Beat the crunch - become lean and mean

With ominous headlines appearing everyday in the newspapers, doom and gloom is widespread. It is clear that now is the time for cutting out unnecessary costs so that we can be as lean and mean as possible. The Federation of Small Businesses recently advised small business on a number of ways that they could do just this, and I’d like to pick up one point they make which is that small businesses need to ‘Manage your costs and do something different’.

With this in mind, I’ve pulled together some innovative and practical ways that small businesses can change the way they do business easily, bringing both instant time and cost savings with long term strategic benefits, with the added bonuses that you can improve your green credentials at the same time.

Save your energy – buy differently and consolidate

Simple things first. Recent research finds that SMEs alone are wasting about £1.3 billion a year on energy costs. 20% percent of energy costs could be saved simply by switching off monitors and turning off lights. It won’t cost you a thing to implement, but pays dividends when the bills come in.

Through buying and using energy-efficient products we can also reduce unnecessary energy use and air pollution, but ultimately cut down on high utility bills - look for the Energy Saving Recommended logo when buying new products. At the same time, it is estimated that 80% of businesses that have more servers, applications and licenses than needed, then you could save money by consolidating your IT.

First class service, second class price – no stamps, no franking and no hassle

Think differently. Services such ViaPost (www.viapost.com) provide an easy way to cut costs in a new and innovative way. The service allows companies (and individuals) to post letters via the internet. This means that you can now post directly from a computer to any UK address - not only good for the environment and completely secure but offering cost savings of around 25% on traditional mail.

In addition, research indicates that the true cost of sending mail is over £1 per letter when time and stationery is taken into account. ViaPost removes this factor, and charges only 27p per letter including all printing, stationery and delivery. Regarding security, I was initially concerned about sending sensitive information in such a manner however, ViaPost uses a 128bitssl security system - used by financial organizations and it is the highest level commercial security. As well as being digitally secure, it is also physically secure as the trusted print partners, which are already printing for financial services, don't have any contact with the mail. It is a fully automated folding and enclosure process. Meaning it is actually untouched by human hands if you like, resulting in a faster, cheaper and less error ridden service.

Cut down on travel time and costs and have a powwow - now!

One way to make significant differences to the way your enterprise works includes switching to cheaper providers of telephone and web conferencing services. It is a powerful indication of how important it has become, predominantly to people running small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs - typically up to 100 staff), that British business now spends a staggering £210m on conference call charges every year. Of this £210m, through our research we estimate that more than £55m could be saved if people choose the right providers – look at the small print and be wary of connection/bridge charges.

Teleconferencing not only lets you save on phone bills but is also saves on transportation costs as well as time out of the office. Packaged correctly the clients and customers will also see these benefits as it can add transparency and provide them with reduced expenses bills. For mobile workers, it also offers significant benefits with workers at all levels able to reliably stay in touch with co-workers and clients.

Make more of the time that we have

Probably one of the most important things we can do is to ask ourselves whether our employees best make use of their time – have they had time management training that is suited to their jobs or are there activities that we should think about outsourcing? When you can save time, you're actually saving money. Through enabling your staff, and yourself, with effective time management techniques, time-saving devices or looking at potentially outsourcing some activities not core to our businesses, we can all make better use of the time that we have.

As evidenced in past times of doom and gloom, companies that think differently, that don’t hold on too tight to the ‘way that things are done’ but rather look to the future and use change as an opportunities – these are the companies that often emerge stronger and more successful. I think now is the time to make that change.

Andrew Pearce – Joint CEO of Powwownow.