waste. By utilizing a technique like slab jacking from T. Luckey Sons' Inc, it's possible to significantly reduce the amount of materials a business needs to use in repairing or altering something beneath concrete. Couple this with the expedited way slab jacking works, and your business needs to spend less time and money completing otherwise routine processes.

6. Keep Management Hierarchy Simple

Management is a necessary part of business, but making it too complicated can quickly make it inefficient. Stick to keeping as few managers as possible without redundant positions to ensure that no ego wars occur and that employees know whom to listen to.

The process of making your business more efficient is one that requires a personal touch. You'll need to closely examine your business's needs over time so that you can respond with efficient decisions. As you perform this role, you'll find that your business becomes more efficient and more adept at producing profits. This will allow you to expand your business in the right ways, which ultimately leads to success.