As part of a continuation of our How to Build a Better Business blog series, we’re covering the questions to ask when taking the second step in analyzing performance: assessing business efficiency.
At this stage, you should ask yourself about internal factors holding your business back; what can you do about them? For this part of the process, it’s important to consider all of the aspects of your business. For example:
Premises
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of your current location?
- Do you have room to grow, or the flexibility to cut back if necessary?
- Would moving offer long-term cost savings or improvements in efficiency?
Information Technology
- Can these systems handle expansion for future growth?
- Are your IT systems positively or negatively affecting the quality of product or service your business provides?
- Do you make best use of technology, such as wireless networking and mobile devices to allow for flexible working?
People and Skills
- Do you have the right people in place to achieve business objectives?
- Do you have a training and development plan in place?
- Do you suffer from high staff turnover? Are staff members motivated and satisfied?
- Do you have the right management team in place for growth?
- Do your staff members need to learn new or improved skills, or re-training?
Next up, we’ll be discussing how to review your firm’s financial performance. Stay tuned!
This information was gathered from Info Entrepreneurs, a team of business information experts from the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, part of the Canada Business Network.
Image: Sira Anamwong