Efficiency

Issues/description

Efficiency affects all aspects of your company. In marketing or sales this could be seen as a slow turnaround of quotations or tenders (perhaps even missing them entirely!), leading to losing potential sales. Operationally, jobs could take far longer to complete than necessary and use more materials and labour to complete than expected. A financial example would be delays in sending invoices or chasing debts leading to long delays in receiving payments, resulting in slow cash flow.

Inefficiency is always caused by a lack of good systems and procedures, made worse by a lack of skills (including management) to ensure they are being carried out accurately and effectively.

The following tests will highlight any problems relating to efficiency:

• Jobs not finished on time
• Budgets overrun
• Constant errors and rework
• No systems/procedures in place for routine tasks
• No up to date computer systems
• No current communications technology eg smart phones
• Staff unable to use the systems

We will

Audit the use of systems and technology in the business and the extent to which they drive up efficiency and productivity.

Efficiency gains are rarely due to a single major breakthrough - just doing a hundred things 1% better to achieve a 100% gain.

We can help you improve through:

• Ensuring that jobs are project managed effectively to achieve time and to budget every time - and greatly improve customer satisfaction.
• Using project management software to help your teams manage/co-ordinate jobs
• Raising sales by maintaining an effective Customer Relations Management database
• Winning more contracts/tenders by staying in touch whilst out of the office by using the latest technology
• Keeping on top of your admin by using electronic systems
• Ensuring your staff have a better understanding of what technology can be used, to make their lives easier and your company more efficient

Deliverables —what you will get from this

• Fewer complaints - more happy customers
• More sales
• Higher profit margins
• Happier staff
• Reduced costs