As important as it is, operational efficiency isn’t always a priority for many business owners. After all, founding teams of startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) usually have their hands full validating their business concepts and building their customer base. While these things are important, neglecting operational efficiency can hinder the long-term success of a business. Even worse, businesses also dismiss the need for operational efficiency early on, thinking that it could reduce service quality or sacrifice positive customer experience. This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, focusing on operational efficiency helps smaller businesses achieve bigger results with fewer resources.
Improving your startup or SME’s efficiency is about working smarter, not harder. It’s also about finding innovative solutions to streamline operations without compromising on your mission and vision. In this article, we’ll look at a few solutions that can help improve your business’s resource management and operational scale without sacrificing quality or losing sight of its values.
1) Choose a Better Business Banking Partner
Picking the right online business banking solution will help simplify your day-to-day financial management, optimize cash flow and liquidity, reduce costly delays, and give you access to bespoke finance products. However, not all commercial banking solutions offered by traditional banks are a good fit for today’s generation of digitally dependent small businesses. If you want to enjoy reliable business banking online, be sure to choose a financial institution that offers small business banking services trusted by the country’s most dynamic startups and SMEs.
Maya is the Philippines’ fastest-growing all-digital bank, offering the kind of SME business banking services that are best suited to modern small businesses. Maya Business Manager account holders can open a Maya Business Deposit account to enjoy high interest rates on their savings, avail themselves of free transfers via InstaPay and PesoNet, and get exclusive access to customized financial services such as Maya Flexi Loan. Leave traditional commercial bank services behind for small business banking services that help grow your business.
2) Streamline Everyday Processes
Efficiency gains are seldom earned through single large gestures. In most cases, they are earned by stepping outside of your comfort zone, using your imagination, and trying different ways of doing small but essential tasks. While you might only save a few minutes optimizing every single task, if you optimize several of them, the cumulative time and resource savings can be substantial.
Process optimization is as much of an art as it is a science. Once your business grows, you may want to consider investing in process optimization specialists to help you get more efficiency gains. Thankfully, process optimization is achievable even for startups and SMEs on a budget.
To begin streamlining your processes, conduct a thorough analysis of your business to identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies. Once that’s done, try to simplify workflows and remove redundant steps wherever possible. If you have funds to spare, invest in productivity tools and software that can help automate tasks and facilitate collaboration among team members. Lastly, you’ll want to review and reoptimize your processes periodically to better adapt to changing market conditions.
3) Automate What You Can
When you streamline processes, you will eventually hit some practical human limits. Repetitive tasks like bookkeeping, inventory management, and social media marketing, for example, can be mentally draining and cause errors and slip-ups in other areas. By automating repetitive tasks, you reduce human errors, save time, and enable better resource allocation.
Fortunately, SMEs and startups now have countless prepackaged tools available for automating virtually every business operation. For instance, Maya offers a complete selection of payment automation solutions for online shops and offline storefronts. If you need to automate other operations on a budget, you can use free services like Canva, Google Workspace, Meta Business Suite, ChatGPT, and Buffer. You can also invest in time-saving machinery and services to lighten your load without compromising the overall customer experience.
4) Invest in Your Employees
Well-trained and motivated employees are more confident, productive, and equipped to handle challenges efficiently. Investing in employees fosters a positive culture and helps innovation. Importantly, it also reduces staff turnover and mitigates training and onboarding costs.
To ensure your team remains efficient, periodically identify skill gaps and design training programs accordingly. Provide both technical and soft skills training, focusing on helping employees follow set processes. Additionally, you can encourage a culture of openness and innovation to make it easier for them to identify and fix inefficiencies.
5) Avoid Using Too Many Similar Solutions
Startups and SMEs often end up accumulating redundant apps, subscriptions, and services that perform similar functions. This issue usually arises as new businesses often find themselves constantly pivoting to meet new challenges, leading them to adopt various tools without considering their existing resources. While these solutions might be useful individually, the accumulation of similar applications can create inefficiencies and confusion within the business.
To keep your business nimble, analyze the tools and software you’re currently using and identify any redundancies. When you can, choose comprehensive solutions that integrate multiple functions and features to reduce the need for several individual applications. To avoid future issues, make sure that the tools you choose are scalable and can grow with your business.
Scale Your Business Effortlessly With Maya
Enhancing operational efficiency lets you get more for less, allowing you to focus on growth rather than survival. By putting your venture’s savings in a Maya Business Deposit account, you’ll maximize your working capital and get more funds to reinvest into productivity tools and process automation. Create your Maya Business profile to open a Maya Deposit account and start scaling up your business today.
Apart from giving you the country’s best online business banking experience, creating a Maya Business account also lets you sign up for the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle, an exclusive offer meant for Philippine-based startups and SMEs.
Joining Maya 1-2-3 Grow entitles you to a 1% merchant discount rate (MDR) on all QR Ph sales; valid for 3 months from onboarding. Signing up also lets you enjoy an incredible annual interest rate of 2.5% on your Maya Business Deposit account savings. You’ll also be eligible for a Maya Flexi Loan offer of up to PHP 2 million within just 3 months, giving you more funds to streamline or scale your business process. With Maya, you’ll have more than just a digital business bank—you’ll have a partner that’s dedicated to supporting your small business.
