For any small or mid-sized business (SMB), the key to leveling the playing field with larger rivals is better business management software. It can lead to enhanced productivity, higher profitability, and better decision-making throughout an organization.
Here’s how SMBs can use business software to take advantage of new opportunities in the marketplace.
Adjust to Changing Market Conditions
One of the most important advantages of using business software is the ability to adjust to changing market conditions. These conditions can include a number of external factors – such as higher prices for certain materials used to make your products or changing consumer preferences.
For example, let’s say that there is currently a shortage of a particular material in the marketplace, and as a result, prices are starting to rise in response to the new supply-demand dynamic. If that’s the case, your business software can help you optimize your supply chain so that you can very nimbly respond to any major price changes in the marketplace. By doing so, you can guarantee that you will not suffer as a result of lower margins and lower profitably.
It could also be the case that the consumer has changed overnight for a certain product. If you were using spreadsheets to manage your business, it is quite likely that you might be facing a very difficult situation: a warehouse full of products that nobody wants to buy. Most likely, you would be forced to discount these products in order to move them and free up room for new products. By using business management software, you would be able to harness the same types of data and insights as your larger competitors, enabling you to spot major new trends in the marketplace sooner rather than later.
Make Better Business Decisions
Business managers are constantly looking for ways to make better decisions about inventory levels, production costs, and distribution channels. With an integrated business solution, you have a very powerful tool at your disposal, enabling you to make very informed business decisions.
When it comes to inventory levels, you can eliminate much of the guesswork from the process. That’s because you will have greater visibility into your total supply chain, such as the products or materials in your warehouse. Instead of focusing on inventory as a measure of how fully stocked you are, you can shift your focus to inventory as a much more variable flow that can be increased or decreased on demand.
Deploy Real-Time Data and Insights
What business management software really enables is access to real-time and accurate data that fully reflects current market situations. At any point in time, you or someone on your management team can run a report and get an instant update on where your business stands at any point in time. Thus, instead of waiting for a Monday staff meeting to update your spreadsheets and charts, you can peer into your company’s data any time during the week.
With real-time data, you will be able to take on larger, more complex orders. Instead of scrambling to get the right data at the right time, you will have everything you need, right at your fingertips.
Leverage Time and Cost Savings
Many small and mid-sized businesses view business accounting software as a way to save both time and money. That’s because all the manual operations of a business can be automated, leading to some significant time and cost savings. All of a sudden, your most talented employees are no longer wasting their time with manual tasks, such as keying in data. Instead, they can focus on long-term strategic thinking.
Business Transformation, Innovation and Change Management
The pace of change in business continues to accelerate. In order to keep up with rapid change in the form of new competitors, new products, and new material inputs, it is essential to have a system in place for making changes throughout your organization. This is what the “Big Guys” in any industry do – and it is what business software enables for your SMB. Some of these changes will be minor changes – such as reconfiguring your warehouse for faster delivery times – and some of these changes will be transformational changes.
Calculating the ROI of Business Management Software
In order to calculate the ROI of any business accounting software, you need to take into account a variety of factors – such as increased volume of orders, higher order sizes, and higher profit margins on all goods sold. Into this mix, you can also add time and cost savings. For example, if your employees typically spend up to 4 hours a week simply checking up on orders and dealing with supply chain inefficiencies, then simply getting rid of these 4 “lost” hours in a typical 40-hour work week automatically leads to a 10 percent gain in overall efficiency. Those are 4 hours that you can re-invest into the business, in the form of better planning, better scheduling, and better partner relationships.
If you are looking to level the playing field with the biggest players in your industry and become more competitive, one good starting point is your business software. Contact us to see how Spire can grow your business faster and smarter.