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Do your business processes exist only in employees’ heads?

Be honest: how much of the nitty-gritty information about running your business is in your – or your employees’ – heads, and not written down anywhere? A lack of documented business processes is an issue we encounter frequently when we start working with our clients, and it can create all manner of problems further down the track Read more on our guide to Business Innovation Examples of problems caused by not having business processes written down Recruitment issues: On-boarding new recru...

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” so said Benjamin Franklin

There is no doubt we live in uncertain times.  Life and business can and does change by the day and week. While we can never know exactly what is around the next corner for our business, we should at least put some effort into thinking about where our business is vulnerable and where potential opportunity lies. It therefore important the management team of every business takes time out on a regular basis to think about these possibilities good and bad. The tried and tested SWOT analysis is...

Changes in the tax treatment of low-cost fixed assets

Some good news for small businesses! Due to COVID19 situation, the Inland Revenue has revised the income tax rules for low-cost fixed assets. Before 17 March 2020, any asset purchased with a net cost of more than $500 had to be capitalised and depreciation recorded over the life of the asset.  The new rules issued by the IRD state the net cost threshold has been raised to $5,000.  This means any assets purchased with a net value of less than $5000 can be charged directly to y...

How to increase sales by upgrading your website to an online store

With the current economic downturn it is important that if you are running a "bricks and mortar" operation to look at expanding your service to your customers allowing them to order your products from an online store. It is also an opportunity to engage with your customers more effectively in the future when the lock down is lifted and the convenience of an online store becomes part of Business as Usual.  Now is also a good time to consider how an online store will work with cloud based bac...

The aggregation of marginal gains

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, the British cycling team dominated the track events and took home a total of twelve medals. Twice as many as the next country in the table - The Netherlands. When asked to explain how they had achieved this, the team management explained that they had implemented a concept called "The Aggregation of Marginal Gains". Essentially, they looked at every component of their operation, including the riders, training, equipment, clothing, etc.  Each component was then s...

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

Do you ever wonder where your business will be in 2-3 years? We all like to think it will be more profitable and valuable.  But if you don't take steps now to put into place strategic actions that will drive change in your business, then your business will look pretty similar to what it does now. If you are looking to sell your business in the next few years, then you may get a nasty surprise when you obtain a valuation that is much lower than you hoped. So rather than accept the status quo...

How to grow your business by increasing your equipment servicing income

We recently undertook a project for a materials handling company to develop their machine servicing offering to their customers.  The objective is to double their income from servicing activities in the next 12 months. Author: Trevor Huett...

Infusion Monthly Housekeeping Checks

As with all database systems, it is important to keep your database in good order by running maintenance processes such as the reindex, integrity checks and reviewing the system verification report. This document explains the processes  the  System Administrator needs to run. Please contact us if you need any help. Author: Trevor Huett...

Job Management Workflow using Xero Projects

We recently worked with a client who is a kitchen manufacturer and installer, to develop an end-to-end process for their jobs using Xero Projects. The process covers the first contact with the prospective customer right through to job completion.  The process includes the recording of time charges, material costs, invoicing deposits and progress payments, work-in-progress and profitability. Xero Projects has been designed as a simple job management tool for those businesses that are not yet...

Customer Service - Little things can make a big difference

It is surprising how many people and businesses lack basic customer service skills. Customers are the lifeblood of every business and should be cherished and nurtured so you can get repeat sales and referrals. This is the cheapest form of marketing. When it comes to dealing with customers, there are a few simple things that everyone on the business should follow : Treat everyone with respect and never talk down to your customer - regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, etc. If you say you are goin...

It takes 10,000 hours of doing something to become a Guru

So said Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. For an employee to accumulate 10,000 hours of work experience takes about five years. Consider your employees.  How many of them have been working in your company for more than 5 years?  For those that have, give them a big pat on the back.  They have achieved guru-status in your company! The upside to having a guru in your business is they need minimal supervision, can make the right decisions and can contribute effectively to runnin...

How to reduce the paper trail in your business

Does it seem like there is a never ending stream of paper bills coming into your business?  Processing paper is time consuming and costly.  It can also be error-prone when documents are mis-laid or even lost on the mail. In the last few years many businesses have moved on from posting paper invoices to each other to sending them by email.  This has already had a big impact on the bottom line.  It wasn’t unusual for a business to spend thousands of dollars each year on paper...

Save yourself some headaches later in the year!

For many businesses in New Zealand, we are approaching our financial year end at the end of this month. Now is the time to review your accounts to ensure they are clean and there are no skeletons lurking in the cupboard! Sometimes, issues get left in the too hard basket, or the business can’t bring themselves to deal with an awkward situation. So to help you have a clean set of books ready for presentation to your accountant, think about the following: Are all of your banks reconciled up to...

Why knowing your Gross Margin is so important

As all business owners know (or should know), the gross margin of a business is calculated as follows: income less direct costs = gross profit (dollars) gross profit / income = gross margin (percentage) While the gross profit in dollars will fluctuate depending on the value of sales and costs in the period, the gross margin should stay reasonably consistent. The gross profit must be sufficient to cover the overheads of the business, otherwise it will make a loss. Consequently, the gross margin i...

Financial Year End Review

As we approach the end of the financial year, now is the time to review the data in your financial systems to make sure that it is accurate, complete and up-to-date. It is essential that any outstanding issues are dealt with before the accounts for the year are closed. This is important for your own understanding of your accounts, and will also ensure that the accounts information you provide to your Accountant is as clean as possible. Dealing with problems now will reduce the possibility of you...

There is a saying that work is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

For many businesses, day-to-day activities involve running the through same processes again and again. But, as a business owner, how confident are you that those processes are efficient (i.e. cost-effective) and meet the needs of the business? Any sort of double -handling of information is time-wasting and costly. Often, processes develop organically across the organisation over years and are devised by the persons operating them for their needs rather than the needs of the business as a whole. ...