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Use Checklists - A simple idea but an incredibly powerful one!

The easiest way to ensure that business tasks are done consistently, accurately and on a timely basis is to implement checklists.  A very simple tool, but very powerful when it comes to managing a business day-in and day-out, ensuring staff are always productive.Consider the productivity gains and the positive impact for your business when you introduce checklists into your operations.Organising and Prioritising work: Checklists help organize tasks and prioritize them. This ensures that ess...

Do you want your business to be super-efficient and well-organised? Then you need process.st!

Process.st is a powerful workflow automation tool that helps businesses streamline their processes and increase efficiency. It is designed to simplify the management of recurring workflows and tasks, making it easier for teams to collaborate and get work done faster. In this blog, we will discuss some of the key benefits of using Process.st for your business. Standardise ProcessesOne of the key benefits of Process.st is that it allows businesses to standardize their processes. The platform ...

How to effectively manage your stock using Unleashed Software

Unleashed Software is a cloud-based inventory management system designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It is designed to streamline the inventory management process, automate time-consuming tasks, and provide real-time visibility into your inventory levels. In this blog, we will discuss some of the key benefits of using Unleashed Software.Streamline Inventory ManagementUnleashed Software is designed to streamline the inventory management process, making it easier to manage your inventory...

Why measuring business performance is the only way to see if your strategy is working

This is the fifth and final article in our series on business strategy, following the STAR cycle concept. (If you missed the previous articles, discover how to implement a business strategy; why you should spend time on business strategy development; how business tools help you achieve your strategic goals; and how business processes affect profitability.) If you’ve been following and implementing these tips, you will have made great progress in making your business more profitable and more va...

Are out-dated business processes impacting your profitability?

This is the fourth article in our series on business strategy, following the STAR cycle concept. (If you missed the previous articles, discover how to implement a business strategy; why you should spend time on business strategy development; and how business tools help you achieve your strategic goals.)...

Why business tools are the key to achieving your strategic goals

This is the third article in our series on how to manage your business more effectively by applying our STAR Cycle concept, that’s all about business strategy. (If you missed the previous articles, discover how to implement a business strategy, and why you should spend time on business strategy development.)...

Is business strategy development really worth it?

No matter how much you enjoy the relaxed Northland lifestyle, it’s well worth focusing on business strategy development. After all, if your business is running smoothly, you’ll have more time to spend on the things you love doing - and with less stress in the process....

How to implement a business strategy that’ll achieve your goals

New Year is a great time not only for self reflection, but also for taking stock to see how well your business performed over the last year; identify what you could have done better; what did not go so well; celebrate what you did well; and consider new opportunities to pursue in the future....

How a strategic plan can refocus your business in the post-COVID world

The post-COVID world is a chaotic one: supply issues, freight delays, record levels of inflation, and staffing shortages. It’s the perfect storm of a business owner’s worst nightmare: planning around any one of those factors is challenging, let alone all of them combined. Here’s how and why a strategic plan can help you navigate these turbulent times....

Introducing our new strategic planning expert: Stephanus Duvenage

Introducing the newest member of the Empower Business team: Stephanus Duvenage, our strategic planning and transformational change expert. Stephanus’ years as General Manager of a publicly-traded company, as well as holding other international executive senior leadership positions, mean that he’s well placed to grow your business to the next level. He has proven capabilities in transformational change management and business growth. He achieved exemplary business results by implementing busi...

Inventory planning: What would a 20% saving on inventory mean for your business?

Are the supply chain disruptions driving you crazy yet? Delays, spiralling freight costs, changes in consumer demand – it’s a real headache. And it seems that these issues will be present for quite some time yet. In response, you’re probably spending more time than ever on inventory planning, to avoid lurching between overstocks and understocks. But when you’re making stock calculations manually on spreadsheets, it’s not only time consuming, but you’re also probably second-guessing y...

Financial Dashboards: Why pictures help with decision making

Unless you’re an accountant - or otherwise have a thing for numbers - it’s unlikely that financial reporting is particularly high up your list of favourite things. Be honest: when you’re working on your business, do you tend to prioritise marketing and new campaigns over financial reporting? Or do you avoid working on your business as much as possible, preferring to work in the business? Perhaps you don’t know what all the numbers mean in your accounting system. (And if that’s the case...

eInvoicing: It’s not about emailing invoices! This is what you need to know

Have you ever experienced an invoice getting lost in an email system, or maybe even getting stuck in the Spam folder? Or maybe your suppliers’ invoices contain many line items, and you need to input each line into your accounting system? (And sometimes there may be data entry errors?) Perhaps you may even have been a victim of invoice fraud, with the fraudster changing the payment details to their own? eInvoicing will make all those issues a thing of the past for business-to-business transact...

Are your out-dated business systems preventing your business from growing?

Empower Business recently worked with a manufacturing company on its business systems. It’s a profitable enterprise with about 20 staff. While it had systems in place, none of them integrated with each other. This meant that each system needed updating separately, which was inefficient and a waste of time and resources. To get an idea of the complexity, here’s an overview of the company’s sales process that Empower Business documented as part of the systems analysis:...

Are increasing freight costs and shipping delays causing havoc with your inventory management? This will help...

Inventory management has never been more challenging than it is right now: the cluster bomb of spiralling freight costs and massive shipping delays can erode your profit margin and customer trust – as well as your sanity levels. This is especially true if you rely on importing, or if the value of your stock is a significant part of your business. If you have $500k or more in stock, chances are you’re doing things tough right now – but we have some practical tools to help you make it all m...

Buying or selling a business? Get a free business process evaluation

“Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.” ― Mark Twain...

Job shares and illness: how easy is it for your staff to cover for each other

This may be for pre-planned purposes, such as a job share arrangement that fits with employees’ lifestyles and family commitments. Or perhaps your team works remotely, yet needs to work seamlessly and efficiently. Or there are unscheduled instances of staff having to cover for each other, due to illness or a need to self-isolate. How do you build this flexibility into your workplace, so things run seamlessly? <h2> It’s naïve to think that a business won’t be disrupted; it’s far sm...

Tools

Every business is dependent on using business software tools and processes that will enable its operations to run efficiently and enhance the customer experience. The business software market has exploded in recent years making the job of choosing the right software tools that much harder. For example, Xero accounting software currently has over 700 apps that connect to it! However, the benefit to SME businesses is that the cost of sophisticated software has dropped significantly. This means the...

Considering a new Point of Sale system?

Vend is a very user-friendly POS system that gives you sales, inventory, and customer data. Best of all, it integrates beautifully with ecommerce platforms, including RocketSpark, Shopify, and Woo Commerce. As well as with Xero Accounting. Whether you’re new to ecommerce, run one physical store, or have a whole chain – Vend will simplify it for you. Special offer – hurry! Vend has a special financial end-of-year offer for kiwis: if you sign up for an annual plan with Vend through Empower ...

Payroll Headaches? You need better software!

iPayroll integrates with Infusion business software. This makes admin easier and more efficient, as there’s no need to re-key any data from the payroll system into Infusion. It all happens automatically, saving you precious time. iPayroll is an the affordable NZ-based solution that integrates with Infusion business software iPayroll was established in 2001 and is New Zealand’s leading provider of cloud-based payroll solutions. iPayroll is suitable for a small business with a few employees,...

How to achieve a seamless integration between your physical store and ecommerce sales

Does it feel like it takes more effort than ever to run your bricks-and-mortar retail store – especially with customers demanding ecommerce as well? Operating both a physical store as well as an online store is a smart thing to do – but only if you set it up so it lets you work smarter, instead of harder. It’s all about streamlining your processes, and using the right software tools to reduce errors and time-consuming manual intervention. ...

Looking For a Better Payroll Solution?

Meet iPayroll – the affordable NZ-based solution that integrates with Infusion business software iPayroll was established in 2001 and is New Zealand’s leading provider of cloud-based payroll solutions. iPayroll is suitable for a small business with a few employees, a group of businesses, a franchise, or an enterprise business with several hundred employees, in any industry.  Infusion business software integration iPayroll integrates with Infusion business software. This makes admin ea...

Infusion Business Software: Cloud-Based Service Announced

Introducing Infusion Accounting As a current user of Infusion Business Software, you may be interested to learn that Infusion Accounting has now been released. This cloud-based service incorporates the best features of your current version and introduces a range of new features and reports. Some key points to note about the application are: All of your data can be migrated from your existing system into Infusion Accounting retaining all of the historical data. Access your data from anywhere wi...

What could Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) do for your business?

Have you ever wondered what ERP could do for your business? ERP (enterprise resource planning) software has many benefits, such as: Enhanced productivity and collaborationStreamlining processesIntegrating informationEnhanced customer serviceCustomer relationship management and integrated marketing solutionsAutomated stock controlPowerful forecasting and reporting This can bring about cost savings as well as fostering growth. ERP systems’ ability to automate and integrate complex processes and ...

An efficient transition to a new inventory management system

A manufacturing and distribution business required a sales and inventory management system which integrates with Xero. ...