5 Innovative Software Systems For Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Software Systems for Business|5 Innovative Software Systems For Your BusinessMany businesses fail because the owners often find themselves preoccupied with internal business processes instead of the actual business. Owners are thus encouraged to automate most of their internal processes, to prioritize their sales and marketing.

Businesses can automate their processes by implementing governance risk management and compliance (GRC) software to help them achieve their goals and objectives while robustly addressing risks.

An excellent example of a GRC is the Service Now GRC, which enables swift business transformation based on risk-informed business operations.

Software systems are perfect automation tools that businesses can eliminate unnecessary time spent on menial and repetitive internal processes.

These applications increase and measure productivity while performing other business functions accurately and efficiently.

Here are five innovative software systems for your business.

Accounting Or Payroll System

Accounting is by far the most tedious of all business processes. A business must keep track of its salary payments, tax calculations, and day-to-day bookkeeping records.

Although people can do all these operations, the high probability of human error is a significant risk leading to destructive financial and legal issues.

Project Management Software

Projects typically consist of many sub-tasks that are done concurrently or simultaneously. These subtasks have to be adequately monitored and managed through the project lifecycles. Usually, each task has its timeline, budget, and personnel.

Managing these tasks requires incredible transparency and oversight, which many businesses often struggle with. Implementing a project management system will consolidate sub-tasks into one central hub where the responsible parties will update each subtask’s progress, budget, and timeline.

This amalgamation of information will allow businesses to monitor the progress of each task closely and hence stipulate the overall budget and timeline of the project.

Communication Software

For a business to run operations smoothly, it must develop an open and direct line of communication between all involved parties. Without this direct line, a company may experience many omitted or incorrect flows of information, thus leading to poor productivity and outcomes.

With the rise of remote working amid the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have had to figure out a way to keep their workers connected and informed about various operations.

As a result of this surge in demand, the use of video communication tools such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Skype have skyrocketed in the last two years. Along with messaging or chat-based apps such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Web Development Software

Another surge influenced by the pandemic is the demand for functional and visually appealing websites. Many blue-collar brick-and-mortar companies found themselves out of business due to the lockdowns. As a result, they had to pivot their business models to suit the new normal. Business owners had to get online to get to their customers.

Web development is not an easy skill to learn, and it is also very costly. In response to the demand, web development companies like WordPress made it easier for people to create their websites by creating a simplified drag and drop methodology that anyone with a computer can master.

Customer Relationship Management Software

Customer satisfaction is an essential aspect of driving sales and business growth. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool helps businesses establish and nurture long-lasting relations with their clientele.

The software allows direct and continuous communication with customers from the beginning to the end of their purchase. CRM provides support to customers even months after they have made their purchase.

Businesses can conduct email-based surveys and collect feedback on the buyer experience and service satisfaction.

Software systems are a practical approach to improve business processes, reduce lead times, and minimize overall costs. Businesses are highly encouraged to use these applications to avoid redundant tasks and solely focus on their core competencies.

4 Tips for Scaling Your SaaS Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Scaling a SaaS Business|4 Tips for Scaling Your SaaS BusinessOnce your SaaS business is up and running, the next thing to do is start thinking about how to scale the business. Scaling the business is important because it allows for continuous business growth, growing profits, and customer number growth. Once a SaaS business stagnates, its competitors can overtake it, considering that this is a very competitive business environment. With scaling being so important, what can SaaS business owners do to ensure their businesses keep scaling?

Streamline Product Adoption

Product adoption is crucial for SaaS businesses because it makes referrals and renewals easier for your customers and those championing your products. Streamlining product adoption means adopting effective, targeted custom support so anyone who has an issue using your product can do so easily. Providing this level of support means your staff walks customers through every step of getting started with your products.

It is also essential that SaaS businesses offer as many options for product adoption as possible. These include free trials, walkthroughs and even scheduled calls with high-value customers to make the product adoption process as simple as possible.

Streamlining product adoption has various advantages – one of the most notable ones being an increase in the number of customers not only buying your products but also making recurring subscriptions. The subscription-based model is the reason for the uniqueness of SaaS businesses and should be protected and monitored at all times. An increase in the number of subscriptions and recurring customers increases the value of the business.

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Keeping customers happy is the backbone of any business that wants to remain profitable. Unhappy customers will leave and use your competitors’ products. Improving customer satisfaction helps you scale your business by helping increase not only your revenue but also your market share. Increasing customer satisfaction is also the best way to reduce customer churn which can hugely hinder your business’s growth.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to improve customer satisfaction. Making product adoption easy is one way, but asking for feedback, being interested in customer satisfaction through evaluations and paying attention to negative reviews will also work.

A low customer churn rate is also great for your exit strategy, especially after you have scaled your business as far as you would like and want to exit the business.

Leverage Referral Programs

Referral programs are a great way to create brand awareness and to turn loyal customers into brand ambassadors. To get started with a referral program, reach out to existing customers to ask for feedback about your products. Once you have the feedback, you should then inform them you will work on this feedback and introduce them to your referral program. You can incentivize them to share your business and its products on the platforms they have access to in exchange for potential rewards. Getting your customers to become your advocates can have various positive effects including increased brand awareness and an increase in revenues and profits.

Enter Global Markets

Entering international markets can be a scary prospect for SaaS businesses, but it remains a great scaling strategy. Doing so gives you access to more markets and opportunities, many of which might be unavailable or hard to acquire in your home country. Additionally, entering international markets allows you to provide 24/7 support while boosting your standing in the SaaS market.
Before you take this step, do your research first to see which markets would be compatible with your business. Next, establish a headquarters in the new markets and partner with other businesses to bring your products to this new market.

Scaling your SaaS business can position your business for growth and success, especially in a very competitive sector. The tips above are a great place to get started and offer something to think over as you weigh up your options.

How to Improve the Aesthetics and Professionalism of Your Company

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Improve Aesthetics|How to Improve the Aesthetics and Professionalism of Your CompanyWhen it comes to shoppers, investors, and even future employees, initial impressions can make all the difference. If you want to move up the corporate ladder, you will have to comply and make your company more visually appealing as well, even if the way you operate it is what matters most in the long run. Let us lend you a hand by suggesting some excellent methods by which you might accomplish just that.

Staff uniform

Make sure your employees look their best so that they can represent your company as well as you do. Ensure that all of your employees are dressed in the same uniform, regardless of the type of task they’re engaged in. Customers will be able to recognise a representative of your company if they need assistance, in addition to giving you and your company a more polished appearance.

In industries where uniforms aren’t required, such as construction, having a line of items for your employees to wear can help them look more professional while simultaneously advertising your business. Consider the following:

  • T-shirts
  • Sweatshirts
  • Hats

Even knitwear such as scarves and gloves can help you all maintain a professional appearance.

Curb appeal

To make a strong first impression, you should consider strategies to make your business more visually appealing from the outside. Possibly you’re in a shabby-looking old building? Or has your company been there so long that it has faded into the background? Regardless of why you’re trying to boost your office’s curb appeal, here are a few simple ideas:

  • Design and develop a new design for your company’s logo. Bright and bright colours perform best when combined with basic logos, but the final decision is up to you and what works best for your company.
  • If you have a space for outside seating, if you run a cafe for example, consider installing a commercial patio canopy to provide shade and a nice area to sit.
    Debris-free parking lots and other outdoor areas are a quick method to boost your company’s image.
  • Cleaning your business’s windows is more beneficial to you than you might expect!
  • Consider repainting the structure to give it a fresh appearance and to attract the attention of onlookers.

A reception area

If you own a company where visitors are welcomed by a secretary, it’s important to establish a positive first impression. Customers and visitors alike will be impressed if you design an entrance hall that’s the best of the best. Here are some ideas:

  • A big, welcoming greeting area with a cheerful and welcoming staff member at the ready.
  • Walls painted in light, airy tones, and polished concrete or marble floors add refinement and sophistication to the space.
  • Plants can be strategically placed throughout your entrance hall to keep the air fresh and to give a burst of colour.

Staff room

Finally, what’s behind the scenes can have a major impact on whether a prospective employee accepts your job offer if it’s presented to them during an interview. They’ll spend a lot of time in the staff area during breaks and even before work if they arrive early enough. Providing comfortable chairs, paintings, coffee and snack machines, and maybe a radio or television will appeal to new workers.

6 Ways You Can Optimize Your Business Practices

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Optimize your business|6 Ways You Can Optimize Your Business PracticesNo business is perfect, and it’s important to keep that in mind whenever you think there’s nothing you can do to improve your practices. There’s always something that can be improved, be it through hard work or investment – it’s just a matter of whether or not those improvements can be made at the current time. In any case, you should always be aware of the things that need changing, so that you can make a difference when you’re next able to. Just because you don’t have the money to deal with it right now doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be ready to invest when it’s possible.

Connecting your team

What goes down in the workplace is important, and when you have a lot of moving parts, it can be quite difficult to keep everyone synced up. You should be taking advantage of the different tools out there that are available to you that will help with these kinds of issues. Keeping your business synced up to the cloud will help others access files from other employees whenever they need them; greatly reducing interactions that would usually require email conversations to get what they need.

When your employees have access to what they need, and everyone else can see what’s going on – it makes the workplace a lot more convenient.

Automated processes

Not everyone within your business needs to be handled by hand all of the time. There are a lot of processes and transactions that are consistently repetitive and can be done with automation. Whether you’re looking at B2B payment optimization or calculating profits, it’s sometimes better to leave it to a program. There’s less room for human error when it’s automated, and it’s going to save you and your employees so much time throughout the month. You’ll find that your time is freed up to work on other goals instead.

Making the most of online resources

The internet is such a powerful tool for your business, one that you should be making the most of if you’re going to grow even bigger. You can use it to spread your brand out, advertise, and interact with your customers. If you have your own website, you could also be passively posting content that draws more people to it. Create more opportunities to make the most out of SEO strategies, and your site will see a growth in traffic. The newer businesses will have a hard time seeing their site in the results pages – this is because your ranking is something that needs to be worked on.

Collect as much customer feedback as possible

Without customer feedback, you’re just going to have to make assumptions and guesses about what your customers want. Of course, there’s information from your competitors, but with that, you’re always going to be one step behind. Using customer feedback, you can get a clear idea from the general audience about what your business should be doing next. It could be that your site is too clunky for them to navigate, or that your product’s packaging is difficult to open.

Listen to your customers, and they’ll tell you how to make more money from them. Thanks to the internet, you can quickly and easily collect customer feedback over the course of a week if you ask for it in the right places.

Branch out

Having one product or service under your brand is generally a bad idea. While your business might be focused on that one product, it’s not the best idea to only have that available. You might find that other businesses are selling that same product or service, while also selling other related items – making them a much better choice for customers. You’re looking for ways to stand out against your competition, and offering more or other products than the competition is a good way to be a more convenient option.

Quality is important, but so are options, and you’re going to need that if you want more customers to be attracted to your business.

Monitor your cash flow closely

Trying to determine what you can spend and what you can be difficult if you’re not properly managing your finances. You should be logging every penny spent, every penny you’re spending, and every penny that you plan to spend. If you closely monitor your cash flow, you can much easier make future plans with your money, and see where you should be cutting down on your spending. Without that, then you risk driving your business into areas that may not be in your best interest.

4 ways to give your new gym the best chance of success

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Running a gym|4 ways to give your new gym the best chance of successIf you’re passionate about health, fitness and encouraging people to achieve their goals, running your own gym could be the ideal career for you. Of course, setting up a fitness center is a big endeavor, so you want to make sure that you get it right. Enthusiasm and dedication will be a big help, but on their own they are not enough. With that in mind, here are some top tips for giving your gym the best chance of success.

1. Invest in high quality equipment

When gyms were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people began exercising at home instead. In order to persuade them to return to fitness centers now that it’s safe to do so, you have to show people that you have more to offer than their home gym does. One way to do this is by investing in a wide variety of top-quality equipment. This gives customers a lot of choice in how they work out, whether they prefer to run on a treadmill, use an elliptical, or focus on strength training machines. Having technologically advanced equipment is also a great way to both attract more clients and help them to get the best results.

2. Offer more than just a workout space

Simply having a physical space to exercise in is no longer enough to be a successful gym. After all, people could simply use their homes or local park for free. Instead, you need to provide lots of different facilities for people to use. As well as the equipment itself, this could include a sauna and steam room, massage chairs to relax in, and so on. If you’re unsure about what will be popular, working with a specialist agency such as EXOS Consulting is great for generating ideas and seeing them through to fruition.


3. Run innovative classes

One effective way to attract clients to your gym is by having a diverse range of classes on offer. Some people join a fitness center solely for this reason, so its importance can’t be overstated. It’s a good idea to offer as many different types of classes as possible, because this will appeal to the greatest number of people. Try to have a mix of high intensity sessions such as spin and boxercise, and low impact classes such as yoga and tai chi. Adding this kind of social aspect to your gym also gives people another reason to attend, as they make friends and support one another in their fitness journeys.

4. Hire top personnel

Your gym will only be as good as the people who work there, so aim to employ staff with high levels of expertise. This is especially important for your personal trainers and those who run your classes, but even your receptionists should be fit, healthy and knowledgeable in order to give customers the best impression of your fitness club. You can attract top personnel by offering an excellent salary and benefits, as well as utilizing the services of a recruitment agency. Be sure to give employees autonomy and the confidence to suggest new ideas, in order to truly benefit from their skills and knowledge.