In order to have a scalable business, you need systems and processes in place that enable your business to grow in a flexible way. A truly scalable business is able to keep up with increasing demand without unnecessary financial strain.
Scalability is a challenge faced by small and medium sized businesses looking to grow. If you are constrained by a lack of resources, we have listed some suggestions below for making your business more scalable.
Processes
The best way to increase efficiency is by honing and developing your operations and processes. Start by looking at your past experiences. What processes have you employed in the past, and how effective have they been? Take into consideration current industry standards and existing best practices. Operations and processes should be simple, standardized, cost effective and repeatable.
Technology
Technology follows on from processes as it can provide effective solutions for efficient operations and processes. IT platforms are essential for scalability. In particular, cloud technology has had a monumental impact on the scalable potential of businesses.
Cloud computing can decrease costs as it eliminates the need for investment in hardware (such as in-house severs) and software (applications are often offered by service providers). Cloud computing technology enables businesses to easily upscale or downscale IT requirements as and when required.
There are a wide range cloud computing services available that include:
Virtual Servers – This service can effectively reduce costs, as there is no need to purchase, install or maintain in-house servers, which also means decreased power consumption. Virtual servers can increase your businesses speed of deployment, and provide effective methods of backup and recovery.
Virtual Desktops – This is another way of reducing business cost. Virtual desktops allow your employees to access their desktop from any device, anywhere at any time. This can help to increase your businesses flexibility, productivity and mobility.
Online Backup – This is an easy and effective way of ensuring that your information assets are fully and automatically backed up on a daily basis. This solution is cost-effective as it doesn’t require additional hardware, and resource efficient as no members of staff are tasked with manually backing up data.
Hosted Email – This is an increasingly popular option for businesses. Hosted email scales as you grow. Emails no longer cause a drain on human resources as a provider will maintain them. This leaves employees free to focus on developing the business.
Making your business more scalable can create more space for innovation. If you streamline your processes, and free up your resources through use of cloud services, you will be free to focus on the development of your products and services. This is crucial for start-ups and SMEs that need to adapt to a fast-changing market.
