5 things to implement in your SME in the new financial year
All of us enter a New Year – Calendar, Financial or Lunar – with better intentions than the last.
Implementing changes or targets for a new year doesn’t have to follow what LinkedIn, Instagram or general social media promotes, it’s about setting goals that mean the most to you.
We're all chasing extra revenue, new product development, market expansion and profits that our focus can get swayed, but there's more to running our businesses than just the bottom line.
We think about five other key factors within your business, that make it something you want to get up in the morning for.
Creativity
Implement a culture that promotes downtime, we don't necessarily mean doing nothing, but we all need time to think and be creative.
The majority of our businesses run on new ideas, from staff and owners alike, so providing this opportunity for collaboration and ideas is vital for long-term success.
Forecasting
Following many of our previous posts, forecasting is essential. A lot of businesses this year will face the challenge of increasing staff numbers, extra costs of restarting and potentially loan repayments.
Knowing what you can do and when you can do it could set you apart from the rest and support your business in successfully resetting this year.
Social and Environmental Focus
2020/21 has seen a big focus on environmental and social sustainability within businesses. Will buying local continue? Will ‘Made in the UK’ become our first choice?
All of these are unknown but what is important is a focus on helping to rebuild our communities, so take this into account when making decisions that could impact this.
Flexible Workforce
Long-term employees get our vote every time for loyalty, security and continuity. It’s important that every business has knowledge transfer and a reliable workforce, but there are now more options than ever before for those short-term projects and specific skills we don’t need all the time.
Utilising freelancers or contractors for specific projects will enable the rest of the business to focus on normal operations while helping you achieve what you want to sooner. Control Room Finance’s part time Financial Controllers can support with financial projects you don’t have capacity to work on and support changes such as automation that could free up more of your time going forward.
Apprenticeships
There has long been an image that apprenticeships are school leavers on minimum salaries, learning entry level jobs.
That myth should now be put to rest as apprenticeships are so much more than this, with many universities such as Henley and Kent offering Undergraduate Degrees, Masters and MBAs on the governments apprenticeships schemes.
If you have senior staff or Directors, this could be the year to retain them with long-term incentives and training plans that will benefit the business in years to come.
We believe this year is the year to do things differently and adapt to the changes that the world has thrown at us. Making something positive out of this situation could support our recovery this year and in years to come – both financially and personally.