How to Reduce Business Costs in the Long Run

25th February 2014

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, many companies place a strong focus on producing initiatives to increase sales. While this is important, it is also vital to evaluate business expenditure, as this ultimately affects your bottom line. By putting some simple measures in place now, you can significantly reduce costs, which should result in higher profitability for your business in the long run.

1. Review your Email Security

Email security is now essential within any organization. Dealing with the repercussions of a nasty email virus or simply taking the time to delete spam, can be a costly exercise, which inevitably leads to a reduced productivity. In order to protect your business from malicious or unlawful attacks, it is important to have a good email security system in place. A good security system which encompasses anti-spam, anti-virus and phishing detection, could save your business a fortune down the line.

2. Invest in a Good Email Archiving System

Most businesses are legally obliged to retain data. Many companies fail to realise that losing emails can incur serious costs, particularly if any client disputes occur. As emails can be easily deleted or misplaced, it can result in huge difficulties if anything does go wrong. Investing in a good email archiving system can save businesses from shelling out on costly data recovery services down the line, something they are obliged to do to be legally compliant. Email Management with Mimecast is a strong option, as their unified email management service encompasses email security and continuity, along with an archiving service, a package that is exclusive to Mimecast.

3. Have your Staff Telecommute

In this digital age, it is increasingly unnecessary to have a full staff based in an office. Having staff work from home can have a huge impact on business expenses. It means that employers can downsize on office space, cut back on costly equipment, and reduce electricity bills. It is important however to have a good email management system in place, when staff work from home. It’s also a good idea to have a mail management system that extends to your employees’ smartphones and blackberries, which should make it easier for them to work on the move, and result in greater productivity.

4. Make Savings in your Office Space

The high rental costs of office space can be a huge expense for any business. Analyse whether your office space is really essential to your business needs. Maybe you could work in a smaller environment, or could move to a less pricey location? Find out if there are better deals to be had, or consider subletting some of your office space. Speak to your landlord about renegotiating your lease, particularly if it’s time to renew. You can cut down on office supply and furniture costs by buying from larger wholesalers, or through buying second hand. This also has the added bonus of being environmentally friendly. Speaking of which…

5. ‘Green Up’ Your Office Space

Going green can significantly help to reduce office overheads. Start by reducing your energy costs by ensuring that employees turn off machines that are not in use, and by implementing energy saving search systems like Blackle. Switch off lights in empty rooms, use energy saving bulbs and utilise natural light as much as possible. Another easy tip is to simply check your computer and printer settings, and ensure that they are in energy saving mode. Cutting back on unnecessary printing can also result in huge savings for your business.

It is important to invest the time to analyse your business needs, and to investigate the areas in which you could reduce costs. Implementing small changes now could make a huge difference to your business, and ultimately lead to higher profitability in the future.

Corey is an all round tech guru who has worked at some major blue chip companies. He started Poweronemedia to share his views and knowledge with the rest of the blogging world.