Have you got engine failure?

As a leader you’ll want your business to be efficient and to grow, even if you don’t know how. You might suspect there are opportunities for improvements in certain areas. But it’s difficult to be sure if your systems can’t deliver the real information you need - or link them together.

The software revolution over the last decade gives you potential to access information on everything within your business, from almost anywhere and on any device. You name it, there are low cost license based systems to help; project management, accounting, sales pipeline, resourcing, CRM, HR, talent, payroll. And many more. But few creative businesses are tapping into the potential of these new products nor updating their antiquated ones, despite how inefficient or difficult they are to work with.

When did you last take a proper look at systems in your business and what could improve? As you grow or change the cracks start to emerge if you’re not on top of what’s happening.

Your systems should be ready to scale, to power through growth and keep you tapped in to reality. You should be able to access live information about your job profitability, staff utilisation and capacity, who of your clients and prospects you contacted (and about what), what your sales pipeline is looking like right now, who is working on what project. None of these need be complex or require a lot of manpower.

Like most small and medium sized businesses, when you are always busy your systems may not be high on the agenda. But you should ask what you are losing as a consequence; man days, invoicing, hours wasted, costs unrecovered, clients neglected, prospects forgotten.

Process and systems don’t have to be dirty words, they can even be made so simple they don’t get in the way. But they should give you a true perspective across the business, with the detail when you need it. You may want to act immediately - or just to know where things stand. Either way you’re in control.