It’s no secret since the pandemic began, businesses have been struggling to deal with the now rapidly rising costs of inflation. In a recent NFIB study, one in three enterprises listed inflation as a top business concern. Owners reported that inventory, supplies, materials and fuel (gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, etc.) are the leading factors to higher business costs.
Companies are plagued with supply chain constrictions, staffing shortages, and the steep rising costs of supplies and services needed to run their business. But there are ways to overcome and ride out rising inflation.
You have a decision to make
Businesses have two options in today’s environment—stay lean or commit to growth.
Businesses should concentrate on managing and lowering expenses if their company decides to stay small and wait out the economic shift. Cut back on all nonessentials without sacrificing your cybersecurity strategy and cutting corners on your IT environment.
If you choose growth, your focus is generating revenue to stay ahead of inflation – and your competition. Investing in technology can improve your productivity, get overhead costs under control, and lower costs.
Opportunities to maximize your budget
Whether you stay small or grow your business, this is an excellent time to reevaluate business processes and budgets. Here are a few ways to control and cut costs through inflation:
- Implement or maximize the cloud. It is an operating expenditure; you can scale computing resources up or down as needed.
- Extend the life of your current hardware. Routine cleaning and preventative maintenance.
- Explore IT outsourcing. Combat staffing shortages, overtime, and gas expenses to travel to multiple locations to repair your equipment.
- Take advantage of assessments. From print fleets and hardware to cloud and security, look for ways to save money without sacrificing technology and security.
- Prioritize security. Data breaches and ransomware cost thousands in recovery efforts, and some businesses never recover.
- Right size your technology. A lot has changed in the last two years, make sure you have the proper hardware, equipment, and technology in place.
- Outsource project work. Does it make sense to hire someone with unique skill sets full-time or would outsourcing to a qualified managed service provider be a lower-cost option.
- Take advantage of supplier discounts. Your managed service provider may have ways to access hardware and other supplies at a reduced cost. Or access equipment faster and bypass wait lists.
Additional Expense Reductions
When looking for ways to cut back, it’s helpful to start looking for improvements that result in more significant expense reductions. Other examples include automating manual tasks and shifting labor between full-time resources and managed service providers.
Secur-Serv helps businesses recession-proof their IT and security strategies by taking a thoughtful and measured approach to help avoid any long-term regrets that may end up costing more in the long run. Our team works with businesses of every size to help them prepare for a crisis and take balanced measures for the cost appropriation of funds.
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