A growing economy doesn’t mean you have to go on a hiring spree. Between the growing economy and a tight labor force, scaling your business through new employees will slow down your growth and reduce your profit margins.
“eStrategic Technical Solutions has a unique methodology for managing your technology. We use a combination of where you are in the business cycle, Six Sigma practices, and the agile concept to maximize your results.”
Training
- Does everyone on your team clearly understand all your processes?
- Do they all follow them accurately?
- Are your processes documented?
Training the current staff to adhere to the processes put in place should be first. If your business hasn’t felt resumed growth yet, spend the extra time improving your training materials and use mentorship programs to elevate the output and buy-in from all your employees. Being able to do more with the current staff will have an immediate impact on the bottom line of your business. This will set you up for success when you start building your technology strategy.
Six Sigma
This is where we come in. I am Six Sigma certified and use these credentials as part of our advisory portion in our partnership. I work closely as a partner to your business leaders to understand, conduct a SIPOC on your largest processes that cross departments, map out swim lanes, and identify both non-IT efficiency gains as well as where various technologies will support the process via automation.
I say it time and time again:
“Before business is back to full swing, conduct a Lean Six Sigma on your processes. Typically, this is done on production lines, but the same methodology can be applied across all departments. It is just as important to make sure you are following lean processes on the sales or marketing teams as it is in production.”
By reviewing your inefficiencies and area for improvement, you will increase your output without increasing your staff. And who wouldn’t want that?
Technology Enhancements
In addition to investing in your current staff and improving your processes, incorporating new technology or improving your existing platforms will elevate your departments to the next level.
I think back to a project that I worked on last year. There was a process for managing a service from the time it was sold to the moment it was sent to clients. This process was so big that it touched everyone department within the business. After conducting the Lean Six Sigma analysis, we identified both non-IT “wins” and where technology would help automate many of the steps. Now, a year later, the process is running so smoothly that the business avoided having to hire a temporary employee simply to help manage this process.
This is an example of how you can improve production without needing to hire more employees
In a growing economy, you want to capitalize on the demand by focusing efforts on your sales & marketing departments. You can do this via the processes we’ve been discussing so far!
The fun fact: It works for all departments. Your Accounting Team, your production team(s), your administrative teams… they all benefit!
Here are a few examples:
Customer Relationship Management software:
- Increases outbound marketing capabilities and automates inbound lead management.
- A good system can even reduce your customer support interaction via highly customized chatbots.
By removing the day to day “busy work”, they can handle more accounts while actively using their higher skillsets translating into increased revenue without increasing the Sales & Marketing departments’ labor.
Implement account payable (AP) and account receivable (AR) programs:
- Automates the authorization, paper trail, and any necessary follow up communications.
- AP/AR software is in expensive and can be a quick “win” for your business.
Project management tools for production:
- Is your ERP streamlined? How would you know?
- Simplifying processes and programs will increase efficiency.
- Look to tools such as ASANA or Monday.com to be your project management and day to day project tracking software.
Your business will be able to handle more production without hiring more employees by increasing efficiency, keeping the supply chain moving, and maximizing what each employee can handle each day.
So where does this leave you?
Training your employees, making lean processes, and using technology to improve your processes will all provide the scalability your business needs to handle the growth in our economy without hiring more employees. Be prepared, be excited, and get ready to see the profits increase as we see our economy prosper.
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