3 Sustainable Switches Your Business Can Make Today

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Sustainable Business|3 Sustainable Switches Your Business Can Make Today We should all be doing our bit to head into a more sustainable future. There is some intense debate swirling about what is best for our futures with the threat of climate change. Many companies are trying to combat this with switches to more sustainable supplies or practices. Here are some of the best switches you can make today.

Plastic Pallets

We automatically think that plastic is not sustainable. However, in the right circumstances it is a brilliant option for all sorts of business. Plastic pallets are one of the best choices that you make. They are sturdy, meaning they can handle heavier loads without breaking.

Due to this, they should also last longer, so an initial investment will play out over a greater length of time compared to the repeated buying of an inferior product. If you want to make this switch, this is the largest plastic pallet inventory that you could choose to buy from, and their products are a brilliant step for any company who wants to make a sustainable switch.

Reusable Water Bottles

If your company provides bottled water for employees, you could be generating an awful lot of plastic or glass waste each year. Even if you choose to recycle this (as you should) you are still going to be producing a lot of waste.

Instead, it might be a better idea to include a reusable water bottle in employees’ welcome packs – in addition to rolling them out amongst existing members of staff. Employees can then fill them up as they choose either from the tap or from a drinking fountain you might provide. This easily solves the issue of providing water to employees in a sustainable manner.

Go Paperless

Paperless offices are the way forward. While the switch itself can be a real headache, it can also ensure that you are not producing massive amounts of waste in terms of old documents and scrap pieces of paper. To get the most out of a paperless office, you need to make sure that the transition to digital data is swift and efficient. You might keep some documents as physical copies instead of digital ones, and these need to be secured away somewhere they will be properly protected.

Another fantastic advantage of the paperless office is the neatness. If you feel like you have a perpetually messy office and you are concerned about the effect it could be having on employee productivity, this sort of switch might be just what everyone needs.

These are just three of the many sustainable switches that your business could make. We all need to make sure that we are playing our part, no matter what that might look like. Whether we are at home or in the office, choosing to make a small sustainable change will have a knock-on effect that can help a lot further down the line. Take stock of what is currently happening in your office. Making quick and easy sustainable changes might be far easier than you think!

How Can I Choose Management Software That’s Right for My Church?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |management software |How Can I Choose Management Software That's Right for My Church?Thinking about what software is best for your church but aren’t sure what to consider?

It needs to work with your growing congregation by recording and offering the right information. But what information does that include? And what features are a must-have?

This article looks at how to choose the best management software for your church.

We consider 5 areas where the right software can help your church to grow. From event registration to money management, you’ll discover the easiest way to administer your membership.

1. Event Registration

In the pandemic era, it’s essential to track who will be attending your church events.

Smart management software allows your church attendees to register online on your website or via their phone. The system can even print labels for when they arrive. And you can market your events on social media directly from within the application.

The system is self-managed. So that means less time worrying about administration and more time focusing on the events themselves.

2. Contributions and Finance

Keeping records of donations, contributions, and other financial records is a must for any company. But it’s a legal requirement for non-profit organizations.

Non profit money management is governed by FASB rules.

They produce the GAAP principles which state how non-profits should have a fund accounting system in place. As not all software offers fund accounting bookkeeping, it’s essential to choose the right service.

Some members audit their giving and ask for a financial breakdown. So you also want to keep track of your church congregation’s individual contributions.

Churches also have to separate donations to see how much money has been donated to each mission. The right software produces reports that can do this with ease.

Using the right technology not only keeps your books in order but also ensures you’re compliant with current legislation.

3. Church Attendees

Do you know who attends your congregation? When they came? How to contact them?

Church management software can record a range of basic contact details. That could include names, addresses, and phone numbers. But it can also flag upcoming important dates, family structures, and volunteer data.

Working with children and young people also requires guardian information. And everything needs to remain safe and secure.

All church apps include a secure connection and control access. No one gets to view sensitive data who isn’t cleared to do so.

4. Member Communications

Constant communication is the key to any organization’s success. And that’s especially true of a church.

The best apps integrate email, text messaging, and social media alerts. That means you can share prayer requests with just a few taps.
Members can also contact other members using your secure online directory. That’s great for building up teams like worship and prayer groups.

5. Combined Calendar Management

Matching your events and attendees with your calendar may seem like a chore. But with the right software, it’s a breeze.
As most apps are modular-based, it means they work together to create and manage your calendar.

You can track individual members’ attendance, for example. Or if you postpone an event the app automatically updates everyone on the guest list.

Choose the Right Church Management Software

We’ve outlined five issues to consider when choosing the best management software for your church.

Remember to factor in cost, support, and minimum agreement terms before signing up. And if you need advice on issues like smart management read our other online guides.

Topics include strategy, monitoring, execution, and smart marketing. Remember to download our podcasts to keep up-to-date with the latest StrategyDriven advice.

The Top Strategies to Fast Track Your Business Growth

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Fast Track Business Growth|The Top Strategies to Fast Track Your Business GrowthAs a business leader or entrepreneur, it is likely that you are impatient to see progress in scaling up your business from a small company to a large corporation. To make sure that you are able to become one of the bigger market giants across the world, this guide will detail some of the best strategies that you can use to fast track your business growth and expansion.

1.Expanding into International Markets

International markets are the best way to make business boom and multiply your revenue quickly. By venturing into international markets, you will easily be able to connect with a much wider audience, meaning you will be giving many more people the opportunity to invest in your company.

However, it can be difficult to decide which overseas market you should consider expanding into, with factors such as cost, tax incentives, and their talent pools all coming under scrutiny. For those looking to expand in 2020, you should invest in Turkey due to its status as a manufacturing center that can provide you with low costs and beneficial government-backed incentives.

2. Combining Online and Physical Stores

Although most business leaders are flocking online to follow the latest trends, savvy executives know that a combination of digital and brick-and-mortar stores is the best way to grow their companies fast. This is because a combination of both methods widens the net, allowing your company to be accessible to a wider range of shoppers who all have different preferences to the way that they purchase products. This is also important if you are focusing on expanding in a local community or in a country whose digital infrastructure is not as extensive as within the USA.

3. Become an Exciting Investment Opportunity

Although you might believe that fast business growth relies on your company’s investments only, you also need to make sure that your business is an attractive business proposition. By appealing to angel investors, you will be able to get the funding that you need to grow quickly, by offering a more extensive range of products and services, employing more talent and expanding your premises across the country and beyond. This will prevent you from having to garner funding slowly through cutting costs and a gently increasing customer revenue.

4. Create a Partnership or Franchise Your Business

One of the quickest and most effective strategies for business growth that every owner should be aware of is to create a partnership with another person or company. By doing this, you will easily be able to pool your skills and share your individual successes. You might also consider merging with another company in order to easily absorb another’s success. You should also consider the advantages of franchising your business, which means that another company or individual can sell your products under their name. This allows you to connect with a wider proportion of your target customer base, while also enabling you to claim royalties on every sale.

6 Myths about Outsourcing Busted

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Myths about Outsourcing|6 Myths about Outsourcing BustedOutsourcing can often receive a bad rap. In the business world, both big and small, many shun outsourcing due to preconceived notions about what it is and what its outcomes are. The truth of the matter, though, is that many companies are finding great benefits to partnering with external agencies or companies as it helps foster growth and efficiency.

If you’re curious about outsourcing but have been wary about it in the past, the following debunked myths may help you see it in a new light.

Myth #1: It Makes You Lose Control of Your Business

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about outsourcing is that it makes you lose control of your business. However, this is not the case. Depending on what you need to outsource — whether it’s payroll outsourcing or accounting — most companies uphold high standards to ensure that you are fully in control of your own business. Usually, outsourced individuals will only work on their assigned tasks or area and are not a threat to the running of your business. If you are still worried, though, draw up a set of guidelines when exchanging contracts with the outsourcing provider.

Myth #2: The Company Loses Privacy

Privacy is a big issue, but it needn’t be a worry if you develop the right relationship with your outsourcing provider. While many businesses will not want to share their financial information, it is in the interest of the provider to uphold the security of this data as they will be responsible for it. Their reputation rests on how they handle and manage data, and they are also bound to government data protection regulations.

Myth #3: Its Main Achievement is Cutting on Costs

Outsourcing is not just about cutting costs. While this is, of course, one of the primary benefits, outsourcing also provides additional talent, strategy, skills, and value to a business. Importantly, outsourcing also allows a business to focus on priority areas, rather than drain its energies on tasks such as HR and payroll.

Myth #4: It’s Only Available to Big Businesses

Outsourcing is not limited to the world of big business. Small businesses can benefit greatly from outsourcing through increased efficiency and productivity. Many outsourcing companies provide customized services for smaller businesses, especially, as it can cost much less to hire out services to freelancers.

Myth #5: Outsourcing is Inconvenient if Done Off-Shore

Many businesses believe that outsourcing to other countries will be inconvenient due to the time difference. However, these hours can be worked to your advantage if you learn to collaborate online and assign certain tasks and meetings for specific hours. Also, if a business employs a team in India and a team in the US, for example, the benefit is that productivity will be round the clock and result in faster delivery times.

Myth #6: It Results in Low Quality

Another big concern around outsourcing is that the quality will suffer. As long as you partner with a reputable company and establish good relationships, this shouldn’t be a factor. With proper planning, quality can actually increase with outsourcing. If you’re uncertain, get to know the company first and determine whether their standards are different to your own. Again, outsourcing providers have reputations to uphold, so it’s also not in their best interest to deliver poor quality on behalf of a client.

Outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular as businesses seek to expand and improve efficiency and productivity. If you’re considering this move, but are concerned about the outcome, bear the above information in mind and conduct thorough research into reputable outsourcing providers. Good luck!

Three Things Every Legal Firm Should Outsource

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Outsourcing for Legal Firms|Three Things Every Legal Firm Should OutsourceTime is the most valuable resource for modern business but launching and running a new legal business means a lot of demands on that time. The best way to make success more likely is to use the time that you have to work on the business aspects that have the most ROI. Unfortunately, there are a lot of time-wasting tasks that we can get stuck doing. That’s where outsourcing comes in. You can’t do everything yourself, and by using professionals to handle some of the more challenging and time-consuming tasks, you free up your own time to help your venture grow. Here are the top three options for outsourcing that you should make a priority.

Your Taxes

All businesses will have to deal with their tax obligations, but there’s nothing quite so laborious or as time-consuming as working out how much you owe, finding ways to cut what you owe, or ensuring that you don’t fall foul of fines. Hiring the assistance of a certified public accountant (CPA) can save you a lot of time in the long run but might also make your business more profitable as well. A CPA can identify tax breaks that you’re entitled to, and when those can change any time, it’s simply smart business sense to outsource your taxation requirements to ensure that you always stay up to date on the wiggle room that taxes often allow for.

Payroll Tasks

Even if you only have a single employee, payroll services are worth a lot more than how much they cost. Payroll services are an absolute money and time saver in the digital age, and no legal firm should consider hiring staff if they are still planning to do payrolls themselves. It’s easy to make a mistake with your payroll obligations, especially if this is your first business. When payroll mistakes happen, they can bring financial costs as much as a fresh headache, so it’s always worth looking closer at the benefits of outsourcing your payroll. Whether you’re paying your team once a week or once a month, you can save hours of work and masses of stress.

Legal Outsourcing

If you have a business that works in the law sector, then you may not have considered outsourcing your legal needs. It might seem counterintuitive, but you’ll find that getting rid of the stress of your own legal obligations frees up a lot more time to work on helping your clients. Don’t underestimate the high ROI you’ll benefit from when you acquire professional legal outsourcing for your legal firm. From back office support to case management or even basic legal research, you might be amazed by how much time and money you can save by outsourcing those very manual legal tasks.

Law firms can benefit a lot by adopting a more modern approach to their business needs. It’s easy to get stuck in ways of doing things. Still, a combination of the latest automation technologies with the most useful options for outsourcing, your law firm can benefit from being a lot more cutting edge in its approach to time management. If you want to ensure that your law firm is as lean, streamlined, and as profitable as possible, then outsourcing is an option that you can no longer ignore.