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Marketing

8 Ways CRM For Small Business Can Help Reduce Costs

CRM: An Essential Tool to Reduce Costs

  • What do businesses want today?
  • Increased Efficiency
  • Seamless management
  • Growth & Profitability

This is where CRM for business software comes in

The CRM system can help you build an organisation that can focus on increasing sales, improving employee productivity and making your long-term customers more loyal to you. Here are 8 ways that can help you reduce costs for your business

1. Cost Reduction
 

Very often, CRM systems are customized solutions created based on the specific requirements of a particular business. But there are also ready-made CRM for business software in the market that contain built-in features that are also beneficial for a business.

  • Creating a customised individual CRM system allows you to work with your personal pain points, thereby reducing those costs which are either not very essential or are present due to inefficiencies in the operations process.
  • For example: Let’s say the load has significantly increased on your customer support staff and they don’t have the bandwidth to manage the influx of new customer queries. In such a case, the implementation of the CRM for business system will help in managing the load and eliminating the need to hire additional staff, thereby reducing the costs.

2. Keeping Production Costs in Control

One of the benefits of CRM system is that it has powerful built-in analytics and accounting tools. These features enable you to manage the goods that are in the manufacturing phase or already in stock.

  • You can take into account each unit of goods with the help of CRM.
  • You can also run an analysis on which goods are sold better than the others.

This allows your business to optimize your production and reinvest the profits to produce those goods that see increased customer demand 

3. Reducing Cost of Customer Acquisition

’Retaining an existing customer is cheaper than attracting a new one’

This is a long-known law of marketing & economics. We know the business needs to grow and one parameter for growth is acquiring new customers & clients.

CRM for business system can indirectly help you generate new leads without digging a huge hole in your pocket.

Recommendations, word of mouth can lead to exponential growth in the business, and a CRM software can help in turning around these referrals into satisfied customer queries. This might lead to a conversion for your business. 

4. Streamlining & Reorganising Sales
 

Business is based on long-term relationships with your customers. This means that the sales team that represents your company needs to meet your customer personally from time to time and provide answers to all their queries till the customer is fully satisfied.

With the CRM system:

  • It is possible to plan these meetings with competence and localize these meetings at a minimum distance from each other.
  • For business, this means saving tons of time and lower transportation costs.

5. Reduction in Customer Support Service Maintenance Cost

Generally, a CRM system has a self-service portal for a customer that allows them to resolve their issues on their own, thus, reducing the load of your support desk.

Let’s take an example of the financial industry

  • The client wants to take a small loan from your company. Instead of calling you or visiting your company’s office, he fills out an online application on your site, which is automatically redirected to your CRM system and a specific manager is assigned to this task

Thus, the business immediately gets the opportunity to initiate working with the leads bypassing transit points in-between, like calling the support service.

6. Reduces cost of Mistakes

How many times have you been in a situation where your manager mixed up a customer’s contact details, forgot to call back, mixed up goods in package or simply sent them to the wrong customers?

All these situations affects your brand images and hurts the trust built but the customer  

With a CRM for small business system, the chance of a human error or forgetfulness tends to be zero. 

Every manager remains up-to-date on what he needs to do right now according to the company’s strategy.

7. Improves Tracking Methodology

Tracking & Evaluation can help in a big way to track the growth of your company. With CRM for business, every team can track and make changes in their functions

Sales Team can track the lead conversions, Service team can track customer satisfaction index, and marketing team can track what strategies generated how much business. Hence it gives a clear direction to managers on future steps

8. Reduction in Paper Waste

Businesses should also focus is on being green these days; hence unnecessary usage of paper can be eliminated with the help of CRM since everything is just a click away

CRM for small business software keeps everything ’ customer’s contact details, sales records & numbers, documents ’ all in one, easy to access application.

There are many ways in which CRM software can be proven beneficial for your business, but how it can impact the bottom line of your business is one of the most important. 

These 8 ways can help you reduce your costs substantially leading to increased efficiencies, giving a boost to profitability & growth. 

Categories
Motivational

How to Stay Creative in Ambiguous Times

Life-changing Ways to Stay Creative in Ambiguous Times

Finding it difficult to stay creative during these ambiguous times?

Times of ambiguity or crisis are a part of life.

We’ve all been there at one time or another: stuck in uncertainty. It’s a scary place to be, and can leave you feeling stuck, out of control and helpless.

Times full of ambiguity are the ideal days for you to exercise your creativity.

Here are 4 hacks to sail through uncertainty and stay creative in ambiguous times:

1. Utilize the time to read more:
 

Some of the most successful and busiest people on our planet are also avid readers.

If you find yourself with entirely new blocks of time open to you, commit to reading more.

That is because:

  • Reading sparks your creativity, and helps grow your understanding of complex problems.
  • It grows you intellectually, while at the same time, it is also a very relaxing activity.

Fiction requires us to experience reality from a perspective, very different from our own reality and hence, helps us to exercise empathy and stay creative.

However, you can also read nonfiction thought leadership books and articles that you have stockpiled in your ’must-read’ list.

2. Reflect on YOU:

Many world champion athletes, business people, and spiritual gurus share self-reflection as an essential key to their success. The same is also true for ’everyday people’ who seems so fulfilled and happy with their lives.

So why is self-reflection so important to lead a successful and fulfilling life and to stay creative in ambiguous times?

  • Improve self-awareness
    : Having a strong sense of self improves your self-esteem and boosts your confidence.
  • Provide perspective
    : It allows you to see things from a different perspective i.e. you can zoom out and see the whole forest.
  • Allow you to respond, not react
    : When you take out time to reflect on a situation, you respond more thoughtfully and change your behavior for the next time.
  • Facilitate a deeper level of learning
    : Self-reflection is a critical part of the education process. Studies have shown, when people are given time to reflect, they are better able to retain and recall the information.

3. Spark wonder through play:

Play allows an individual to deliver creativity in a certain way. 

It allows a person to discover why and how things are done in a certain way or finding new and different solutions to it.

As kids, we all are born with curiosity to learn, explore and experiment new things. However, as we grow older, learning by creating as a way of play is decreasing.

Playing requires a person to focus, accept the unknown, offers the challenge and develops the ability of a person to use creative thinking.

Example of implementing the elements of play in real life:

Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds
: This was a real-world experience, a campaign to win the ticket for James Bond movie and is an example of how to put a play in the creative promotion of an upcoming movie.

This example shows, how inserting play can lead to changes in the behavior of people and helps to stay creative in ambiguous times.

4. Look forward with gratitude and generosity.

This time is your chance to take inventory of what you have done and arrive at fresh insights.

Ask yourself a question
: ’What can you do now, so that when you look back on your past, you would be saying ’thank you’ with deep gratitude for this time?’

Many people recommends practicing generosity by asking who you can help, for example, offering free webinars. 

When you humble yourself to be helpful and grateful to others during adverse times, you refuels your creativity.

Ambiguous times always brings out unintended & surprising outcomes and make it difficult to stay creative. On an individual level, a person gets to be more self-reflective, slow down, and identifying what really matters. 

At an organizational level, we get to discard the way we’ve always done things and take a temperature check on our organizational culture. 

There is always a silver lining in every ambiguous and uncertain situation, if you look at the positive side to increase your creativity.  

Categories
Strategy

How To Use Discounting Strategy To Make More Sales

Offer Discounts without Losing on your Profits 

Discounts are always a lucrative way to increase sales and tempt the customer. Many of the discount strategies work wonders if they are backed by a strong service and distribution channel. But if a company constantly lowers the price point, there are chances it might eat into the profits.

When small businesses are looking to move up their sales figures, discounting is one of their first approaches. Here are a few tips that can make your discount strategy in retail work without cutting into your profits or damaging your brand image.

1. Define your Goal

  • Keep yourself and the team focused on the discount strategy decided. Blindly introducing discounts will not solve the purpose. Keep weighing the pros and cons and cut your cost to an extent that you will remain profitable.
  • If the purpose is to make new customers, then you can adopt a heavy discount strategy across your retail channels that increases the footfall
  • If you are looking to re-engage with customers who have bought products from you before, then maybe look at some customized offer, or offers on a product that is bought more

2. Get a Competitive Advantage

  • If you are looking to sway customers from your competitors, then go for a discount strategy that will be lesser than your competitor’s pricing, but will keep you profitable
  • In this case, when the customer compares your product with the competitor, even a difference of as low as 300 rupees makes a difference
  • If the customer notices that your pricing is always lower, maybe after a few trials they will start coming straight to your retail outlet and buy rather than even comparing

3. Make Customers feel Positive

  • Sometimes even a small discount or a gift coupon makes customers happy about shopping from you. They leave with a positive feeling about your brand.
  • This will help you in the long run as the customer will associate you as a brand that cares for them

4. Timing should be Right

  • Sending out discounts at just the right time i.e. when customers need them, this will greatly increase your conversion rates. A discount strategy like this works wonders in retail
  • For e.g. if you have lost of customers that come and buy in the first 10 days of the month, then aim your discount strategy around that time

5. Keep a Check on your Margins

  • Compare the sales you need to do at your current margins to achieve your target revenue with how much sales is needed at the discounted margin. The marketing activity can be increased proportionately then
  • A lot of companies also set an ’acceptable range of margin’, unless your objective is aggressive customer acquisition keep you discount strategy in retail within the acceptable range of margin

6. Promote Sale of New Products as well Impulse Buying

  • Since you have put items on heavy discounts, people who visit the store will indulge in impulse buying as well. This discount strategy in retail will help in selling other products as well
  • Give your customers product recommendations and suggest upgrades that can help push your sales indirectly
  • Arrange your products in a way that, the new products are placed in the front of the store while the discounted one behind them. The customer will be left with no choice but to go through the new launches and make note of them. There are chances that he might pick up an item here or there for trial

7. Give Discounts with Conditions

Don’t offer blanket discounts, make sure you have some pre-requisite conditions that the customer must meet before being eligible for the discount. 

Try different method of discounts such as:

  • Buying a certain number of quantity
  • Spending a certain number of amount
  • Special discounts for Loyalty Program customers
  • Buy 2 and get 1 free
  • Bundled Discounts (Cub 2 or 3 items in similar categories together, For e.g. A face wash and a cream)

These conditions don’t let discounts eat into your profits and maintain healthy sales

8. Offer Heavy Discounts to get rid of Old Products

  • This strategy works for products or businesses that are usually seasonal. For e.g. if you run a clothing boutique, you can get rid of your summer collection by offering heavy discounts and you need to display clothes for the next season
  • It can also be used for electronic items like mobile phones especially when a new product of the same series is being launched. To get rid of a lot of the existing model inventory, heavy discounting can be used.
  • This discount strategy helps in at least getting rid of the stock even at the base price instead of dumping them away

Discount Strategy in retail can be a great tool to get in new customers, also engage with your old customers and dispose of old inventory, what really needs to be worked out is the strategy.  Calculate how much discount can you afford to give otherwise there is no option left but to give it away from your profits.

Categories
Finance

5 Good Bookkeeping Habits for Small Business Owners

5 Proven Bookkeeping Tips to Increase Cash Flow in your Business

Do you feel that bookkeeping is not an important business activity?  You’re probably wrong if you think so. 

What about money in the bank that could help you achieve your desired business goals? Now we’re talking.

You don’t have to make bookkeeping more complicated than it needs to be. Adopting some basic, good bookkeeping habits can help you avoid costly errors and stay top of your books each month with little-to-no hassle.

We have put together 5 bookkeeping tips for small business owners. 

Follow these good bookkeeping habits to get a bigger and better handle on your cash flows:

1. Plan for Major Expenses
 

Is it likely that you will need a major computer upgrade or any equipment or machinery that needs to be replaced?

  • You should be very honest and put such expenses that could be coming up in the next one to five years, on the calendar year in advance.
  • Many small businesses are seasonal in nature, hence, it is essential for business owners to acknowledge the seasonal ups and downs, and how it will affect their ability to spend during those times.

By making sure that you have forecasted for major expenses and ups and downs of your business, you’re less likely to miss on business opportunities or finding yourself short of cash.

2. Track Your Expenses

It is important to track each and every expense, to keep your business’ cash flow going in a positive direction.

  • Before you start paying, tracking, and accounting your expenses, you need to separate your personal and business expenses.
  • Open a separate bank account for your business, so that you don’t have to waste hours examining your expenses at the end of the month. You will know the exact amount that your business has spent and the areas where the amount is spent.

At the time of tax filing, it’ll be much easier for you to write-off relevant business expenses.

3. Record Deposits Correctly

Adopt a good bookkeeping habit to record deposits correctly, whether it’s a pocket notebook and pen, an excel spreadsheet or a proper financial software. 

  • Small business owners typically make a variety of deposits into their business account throughout the year, including, sales revenue, loans or cash infusion in the form of capital from personal savings.
  • You’re keeping yourself open to paying taxes on the money that isn’t your income if you’re not accounting from where each of the deposits have come. 

4. Set Aside Money for Taxes

You know, as a small business owner, you have to pay taxes to the government at certain deadlines that are already known to you.

The income tax department imposes penalties and interest if the tax amount gets delayed or remains unpaid. 

Hence, a good bookkeeping habit is to systematically put money aside for taxes, to make sure that the money is there when you need it.

5. Keep a close eye on your invoices

Many small business owners & entrepreneurs have to sell products on credit basis to their customers. 

You should have a specific person to track billings of your business and a proper process in place, if a bill goes unpaid.

In case of late payments, you can do the following:

  • Issuing a second invoice
  • Making a phone call to remind the customer
  • Levying penalties such as extra fees after a certain deadline
  • Having policies for if a customer pays 30, 60 or 90 days late.

You should always remember that ’Every late payment is an interest-free loan and hurts the cash flow of your business’

With your books in order, you’re now ready to achieve your long-term goals, manage cash flows during seasonal ups & down, and improve the profitability of your business.

By analyzing your books, you’ll know exactly how much cash you need and how much you can afford.

Hence, good bookkeeping habits lead to better financing and cash flows of business’it’s that simple.

Categories
Finance

How Does Your Business Structure Affect Your Taxes?

बिजनेस
बिजनेस

What is the Best Business Structure to pay the Least Taxes?

Different Business Structures have different tax liabilities, so it is very important to choose your structure sensibly. An entrepreneur should know the tax implications of the business structure being finalized. Here is your guide to know how a legal structure can affect your taxes:

1. Sole Proprietorship

As the name suggests, this business entity is owned by a single individual and not recognized as a separate legal entity. It has an informal structure and therefore, the tax model is the same as an individual.

Tax Rate

A Sole proprietorship firm is taxed as same as an individual. Therefore, the rebate is the same as the individual i.e. if the income is not more than INR 5, 00, 000/-, there is 100% tax rebate.

Surcharge

The surcharge is as follows:

Income less than INR 50 lakhs: No surcharge

Income between INR 50 lakhs and INR 1 Core: 10%

Income more than INR 1 Crore: 15%

Cess

Health and education cess are calculated at 4% of the income tax and surcharge

2. LLP or Partnership firm

Both kinds of partnerships; LLP or a simple partnership firm are taxed as separate entities. This tax implication for this business structure is:

Tax Rate

The income is taxed at 30% 

Surcharge

If the income is less than INR 1 Crore: No surcharge

If the income is more than INR 1 Crore: 12% surcharge

Cess

Cess is calculatd at 4% of income tax and surcharge

3. Private Limited Company

It is one of the most popular business structures in India. A company is a separate legal entity from its director and members from the start. The tax model is divided into two types: Foreign and Domestic

Tax Rate

For the domestic companies, the tax rates
are as follows

If the annual turnover is not more than INR 250 Crore: 25%.

If the annual turnover is over INR 250 Crore: 30%

For foreign companies
, the tax rates are as follows

If the government is the client: 50%.

If there are other sources of income: INR 40%

Surcharge

Domestic companies:

Income not more than INR 1 Crore: No surcharge

Income more than INR 1 Crore, but less than INR 10 Crore: 7%

Income more than INR 1 Crore: 12%

Foreign companies

Income not more than INR 1 Crore: No surcharge

Income more than INR 1 Crore, but less than INR 10 Crore: 2%

Income more than INR 1 Crore: 5%

Cess

Health and education cess are calculated at 4% of the income tax and surcharge

4. Co-operative Society

The objective of the co-operative society is mutual help and welfare. It is a service-oriented business structure.

Tax Rate

Up to Rs 10,000: 10%

Between 10,000- Rs 20,000: 20%

And, above Rs. 30000: 30%

Surcharge

Income Less than Rs. 1 crore- No Surcharge

Income more Rs. 1 crore- 12% Surcharge

Cess

Health and education cess is computed as 4% on income tax and surcharge

The following are tax structures for different business structures in our country usually opted by SMEs. Apart from other considerations such as Market conditions, Research, Customer profile, Tax implication too plays a dominant role in deciding what business structure you want to opt for.

Categories
Finance

How to Calculate Depreciation in Your Business

इनकम टैक्स
इनकम टैक्स

The Step-by-Step Guide on How to Calculate Depreciation

When you’re running a small business, each and every penny saved is a penny earned.

Many business owners feels that depreciation is too complicated or that they’ll have to pay a lot to the accountant to calculate depreciation. Well that’s a mistake which could cost you far more than any savings from your accounting procedures.

What is Depreciation?

When you use an asset over a period of time, it often loses its value.

Depreciation is the decrease in the value of an asset over time due to its wear and tear, new technology or market conditions. 

What can a small business depreciate?

Common assets that a company can depreciate include tangible assets like machinery, vehicles, furniture, buildings, etc. and intangible assets like patents, copyrights, and computer software.

For example: If a company purchases a vehicle costing Rs.100,000 and the expected usage of the vehicle is 5 years, the business might calculate depreciation on the asset at Rs.20,000 each year for a period of 5 years. 

Depreciation is an income tax deduction. By decreasing the value of the asset, your overall taxable income lowers, and hence, your tax liability decreases.

How to calculate depreciation in Small Business?

There is no single method to calculate depreciation. In fact, there are several methods of calculating depreciation.

3 most common methods to calculate depreciation are as follows:

  • Straight Line method
  • Unit of production method
  • Accelerated depreciation method

Estimate Initial cost, Useful life and Residual value

Step 1

Calculate the initial cost of the asset purchased. The initial cost includes the cost of acquiring the asset plus additional expenses for making it operational, such as installation cost, shipping or taxes.

Initial cost = Cost of asset + additional expenses (installation, shipping or taxes)

Step 2

Estimate the useful life of the asset i.e. the period of time over which the asset is expected to be used, after which it needs to be replaced. 

Step 3

Estimate the residual or salvage value of the asset i.e. the amount that you expect to be received from the disposal of the asset after its useful life.

1. Straight-line method
 

This is the simplest method of all. In the straight-line method, you choose to depreciate your asset at an equal amount for each year over its useful lifespan.

Depreciation expense = (Asset cost ’ Residual value) / Useful life of the asset

For Example: 

Suppose Aggarwal Sweets purchases a machinery for Rs.200,000 having a useful life of 10 years and the residual value of the machinery is Rs.20,000.

Annual Depreciation expense = (Rs.200,000 ’ Rs.20,000) / 10

Annual Depreciation expense = Rs.18000

Thus, Aggarwal Sweets can take Rs.8000 as depreciation expense every year over the next 10 years.

2. Unit of production method

This method is very useful in assembly for production lines. This is a 2-step process.

Under this method of depreciation calculation, equal expense rates are assigned to each unit produced. 

Hence, depreciation calculation is based on the output capability of the asset rather than the number of years.

2 steps are:

Step 1: Calculate per unit depreciation:

Per unit depreciation = (Cost of asset ’ Residual Value) / useful life in terms of units of production

Step 2: Calculate the depreciation of actual units produced: 

Total Depreciation = Per Unit Depreciation x Units Produced

For example:

Gupta Ji Ltd. purchases a printing press to print flyers for Rs.40,000 with a useful life of 1,80,000 units and a residual value of Rs.4000. It prints 4000 flyers.

Step 1: Per unit Depreciation = (Rs.40,000 – Rs.4000) / 180,000 = Rs.0.2

Step 2: Total Depreciation = Rs.0.2 x 4000 flyers = Rs.800

Hence, the total depreciation expense, which is accounted, is Rs.800.

3. Written down value method:

Under this method, depreciation is calculated at a fixed percentage each year on the decreasing book value, known as Written Down Value of the asset (book value less depreciation).

For example:

Sharma & Sons purchased a machine for Rs.500,000 having a useful life of 10 years and its estimated residual value is Rs.40,000. 

Rate of depreciation = 10%

Amount of depreciation = (Book Value ’ Rate of Depreciation) / 100

1st year: Depreciation = Rs.500,000 x 10/100  = Rs.50,000

2nd Year: Depreciation = Rs.450,000 x 10/100 = Rs.45,000

3rd Year: Depreciation = Rs.4,05,000 x 10/100 = Rs.40,500

4Th Year: Depreciation =   Rs.3,64,500 x 10/100 = Rs.36,450

Depreciation is an important part of bookkeeping and accounting which helps companies maintain their income statement and balance sheet properly with the right profits recorded. 

Categories
Finance

Cash Flow Mistakes That Can Shut Down Your Business

Cash Flow Mistakes that Every Entrepreneur Should Avoid

Small businesses usually have a few people handling multiple functions; hence business cash flow needs to be given priority. Sometimes there are hidden expenses that the entrepreneur does not account for which impacts the cash flow situation.  Hence, you need to monitor and optimize the cash flow management and try and remain cash positive. Here are some of the cash flow mistakes made by companies that can hurt the business

1. Forced Growth

  • Sometimes a company’s tend to grow without enough cash management. Unplanned hiring, too much investment in marketing or maybe a product development that has gone wrong, steps like these during business expansion can take a turn for the worse
  • The cost of a few bad hirings can hamper your cash flows. You cannot spend too much time on their training only, the results need to show. So be careful when hiring expensive manpower

2. Unanticipated Expenses and Emergencies

  • There can be a lot of unexpected expenses that a business can incur. Whether it is a natural disaster, an economic slowdown, an equipment failure or complaints from customers, every company has unplanned emergencies and not make a contingency plan for such business cash flow can lead to blunders.
  • Sudden changes in the taxes or other defaults from the taxpayer can affect the cash outflow.

3. Excess expenditure on Sales

Every business needs to acquire new customers but you need to see at what cost you are acquiring them. Maybe initially it can be at the cost of suffering loses, but soon you need to lower the CAC and also segment that which customer will help you generate revenue.

4. Being profitable but broke

  • This is a strange scenario that takes place in many companies. The money you are making is not translating into positive cash flows
  • You need to reinvest in the business in the beginning for growth, unnecessary expenditures need to be avoided at any cost. If the founder starts to draw a handsome salary from the first month, it will be a big cash flow mistake

5. Short-Term Profit Alignment

  • As an entrepreneur, you keep getting ideas that can be converted into a product and sold into the market. However, you see that the sales hit the roof in the first 2-3 months and then the demand began to fall.
  • Successful entrepreneurs set long term goals. The get-rich-quick ideas will only drain your business cash flow.
  • If you like to take short-term risks, then be smart to make something out of your existing line, sell for a short time, make money and fizzle it out

6. Increase in late payment or overdue from customers/suppliers

  • If you sleepover such overdue then the third party takes it for granted that you can work without cash for a long time
  • If your customer makes late payments, then you cannot pay to your vendor on time and this spoils your credibility in the market
  • Allowing too much credit can turn out to be a huge cash flow mistake 

Costs are like magnets, they try to draw out all your money, making you a little helpless in such a situation. Hence, for business cash flow management maintain proper records and spend your cash carefully so that the company does not face a disastrous situation during tough times.

Categories
Strategy

What Will Change For Your Business Post Corona Virus Lockdown?

Business post-Corona: Changes that every company needs to follow
 

We all know that the world will change post the Corona outbreak. There will be change in business and all of us will have to adapt to a new way of living, working, and building relationships. Here are 10 things that will change for businesses when life returns to normal:

1. Business Model Reinvention

  • Entrepreneurs will reinvent their business model and other functions to adapt to the changes the pandemic has left behind
  • The first step to business reinvention is deconstruction- a new framework will be drawn for key elements of the business. For e.g. Customer relationship, resource management, key partners, revenue, cost, etc., all functions will need to be looked closely and tweaked accordingly

2. Leaner Business Models

  • All tasks & functions that have no value to the customer will be eliminated and a continuous process of testing your assumptions about sales and revenue will be put in place
  • A leaner business model can lead to greater productivity and smooth functioning. Since the wasteful tasks will be eliminated, the focus would now be on the important and revenue-generating functions and hence would lead to smooth running of the business
  • Faster delivery options can be explored leading to increased customer satisfaction

3. Business Automation

  • Technology & Business Automation will be the backbone of every function that we conduct in a business
  • ERP tools will be used more than ever to automate tasks leading to a lesser human face to face interaction and updates
  • Meetings, personal interactions, and even Events and Conferences will be facilitated with remote work tools without any loss in productivity of employees

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation

  • AI & Automation will happen faster than ever imagined. With the help of AI, Business Automation, customer engagement and data analysis will form the basis of many business decisions
  • Role of Machine Learning to process data- For e.g. you have a manufacturing unit and your machines are connected to the network. Constant data about production will be fed to a central location. It is not possible for a human to process so much data, hence AI & ML will help companies collect this data and also extract important information out of it
  • Predicting customer insight will become more accurate. Patterns of what a customer will buy, identifying quality and safety measure and personalized targeting of digital ads will be done using AI more often

5. Risk Insurance
 

  • Post Coronavirus outbreak, businesses will have to take several insurance to safeguard against unknown risks
  • Currently, there are 2 major insurance covers-’Event Cancellation insurance’ offered by usually big firms and the other is a more general cover for ’Business Interruption’
  • Businesses will move from ’standard policies’ to more specific ones that cover unknown risks extensively
  • Employee health insurance given by companies will have costs related to epidemic illness and death covered as well

6. Expansion into New Markets

  • The possibility of more profits, more reach, and more impact is enough to get anyone excited and decisions related to expansion into new markets will be taken faster.
  • Prioritize and select your markets and assess internal capabilities in terms of which core competencies can be leveraged.
  • Going digital will help enter newer markets faster 

7. Cost Reduction

  • Companies will be heading towards cost-cutting & cost reduction measures for various functions that can either be automated or outsourced as and when required
  • Hiring across organizations will be lean with more of scope of work being defined across lesser employees
  • Companies will become less hierarchical leading to cost reduction with lesser people on top
  • Businesses will approach more inbound techniques of marketing like social media, blogs, CRM rather than costly marketing practices. This will help them target relevant customers at half the cost.

8. Hiring Freeze

  • Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, many businesses suffered with absolutely no revenues but they were still paying salaries to their employees
  • Post Corona, we will see most companies going into a hiring freeze with current employees carrying out inter-departmental functions
  • For e.g. a marketing professional in a company can also handle its branding strategy, external & internal communication rather than just focusing on building marketing plans

9. Invest in Employees

  • An employee is the most important asset for an organization and without good employees, the business will be alive on a ventilator sort of situation, so invest in employees
  • Put forward a peer-led rather than leader- or boss-driven model with increased communication and engagement within the group of workers
  • Revisit your sick leave policy
  • Implement flexible working arrangements which can be mapped
  • Mental wellness will become a priority for companies for their employees to function well
  • Provide certain facilities/benefits to employees that make them feel wanted and cared for.
  • Rewards & Recognition for good performers, a celebration of milestones and enhanced learning opportunities for employees that have potential

10. Focus on Innovation

  • When a business tries to bounce back, your business idea and model form the foundation of getting back into the groove
  • Companies have to innovate at a faster pace otherwise they should be ready to perish
  • Every business post-Corona will try to bounce back and get revenues in place. It will become a do or die situation for many
  • Put in place lifeboat plans for three-month, one-year and three-year downturns
  • Faster innovation will help you become more competitive and build the value of your brand
  • Focus on innovation will help companies scale up their structure and eventually lead to increase revenues 

Change is inevitable and a global pandemic like Corona is setting the ground for change in business as well. Act with compassion and take each and every action NOW, as you don’t want to miss the bus.

Categories
Startup

Best payment processing software for your business

Best Payment Processing Software For Your Business
Best Payment Processing Software For Your Business

What is the Best Online Payment System for you?

E-commerce is booming and the Digital India initiative by the Government has given an immense boost to it. Flexible payment processing software becomes necessary for your company to facilitate easier payment mechanisms for the customer. For you to choose a payment processing company, keep the following things in mind:

Low Transaction fee– The cost for the convenience given should be feasible to you

Technology– The payment gateway whether a third party or yours should be able to process the financial data put on your side

Easy setup

Offers multiple ways for the customer to pay

Here are some options of payment processing software for small businesses:

1. PayU Money

It is the largest payment processing gateway in India and has no setup as well as maintenance fees.

Their subscription feature can help businesses get recurring payments making life easier for both the business and the customer

With a 100% online hassle-free onboarding process, makes managing payments easy and hassle frees

2. RazorPay

It’s a payment gateway that allows businesses to accept, proceed and disburse payments. It has many clients in its portfolio which makes its initializing features customer service very effective

3. CCAveue

They offer zero setup fees for startups so you can start off easily. It allows multilingual payment page in 18 major Indian and international languages and also has 200+ payment options

4. Cashfree

Cashfree payment processing software provides the widest range of payment options. From net banking to popular wallets, to credit and debit cards options along with the widest range of pay later and cardless EMI options

5. Mobikwik

MobiKwik has gained immense popularity in India due to its flexibility. They offer solutions to both individual users and businesses.

It is mobile friendly with a solid analytic dashboard

6. InstaMojo

It is one of the fastest-growing payment processing software for small business

This platform allows new merchants to create a merchant account instantly to collect online payments with ease with or without a website.

The platform is a full-stack transactional platform empowering merchants with simpler processes.

Charges of Instamojo are quite reasonable

7. PayPal

The biggest advantage with PayPal is that it is a global player, so if you deal with a lot of international consumers then getting PayPal integrated as you payment processing partner makes a lot of sense.

Features like barcode scanning, bill me later, inventor tracking makes it advisable for businesses to use this platform. But its unique feature of Transaction dispute where it holds the money in the account for 180 days if there is a scam or a fraud ensures protecting of both the seller and the buyer

8. PayTM

Paytm became a leading payment processing gateway due to its online consumer base with ‘Paytm Cash’ wallet especially after Demonetisation. This made PayTM a preferred choice of many small e-commerce merchants

Finding a payment processing software depends on a few factors listed at the beginning of the article. One should choose that particular payment processing software that suits the needs of the SME and is aligned to their product offerings.

Categories
Finance

3 Important Financial statements Every Business Owner Should Know

3 most important financial statements for your Business

Trying to run a business without keeping a check on the Cash flow, Balance sheet and Profit and loss statement is like driving a car without the engine. It is critical to understand this concept to plan the future and manage your operations and taxes. It is also important to keep your financial health in check as your investors might ask for these statements at the time of fundraising and you don’t want to have enough cash in your business. Financial statements are the best source to evaluate the weaknesses and strengths of your company’s financial health.

Let’s understand each of these important financial statements in detail:-

1. Cash flow

7 out of 10 start-ups fail because of poor cash flow management. Running out of money is the most critical situation where most of the start-ups fail. You always need to know where the money is coming from and where the money is going. A Cashflow financial statement helps your business to identify the risks while moving forward. It also records all the relevant activities for the current period. Cash Flow management is the amount of cash collected and used by a company during a period and is one of the most important aspects to understand running a business.  You are going to put your business in a very dangerous position if you don’t stay on top of your cash flow.

Let’s break down cash flow into 3 important financial statement categories:-

  • Operating cash flow – The money which is coming from normal business activities.
  • Investing cash flow – The money which is coming from investing activities like- Property, Plants, stocks, equipment, etc.
  • Financing cash flow – It includes transactions involving e
  • quity, debt and dividends.

2. Balance sheet

The balance sheet reflects the financial statement of your company. It is a combination of your company’s assets and liability.  If both assets and liability match then only your account is balanced. Let’s understand the balance sheet–

A balance sheet helps in determining the financial stability of your business. Investors and creditors always analyze the balance sheet of your company before investing. A balance sheet also indicates the unexpected expenses and your liquidity position.

Asset + Liability = Equity (It shows the basic accounting equations)

  • Assets – Asset includes inventory, investment, equipment and machinery, cash, account receivables and checking account. Assets are the resources that are owned by the business owner and can be measured.
  • Liability – Liability includes things that you owe to others like- loans, share capital, surplus, payroll, etc.
  • Equity – Equity includes the capital investments that you have made in the business.

Look for these items when reviewing the balance sheet:-

  • Negative Balance
  • Balance which seems too low or too high
  • Balance in the account that must be zero
  • Balance in account payable (AP) and account receivable (AR).

3. Profit and loss statement

Profit can be made when your revenue exceeds costs or expenses but if the cost exceeds revenue then a loss is projected.

The profit and loss statement records the performance of your business and shows the result if the company is financially healthy or not.

The profit and loss statement shows where the money is being allocated and also breaks down the business cost into categories for your financial statement.

Let’s look at the components of profit and loss:-

  • Income – It refers to the revenue earned by your company by the core operation and secondary sources such as interest income.
  • Cost of goods sold – It includes the costs related to the product sale in your inventory. The cost of goods sold is also known by the cost of sales.
  • Gross profit margin – Gross profit margin is the difference between the revenue and the cost of sales. It indicates the ability to cover the remaining expenses apart from the cost of sales.
  • Operating expenses – It includes selling, administrative, salaries, and general expenses.
  • Operating income – It comes by subtracting the operating expenses from the gross margin.
  • Depreciation – It reflects the reduction in the value of an asset like equipment that is being used to generate income.
  • Interest – Interest refers to the cost of borrowing funds to finance the business’s assets.
  • Net Income – It reflects the company’s bottom line. If the company’s expenses exceed then it will be recorded as a net loss.

These Important Financial statements are critical to evaluate the performance of your business yearly. As a business owner, one must know the basics of these important financial statements to understand the monetary health of your company. It will also help you to take the necessary decisions on time.