We’ve talked a lot lately about implementing technology to improve your business. Now that you have implemented technology in one or more areas of your business, it’s time to review your process map. It’s easy to get caught up in the “new” and “improved” aspects of your business and lose sight of the things that you have done right from the beginning. As you look back at your process map rather than focusing on the problem areas that required changes, look for the parts of your process that were shining successes. Are these areas still moving along as well as they were or have they been negatively impacted by other changes? Either way you have some work to do. By the way, have you tried our free online inventory system yet? If not, give it a try!
If new bottlenecks have arisen you’ll need to investigate the cause and look for solutions. Obviously, you had a reason for making the change so you most likely don’t want to just undo it. You’ll need to find a way to keep the improvement without negatively impacting the other process. You won’t need to redo your entire process map, just make some tweaks. In many cases it won’t take much to fix the new issues. Some issues might be fixed just by training employees on the new technology. Often issues arise because not everyone knows how to use the new systems correctly. We usually see a little bit of an uptick in support requests from companies as they first begin to use our free online inventory system. Some issues may be the result of new steps that require extra resources that weren’t previously allocated for the task.
As you review your process map, don’t just look for trouble areas. Take a moment to celebrate the things that made your business so successful. These are the aspects that got you where you are today, and they are the reasons that you will continue to succeed. The best part of implementing technology to grow your business is that it frees up time for you to focus more on the rest of your business. Reviewing your process map can help you determine which areas to devote more time to. Are there any new initiatives that would complement your current successes? Now might be the time to explore your options and try something new. Do you have any employees that have more downtime now that technology has made some parts of their job easier? Look for new activities to apply their time and talents to. As a side benefit, the opportunity to take on new responsibilities can be great for improving employee morale.
Technology, like our free online inventory system, is supposed to make our lives easier and it should make your business run more smoothly. Ideally, it should be the building block that allows you to take your business to the next level. Keep checking back with us for more suggestions on how to grow your small business.
Growing? Try Our Free Online Inventory System.
As your business grows, you may find that you have more inventory and even additional locations to manage. With our free online inventory system, all these extras won’t result in extra headaches for you. Our FREE inventory management solution makes it easy for you track inventory across multiple locations. Plus, it’s so easy to use that you can quickly train employees to use the system as well. With all this extra help you’ll have plenty of time to focus on the rest of your business so that you can keep on growing. Haven’t tried Stockpile yet? What are you waiting for? Sign up for Stockpile today!
