Five ways to scale your small business

Your business should always be prepared to scale – you should therefore implement technologies that support this.

Thankfully, these technologies are more accessible to small businesses than ever before.

Here are five ways you can scale your small business to meet increased growth targets and demands.

Automation

When your business grows, you will likely need to employ more staff.

This will increase the amount of administration and other internal management elements you will have to deal with, so you need business solutions that automate as many of these tasks as possible.

For example, Sage automated payroll software and HR management systems minimise the time you spend on administrative tasks while providing a superior experience to your workforce.

Business intelligence

Scaling requires you to understand your existing customers’ requirements so you don’t hurt these relationships while searching for new ones.

By implementing technology solutions that generate focused business intelligence, you can maximise your employees’ productivity and provide the best experience to new and existing customers.

Brian Malatji, founder of Dinoko Automation Service and Repair, said the most important lesson he learned from SAICA’s Khulisa iBiznis funding accelerator programme was the importance of business data.

“The most valuable skills I learned was financial analysis, understanding the implications of finance decisions, and how to use financial information to improve the company’s performance,” said Malatji.

Inventory management

Growing your business means you will have more inventory to manage.

If you have not set up the appropriate systems to cope with this change, you could end up running out of stock before fulfilling all your customers’ orders – which can affect your cash flow.

With the right systems in place, it is much easier to leverage and manage real-time financial and inventory data.

Compliance

A growing business will experience an increase in its compliance responsibilities, as the existing rules and regulations that apply to your business will become more complicated.

There are many dedicated business systems that are designed to keep you compliant with the latest legislation, which can protect you from expensive fines that could have massive implications on your balance sheet.

Outsourcing

A growing business may need to outsource certain tasks if the existing team is not qualified to do so.

While many see outsourcing as a last resort, it is actually often the optimal decision. Third-party professionals will get the job done properly without your organisation needing to take on a fixed cost.

Cloud-based accounting and payroll software, like the solutions available from Sage, make it much easier to handle your relationships with these partners.

Click here to learn how Sage payroll and HR management solutions support upscaling.