How Can Technology Help Cut Down Your Business Expenditure?

By Jessica Foreman

Profitable businesses often work to tight margins. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to be looking for ways to cut down business expenditure. There are many ways to do this, but did you realize how many are orientated around the use of technology? Here’s how technology can help you cut down on the amount of money your business is spending.

• Virtual Working Will Reduce Or Eliminate The Cost Of Running An Office
  Many people think a business isn’t properly established without dedicated office space. However, is this really true in 2017? Offices are expensive to run, requiring rental costs, utilities, internet provision, equipment, and insurance to name but a few expenses. Instead, use technology and work virtually. You can work from anywhere in the world provided you have a laptop and a good internet connection. If you need to meet clients, colleagues or suppliers, you can always hire a meeting venue or a business hub.
• Software And Accounting Tools Can Help Eliminate The Need For An Accountant
  Whatever kind of business you’re running, you’ll need someone to keep an eye on the books, ensuring employees, suppliers, and the IRS are paid. However, you can improve efficiency and reduce costs by using high quality accounting software. You can use the kind of software that automatically updates your records across multiple devices, and you can even use payroll software to reduce the amount of HR hours you’d otherwise need to invest in.
• Technology Can Guard Against The Cost Of Fraud
  Technology can also help your business save money in other ways. For instance, you can tackle fraud against your business using secure checks. This is a way of cutting a form of business expenditure that may not actually have happened yet, but when it does occur could cost your business dearly. It’s also worth using technology to educate yourself about other security threats your business may face this year.
• Easily Store And Share Important Documents From Anywhere In The World
  Another way to cut down on business expenditure is to invest in some cheap but effective subscriptions. For example, you can sign up for a business account on Dropbox or use Google Drive to create, edit, and share documents. Both of these tools will reduce your paperwork, eliminate the need to store and access hard copies of important files, and you can even echo-sign contracts online. All of these things help to improve efficiency, save time, and eliminate the need for physical storage.
• Instantly Communicate With Your Colleagues, Suppliers, And Customers
  It might seem an obvious thing to point out, but you can cut down on business expenditures by relying on technology for communication. So, rather than attending face-to-face meetings, use technology such as Face Time, Skype, and Web Conferencing tools to conduct meetings wherever possible. This will certainly help you to reduce travel expenses. In addition, instant messaging services, live chats, and dedicated email addresses will allow your customers to talk to you instantaneously -- something your customers may value highly.
• Automate Your Social Promotion Rather Than Paying For Manpower
  Finally, you can reduce your business expenditures in the form of man hours by automating processes wherever possible. For instance, social media is an important tool in a business’s marketing toolkit. You’ll need to invest in some employee time to schedule and manage your social media, but using applications such as Hootsuite or Buffer will enable you to grow your social media following and promote your brand in a way that’s time efficient. You’ll significantly reduce your costs by setting up this form of automation as it will reduce the amount of time your digital marketing team is spending on maintaining social networks on a day-to-day basis.

Jessica Foreman is a Durham University graduate specializing in business and lifestyle based writing. She has developed her skills on projects surrounding The British Broadcasting Company and running a print and online based magazine whilst at university. She is currently looking towards starting her Masters in Mobile and Personal Communications as well as broadening her horizons through traveling.