Systems & Technology

Systems keep your business running like a well-oiled machine. They make your business more streamlined, productive and profitable. When your systems are running smoothly, it allows you to take a step back, freeing you up to spend more time on the high-touch and profitable activities in your business.

The processes and procedures you use are all part of a larger system. They are all interconnected components designed to create the systems in your business.

Creation

In order to create your processes and procedures and therefore your systems, ask yourself what you actually do. Get your team members to run through the same exercise. Document what everyone does on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Think about things like, how long it takes you, what are the steps involved, why it is done the way it is. You may already find areas where you can simplify your processes.

Once you have identified your current processes, it’s time to set them up into your systems.

Document and Formalize

There are so many ways you can document your systems, in fact, you probably already have some business systems documents already in place.

You can create basic documents or utilize things like flowcharts, checklists, computer systems, even photos, video or audio.

If one of your team members is usually responsible for the system, get their input into documenting that system. For example, your daily office operation systems may be best written by your receptionist or office manager.

Review

Your systems should be under constant review as you use them, however, it is also important to ensure you do a formal review regularly. Your Human Resources systems may need to change with changing regulation or your inventory systems may need review when working with a new supplier.

During the review look for ways to simplify your processes. Look at the steps and see if you can improve execution. You are looking to create consistency and predictability with your systems.

Think about your priorities and the most important processes in the business first. Is there anything that causes inefficiency? Anything that could be improved to help serve your customers better?

Don’t keep it to yourself

Ensure that the team are involved in all these steps. Keeping all your systems to yourself means your team will not be able to re-create the same results. If you want the business to be able to run smoothly without your constant involvement, your team must have full knowledge of all systems, processes and procedures.

This also ensure your customers are always getting the high-level customer service they have come to expect from you and your business.

Technology

Technology is a wonderful thing, it can and has done so much. It can also help you with your systems. Getting a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) can manage your data and customers, accounting software can greatly improve your financial systems and marketing automation tools like Social Media scheduling apps can save you time on those more consuming marketing tasks.

While setting up your systems can seem like a daunting task, it can be broken down into manageable steps. Try starting with a list of all your systems, things like Daily operations, financials, product development, inventory, order processing, customer services and sales. You are likely to find that you already have systems in place, they are just not formalized.

If in doubt, contact a business coach who can help you breakdown the project and give you logical next steps. They can work with you, objectively to create change in your business.