Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
When you’re running a company that provides a product or service, concern over how to balance the budget effectively is a constant worry for many a finance manager, and yet there are often pronounced areas that are overlooked when it comes to budget analysis. By considering all business areas, you may find all sorts of simple ways to claw back some of those unnecessary outgoings that would be spent better elsewhere. One area that can see improvements in a short space of time is the office area of your company, regardless of whether it is a large multi-level office or a small office space with only a couple of staff members.
Even a small company with a small office space has many working parts, the cost of which can mount up over time if proper care and attention isn’t given to them. One of the main things you’ll find in any office is a stationery cupboard – even in this age of online, people still need pens, paper, and other office supplies. Still, even though an individual envelope or pen has an insignificant cost to it, added all together, they aren’t a negligible cost after all. Take a look at your stationery supplier, do they offer decent options at a lower price that would make a reasonable substitution for some of the items you order, such as paper in the next grade down? Or could you even change supplier if a different company can offer you the same or equivalent stationery products at a reduced price?
Another office environment area that can be easily overlooked until it is too late is the office equipment, such as your printer, especially if it is a sizeable stand-alone model that prints and photocopies in several paper sizes. Like any machinery, these needs looking after, so photocopier servicing can be incredibly useful to ensure that your photocopier is running efficiently and is less at risk of breaking down and requiring expensive repairs, time-consuming repairs.
Regardless of how well your office electronics are maintained, whenever turned on, they will cost money in electricity, so ensure that computers and display monitors are turned off at the end of the day. Any machines that can’t be turned off are at least on a reduced power mode. Be sure that heating and air conditioning is not running overnight either, though do allow for staff who work outside of traditional hours to be comfortable.
Linking outgoing mail to an online print and post scheme, especially when your office sends out a lot of letters, is an excellent way to save time as well as money as it saves admin staff from having to spend a lot of time having to stuff and address individual envelopes, then take them to the postal collection point. Instead, with the help of a mail merge program, if it’s a large letter run, one person can produce and send anywhere from 1 letter to dozens, quickly and efficiently from their computer.
