How well does your business embrace change? And how critical is it to do so? If you are due to retire this year and your business is retiring with you – you may have a case for not embracing change.
However, if you are not, you wish to grow your business, or sell it on as a going concern which is fit for the future, then you must embrace change.
Here at Purple Lime we’d say it’s very, very important as the world of work is changing so dramatically that no business can afford to stand still.
Why embrace change?
The workforce is changing and that means the people within that workforce are changing and their expectations of how business should operate is changing too. They will buy differently, work differently and make business decisions differently.
For a long time, we’ve been talking about the impact of the Millennial generation on business as that generation is so digitally connected, were brought up in the era of tech and communicate in that way. Many are now running their own businesses, some are already billionaires.
However, in 2020, it’s estimated that 36 per cent of the work force will be from the next generation GenZ – and that’s when it gets really interesting. This generation were brought up in the era of advanced digital technology, a generation which will expect automation, very little paperwork and a full suite of tech applications within any business they come into contact with.
What will that generation of buyers, sellers, employees, business owners think of your business? As this generation starts stepping into its power- the time for change has come.
What can you do?
Firstly, recognise the need for change. When it comes to tech what are you doing to make your business more effective and efficient to keep ahead of the curve.
Do you audit your current business support applications to see if there are better products on the market that are able to make improvements to the systems you are already using?
This exercise is particularly pertinent to technology. Changes in this sector move at such a pace it can be very easy to overlook simple updates made to software that you have previously overlooked. Updates that could be making your life even easier!
We are all used to comparing our energy providers in terms of price and service, however do you employ the same simple strategy to see what different Cloud applications are now on offer and how they can benefit your business?
Like energy, it is now so much easier to move between software products.
Embracing this kind of change will help your business to grow as you will attract younger customers, attract younger staff and also retain them.
We can help with this and do the leg work for you.
We support our clients with this aspect of their business and we can do the same for you.
One way we do this involves a team visit to Xerocon each November. Arguably the biggest accountancy conference and event in the UK, it’s always a great opportunity for us to compare and find out about new applications and innovations around our base Xero software.
We meet with other like-minded cloud accounting professionals from the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. As a team, we are proud to be a Sliver Champion Partner with Xero and as such are always keen and eager to learn about the latest updates to the software. In doing this, we ensure that we provide our clients with the best possible service which is dynamic and up to date. Invariably we know what’s coming.
Since our 2019 visit, we have been trialling some software so that you don’t have to. Here are just two:
Approval Max:
This adds an approval level into the workflow to the purchase ledger and sales ledger elements. It would take any invoices that are sitting in ‘awaiting approval’ in Xero and send them off for approval to different people at different levels within the company. Once approved it is put back into Xero under ‘awaiting payment’. This basically takes away the need for verbal and email approvals; it is done directly in and out of Xero with an added audit trail.
Float:
An automated cash flow app, which links with Xero. It will build a cash flow based upon the data in Xero, including everything from looking at due dates; invoices and even actual patterns of when they have actually paid or been paid in the past. One very smart piece of software!
The Human Factor:
By keeping ahead of the curve when it comes to tech, our clients can focus on another area of change which needs to be considered.
This is all about ‘soft skills’. It can be all too easy to think about tech and applications and forget that in any team the human connection is so very important. We believe it will become of greater and greater importance.
Tech may make the functionality of any team work better yet this should allow us to embrace the other essential ingredients of any successful business, human connection.
This might be assisting anyone in developing their skills through personal development, team activities or how to work well with customers face to face. It could mean working as a team at an event like Xerocon by finding out what type of tech team members enjoy and divide the labour between the team. It might be adding a charitable element to the business to embrace a social responsibility as well as aid PR activity.
Or it could mean considering the ‘wellness’ of a team through breaks in the day or through offering complimentary therapies occasionally such as yoga, massage or meditation.
Embracing this kind of change will help your business to grow as you will attract younger customers, attract younger staff and also retain them.