Accounting Blog

With many states enforcing stay-at-home orders and millions of businesses temporarily closed among the coronavirus pandemic, now could be the ideal time to improve organization and efficiency in your company. Fortunately, you can take many of these steps without needing to be physically onsite at your business. It will help you pass time now and run a more efficient operation once the federal and state governments start easing restrictions.
Figure Out What Works and What Doesn’t Work
With plenty of time to reflect, consider reviewing your business records and practices to determine which are efficient and non-efficient. You might want to reach out to employees via telephone or video conferencing to get their input as well. Once you have identified a process that doesn’t serve your organization, determine what is causing the inefficiency and brainstorm ways to make it better. This could be the ideal time to perform a SWOT analysis – which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – as well.
Take Advantage of Productivity Tools
Maybe your company uses a host of productivity tools already that don’t provide the benefits you were expecting. It’s a good idea to review these tools at least once a year, especially if you’re paying a subscription fee to use them. Those that don’t improve efficiency, save time, save money, improve customer relations, or add to the bottom line can go. However, you also want to consider productivity tools that you could add to your arsenal. Some popular ones include:
Cloud-based accounting programs like QuickBooks or FreshBooks
Email organization tools such as SaneBox that filters your emails, send appointment reminders, and more
Expense tracking using applications like Expensify
Project management tools such as Asana or Basecamp
Social media management tools like Hootsuite
Many of these tools offer a free trial to allow you to test them without making a financial commitment.
Keep the Lines of Communication Open
If you had to temporarily close your business due to coronavirus, keeping in close communication with your employees and customers is even more important than ever. This can require some creative thinking such as setting up an online message board or hosting a communications meeting by video conference at least once a week.
Don’t forget to reach out to customers to update them on your hours and any changes you must implement right now. You might consider coming up with some new offers for them to use once restrictions ease and people can resume their normal daily activities. This will keep them interested in your company and give them something to look forward to later.
Organize Your Computer
Any computer can quickly become overrun by junk files that slow down its performance. One way to tackle this is to create a digital filing system. Since you’re the one using the computer, the filing system only needs to make sense to you and make it easy to find anything you need. This is also a good suggestion for employees who might not be as busy as usual right now. Don’t forget to update software programs, run a scan for viruses, and backup your data too.
Need More Efficiency Tips? Schedule a Consultation with Capital Business Strategies
Bookkeeping, payroll, and other value-added services that we offer can help you reach your goal of greater organization and efficiency for your company. Please contact us today to learn more or request an appointment.