5 Reasons to Invest in a Business Management System

Why growing small and medium businesses should invest in a Business Management System

 

As a small company, there are many different things which need your time, attention and resources particularly as your business grows. Investing in the right Business Management System (BMS) should be high up on your list of priorities. Putting the right system in place will improve both the visibility and control of the business.

For a growing business, there are many pressures and areas which need attention. From finding the right staff, hitting sales and production targets, all while delivering against the business plan and associated KPI’s.

But hitting KPIs consistently is only possible when the whole organisation has a common understanding of the goal and about how your business works; from the processes and procedures that comprise your operations to the structures that define the ownership of tasks.

In a small business where staff work closely together, it’s easy for them to appreciate and share their way of working and your collective business goals. Working closely together also allows these teams to adapt and improvise to meet new challenges. However, as a business grows it becomes more difficult, if not impossible, to work like this. Larger teams mean that the tight-knit interworking dissipates as more people are involved and then processes become critical.

As teams grow, and members leave or join, valuable knowledge and experience can ebb away and knowledge lost, old errors can be replicated and inefficiencies introduced. At some point, there comes a moment when it isn’t enough anymore to just ‘know’ how it’s done, you need to start formally documenting and sharing it, or risk losing the knowledge gained through experience altogether which would be detrimental to the business.

A Business Management System is designed to support your business processes and structures, maintaining performance and profitability, even in the face of rapid growth.

One of the central functions of a Business Management System (BMS), then, is to document and manage the tasks, business processes and procedures that make up all your operations, so they are available across the business to help standardise the delivery of your end products.

There are various approaches you can take when implementing a BMS, from expensive off the shelf systems which a provide generic approach to the problem, or a custom software system designed exclusively for you which works exactly as your business needs. More information on this can be found here.

Let’s look at five reasons why you should invest in a Business Management System.

A business management system brings visibility

A BMS provides a central source for managing and controlling the processes and best practice for everyone in the company. It outlines the approach for carrying out all roles and tasks that are fundemental to your business.

A BMS provides a powerful way of visualising the requirements, dependencies and expected outputs of every business process within your company.

It should be a quick way for management and appropriate staff to visualise how all the processes fit together, their inputs, outputs and critical performance metrics. It should track and report on performance and results.

This approach prevents siloed thinking and can demonstrate where tasks are orphaned within a business, where they are superfluous, duplicated.

A BMS encourages a holistic view of solutions and operations that will soon pay dividends.

It brings a consistent approach

A BMS, correctly designed ensures that staff follow every step of a process or procedure correctly, during their work activities. This has the added advantage that new employees are quickly fully operational and up to speed and cuts down on the dependence on experienced staff or employees. This also ensures continuity if an experienced member of staff is off for any reason or leaves.

A Business Management System can, therefore, become a key part of the way your company secures and replicates consistent quality across your whole operation. Where a business is growing rapidly, it ensures the right knowledge and experience can be passed on and secured in cases where staff leave.

A business management brings process optimisation

A Business Management System is also pivotal in providing continuous improvement within a business. Proper visibility of day to day activities  and management metrics give management the ability to streamline operations, eliminate waste and increase productivity.

By having full reporting of process and procedure in the operation, it is easy to identify where there is a risk of failure or an opportunity to improve performance and these can be addressed quickly and in a timely manner.

As it becomes relevant to your business, a BMS system can also help the company address the requirements of the relevant quality ISO accreditations.

A BMS promotes ownership

The process of designing, developing and implementing a Business Mangement System for your company, should involve representatives from all aspects of your business. Each team should work together to map out the processes and workflows they are responsible for, defining best practice, current processes and suggested improvements for the future.

These process maps will show how your business does business, defined by the people who are delivering your end products. It also outlines the goals and objectives for the new BMS system and the workflows required for the new system.

A BMS created in this way by its users will encourage and facilitate better curation, troubleshooting and optimisation of the processes themselves. By being thus involved, users are far more likely to fully engage with the new system and endure it is successful going forward.

A business management system positions for a more fruitful exit

Companies that have a strong effective BMS; that have transparent and effective working practices tend to be a much exciting option for an acquiring company than those without, relying purely on experienced people to manage processes.

If systems can be easily audited and understood by third parties, then you will be able to give confidence to all parties as you court investors and acquirers.

So to conclude, Not only does a properly devised Business Management System make your business more effective and consequently more competitive, it also positions your company strongly for the future.

Whether that future is continued growth as an independent organisation, or as part of a larger organisation through merger or acquisition, the proper Business Management System will help position the company in the best light.

How we can help

Compass Data have helped many companies plan and implement a business management system that is custom made for their business. With our knowledge of both business practices and custom software, we can help you build the system which is right for your business today and tomorrow. A system which can grow and adapt so that it keeps pace with the changing needs of your business as it grows. Contact us for a free consultation on business management systems and other custom solutions.

Let Compass Data help your business with a new Management system

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