5 Signs Your Office Space No Longer Works For You (And How To Fix Them)

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Your ideas and the skills of your employees will push your company forward, but your office space will be the backbone that allows them both to thrive. If your office is no longer working for you, it’s working against you – and no good can come from that. Below, we take a look at five telltale signs that something the office needs to change, as well as offering some useful tips to fix the problems.

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Your Surroundings Don’t Match

In the early days of your business, you were not so concerned about where you worked. Any office would do: getting your business off the ground was the important part. There comes the point, however, when reputation starts to become a factor. If you look around at the companies in the neighboring offices and realize they don’t have the same ambition as you do, it might be time to begin looking for premises that the go-getting companies call home. It’ll help you step up your game.

Your Staff Are On Top Of Each Other

As a business owner, few things are more challenging than trying to gel your employees into a cohesive, well-oiled team. This is all the more difficult if your office is overcrowded and your workers are always getting in each other’s way; it’s a surefire recipe for workplace tension. If you have room, build extra office space on your premises and give people space to breathe. The relatively small steel building cost will be a small price to pay it if it leads to a happier workforce, and it’ll also enable you to add more employees should you need to. People always work better when they’re happy in their surroundings.

Relaxation Is a Memory

If you’ve got a cookie-cutter office space, then it’s unlikely to be relaxing or inspiring to your employees. But adopting the Silicon Valley approach of ensuring your workers feel comfortable at work can have real benefits, and it’s worth putting in the extra effort to create a space for them to unwind. Add a bigger kitchen, or chilled out reflection zone. It’ll be money well spent, as your employees will be at their creative best when they feel calm and relaxed.

Meetings Aren’t Productive

There’s a school of thought that says meetings aren’t productive even at the best of times, but there’s no denying that sometimes they’re just necessary. However, you’ll find them all the more difficult if you have to add extra chairs to a room just to accommodate people. If you have an important meeting, rent a conference room at other premises until you’re able to expand your office.

Targets Are Harder To Hit

If you’re failing to reach your goals or deadlines are getting stressful, your office might be playing against your worker’s productivity. If you have a big project that needs to be completed, consider allowing your workers to work from home. Studies have shown it boosts productivity, and you’ll also be freeing up office space for the people who need to be there.

4 Reasons Your Content Marketing Plan Will Fail You

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Content marketing has never been so important. The content you create could make or break your business because there is so much emphasis on search engine rankings these days. One of the most important things a small business can do is take the time to plan content well and make sure it speaks to and engages with their target audiences. But, there are so many times when content marketing plans fail because of simple mistakes. Here’s why your content marketing could be failing you.

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Content Marketing is a Temporary Fix

If you aren’t getting the sales and traffic you desire and you’re using content marketing as a quick fix, you may as well give up now. Content marketing is something that need to be used consistently and businesses have to make a long-term commitment. If you believe your business can survive by getting the custom you need from a few social media posts and blogs and then you’ll be able to stop, think again. You may be finding it difficult to invest the time a content plan needs. In that case, it’s wise to invest in the services of an internet marketing firm. If you want your business to flourish, you better have a 12-month content plan in place and refresh it every annum.

You Don’t Need to Know Your Audience

So, you think you can set-up a Facebook business page and advertise to anyone and everyone? Firstly, you’re unlikely to convert your audience into sales and secondly, your content won’t be specific enough to reach your target audience. Every business has a target audience and no business will survive without identifying it. When you know who your target audience is, you can design your content based on the information you have, and you’re more likely to attract the appropriate people.

Content Means Sales

Don’t make the mistake of looking for immediate results. Yes, content works, but it’s usually over a period of time. Think about the way you react to content marketing as a customer. One social media post is enough to get you interested, but it doesn’t mean you’ll automatically read the blog, visit the website or buy products. For many customers, the first engagement with a post is just the beginning. It may take several more posts before you convert that follower into a buyer. So, be patient and do your research so you can create a daily content plan.

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SEO isn’t a Big Deal

It would be nice to think that the quality of a business will outshine everything else, but ignoring SEO will just lead to unnecessary failure. If your potential customers can’t find you when they search for your niche, the quality of your work will have no voice at all. At the very least you need to do keyword research so your site will rank in searches, but it’s also important that you create content that can gain links and increase your visibility.

Sometimes it’s best to create a content marketing plan by asking yourself, ‘What could make this fail?’ and working from there.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Business Software

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When it comes to building up a business, there are many different factors that will determine your overall success. However, one of the least considered points that many business owners overlook is the way they utilise technology. In particular, one problem area that they fail to notice is the use of software. Now, it’s not to say that companies don’t use software. In fact, it’s clear that in order to survive in the current business landscape, the use of software is paramount. However, there’s a clear divide between companies that understand how to make the most of their software and companies that barely use 10% of the features.

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Common Examples of Underutilisation

Let’s take the common word processing software packages that companies use. The three most common applications (as of writing) are Microsoft Office, OpenOffice and Google Docs. We could write an entire article comparing the three and what type of businesses they cater towards, but that wouldn’t be the point of this article. Instead, we’re going to show how businesses fail to utilise their full list of features and how it’s both costing them money and time.

Collaborative Features

Despite Google Docs being a free-to-use cloud application, many people fail to realise the full potential of a cloud-based office productivity suite: collaboration. Google Docs offers one of the simplest ways for multiple people to collaborate on a single document. Whether it’s a technical document that is being written by several authors or a project document that has to be edited by several people, Google Docs offers the necessary tools to take advantage of it. Sadly, far too many people use Google Docs as a simple word processing tool and nothing more. This can, of course, be done with other office programs, but it’s a good example of how even a free piece of software contains unique features that are often underutilised.

Remote Working

A great feature that has been enabled by cloud services is the ability to work from almost anywhere. There are still people that save their work to flimsy USB flash drives and pass them around between the office. Those days are over (for the tech-savvy, at least) and it’s now possible to not only use the cloud to transfer files across greater distances and keep team members updated, but you can also access and edit files from virtually any piece of hardware. You can edit it on your Mac laptop, Windows desktop, Android smartphone or even iOS tablet. No matter what operating system or type of device you use, there’s a good chance that the software you use can actually be used across multiple different platforms. The industry calls this cross-platform compatibility and it’s something that far too many companies forget about.

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Finding Problem Areas to Fix

Now that you understand the effect of software and how it can optimise your business, let’s take a look at ways that you can actually find problematic areas to fix.

For starters, always start from your workflow. From start to finish, your workflow should be seamless and without any hitches. You can’t just take a look at your workers and just guess if something is going right or wrong, however. The key here is to use analytics in order to get a better idea of what your business is up to or capable of. For example, keep track of where the bottlenecks in your business are. If a certain department or employee is constantly causing the rest of your company to halt, then it might not be their fault. It could be the fault of a piece of software or it could be that their job is just so tedious they can’t finish it on time. It might not be a case of getting an extra employee either—they could just need some new software

Realising What Software Can Do

At the end of the day, computers are dumb, Without input from somewhere, they don’t know what to do because they don’t serve a purpose. A computer that calculates numbers has a purpose, but even then, it needs input in order to function. You should think of software in the same way—it needs to serve a purpose and it’s often to make something easier.

Let’s say your financial department is having issues with calculating your incoming and outgoing money. As a result, it’s causing delays in paying and receiving invoices and you’ve even had a couple of complaints from the rest of your staff because they aren’t getting paid on time. You might think about hiring a new employee because it seems like your finance department isn’t being productive enough. However, there’s a better way to solve that issue.

Fixing the Issue With Software

Take note of how much it costs to hire an employee and keep it aside. Next, take a look at what the financial department’s workflow is like. If you find that they’re having troubles calculating numbers and filling out spreadsheets because they’re doing it manually, then it’s possible that a piece of cloud accounting software could fix the issue. If it’s a specific problem, such as payroll management or asset management, then things like fixed asset management software or a dedicated program to manage staff wages could be a great alternative. In other words, software is fantastic for fixing things or improving productivity as long as you’re willing to research the possible solutions and consult a tech-savvy employee for assistance.

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Some Final Words

This article has been brief, but it should have given you some insight into how you can unlock the full potential of your business software. It’s an expensive investment, which is why you need to make the most of your software. Read guides, learn if you find that you’re not utilising more than half of the tools available to you, then you might want to consider downgrading to another piece of software that will help reduce your business expenses.

Understanding Industry: Where We’ve Been And Where We’re Going

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When starting your business, the chances are that you did some research. Nobody entering into an enterprise does so blind. In fact, the months and years leading up to product release are heavy-going. As well as developing your product, you have to find the best materials, study what the competition is doing, and try to find a price bracket which works. It’s no easy task, and by the end of it, your research skills were probably pretty good.

But, most startups fail to consider one thing – the history of business. And, why should they? What does it matter what’s come before? Though few people realize, it matters a lot. Everything, including business, evolves. Nothing in this world is permanent, and the business world is no different. If you fail to consider what’s come before, you have no way of foreseeing what will come in the future.

To get an idea of how much things have changed, you only need to take a trip to the past. Four leading industrial moments are worth your consideration. We’re going to take a brief look at them here.

Late Eighteenth – Early 19th Century saw the first industrial revolution. When people speak industrial revolution, this is most often what they’re referring to. Before this date, production mostly took place in people’s homes. Businesses were small and local, and everything was produced by hand. But, why did things change so drastically?

Late in the eighteenth century, mechanization was, and arguably still is, the greatest game changer. Here, industry was born. Instead of small-scale operations, factories took charge of the market. People could produce more, and they could do it faster than ever.

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1870 brought with it the next remarkable changes in the industry. A variety of different inventions meant good news for business. For one, telephones were an option. People could speak long distance, and the new communication made business much easier. Automobiles were also coming into use. Business owners could travel vast distances for the first time. And, most notably for the industrial field, gas and oil were now an option when it came to electricity. As such, even larger factories were a possibility.

1970 onwards, things started to change in significant ways which should be recognizable to you. During these years, electricity became part of everyday culture. Televisions became staples in every home. A little later down the line, computers and mobile phones changed the way we communicate forever. And, in 1983, researchers started to consider how they could produce a worldwide network,  later known as the internet.

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The present day sees us in midst of Industry 4.0, the fourth, and ever developing revolution. Digitalization is changing business. Though we have yet to see the results, social media, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things are sure to take things further than ever. In the same way that telephones once changed the game, the technology of today promises to do the same. With the use of these technologies, your business reach is broader than has ever been possible. You’re operating during a time which promises to go down in the history books, so make the most of everything that’s available to you.

So, where do we go now, and what does it mean for your business?

As you can see, things change fast. Inventions have the ability to alter the face of business as we know it. And, each time things change, companies which fail to keep up go under. During that first revolution, many small business had to close. They couldn’t keep up with the production of factories. And, the same could happen to your enterprise if you aren’t careful. Things are changing at a faster rate now than ever before. The development of the Internet of Things means we will soon have smart homes. As such, successful business is no longer just about keeping up. You also need to be one step ahead of the game. Here’s how.

Forward thinking

Now that you’ve taken the time to look back set your eyes firmly forward. You need to always think forward with everything you do in business. Never settle for a method, because it could go out of date in no time at all. Always look for better ways to operate. Never be afraid of trying new things. Software developments and new technologies should be top of your agenda. Sure, they may be untested now, but they could be the next big thing. And, if you’re using them when that happens, you’ll get big too. Just remember; the internet was untested once upon a time.

Keep up with news

Back during the above-mentioned revolutions, signs of what was to come were in the news all the time. And, some smart business owners will have noticed that. But, the ones who failed to pay attention won’t have made it past the big inventions.

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Don’t make that mistake. Keep an eye on world news, and in particular, tech news. That way, you’ll be well aware of the latest big things. If any major game changers are on their way, you’ll know about them. Get into the habit of checking the news each morning. To save time, download a news app onto your phone. Most of these include a few different sections, including technology, and business. You should be reading both. It’s also worth making a note of anything that catches your eye. Then, you can do your own research into the issue.

Watch your competition

Watching your competition is, of course, always important in business. But, it’s even more so if you want to stay at the front of your game. While none of us like to admit it, the competition sometimes does things right. And, when they do, you want to be hot on their heels.

They too will be doing everything possible to stay on trend. And, they may spot things you don’t. Take note of any sudden popularity heading their way, and get to work determining what they’ve done right.

Emergencies That Can Bring Your Business To A Halt

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It is a terrifying moment when you realise that your business is about to suffer some kind of a problem. Businesses face all sorts of problems every day, and most of them are dealt with pretty easily and swiftly. But then there are those larger problems, the ones which can bring everything to a sudden stop. When you run the risk of this happening, it can be remarkably worrying. To avoid this, you need to feel protected – and the best way to do that is to be prepared for all eventualities. To that end, let’s take a look at some of the most common and most worrying emergencies that any business might well face in the future.

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System Downtime

If you have been in business for longer than a week, you will know first-hand how important it is to keep your systems going strong. You probably rely quite heavily on technology – most businesses do these days. Clearly, if anything happens on that front, it can spell disaster for the near future of your business. You could be facing data loss, which might in turn mean a sudden downturn of business. Or perhaps some of your automated systems will fail, resulting in lost profits and disappointed customers. Whatever the result, having network downtime is never going to be something you invite.

If this happens, try not to panic. It helps if you have set up some kind of a back-up system beforehand. But if you haven’t, get the professionals in and you should be up and running again in no time. This can be worrying and damaging, but it is always fixable.

Failed Utilities

The workplace itself can often be home to a number of worrying and dramatic emergencies. These are often possible to prevent by following certain regulations, but even then you never quite know what will happen or when. Utilities in particular can be a worrying source of danger, and you will want to make sure you pay close attention to them in your office. These dangers can come in a number of forms. It might be that a plumbing problem has led to a severe leak, in which case calling the likes of ABC Home & Commercial Services is going to be a good move. Or maybe you need to call an electrician to fix a faulty fuse box which has blown out some of your computers. Whatever it is, these are all situations which you want to fix the moment they arise. Nothing good will come of leaving such problems to worsen, so get on it as soon as possible.

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Fire

If you have ever been in a workplace when a fire breaks out, you will know well that it can be truly terrifying. At such a time, your most important thought will not be the business itself, but the people. And that’s just how it should be – if a fire breaks out in your office, you need to evacuate everyone first and foremost. However, you will also be well aware that a fire can cause your business a lot of damage too. Clearly, it is best to do everything you can to prevent it happening in the first place.

This is why standard fire safety practices are so important. Following them will drastically reduce the likelihood of a fire breaking out in your workplace. But as well as that, you need to know what you should do if it happens anyway. Training your employees is the number one matter of concern here. They need to be able to get to safety as quickly as possible, so make sure that they have the necessary skills to do so. It is then a matter of practicing routinely, with fire drills at different and random times of the year. This ensures that everyone will act as well as possible if it should actually occur – and that will mean a greater peace of mind.

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Fire is by far one of the most worrisome emergencies that any business can face. Nonetheless, it is surprisingly common, and you absolutely cannot run the risk of not preparing for it. The more you know about what to do in case of a fire, the more likely it is that you can properly prepare and protect your business should it ever happen.

Keeping your business safe and secure means knowing the worst that can happen and being prepared for it, while still hoping for the best. Get this balance right, and you are on track for a bright future.