The turn of a new year doesn’t just provide an opportunity for personal reflection, as a company owner it’s a chance to evaluate your business too. Based on your successes and failures over the last twelve months you can work out what changes you need to make and where you need to adapt to make 2018 a successful and profitable year ahead.

Here are just three areas that it’s worth taking a look at, to ensure business is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Software

Business software makes light work of tedious, manual tasks. It makes jobs quicker (therefore cheaper where you’re not paying employees for unnecessary hours of work) and also makes everything more accurate. Software can tackle everything from customer relationship management to legally binding contracts to shift planning, software like Altium can even make electronics design simple.

The exact software you need of course depends on your business and the types of tasks that you do each day, but every company will benefit from at least a few different programs so work out which is best. A great way to boost productivity, accuracy and save yourself time and money.

Staff

For any company to survive and do well, a good workforce is needed. People who are hardworking, reliable, experienced and genuinely care about the success of the business. When issues with staff occur it can lead to a huge drop in morale and productivity. Keep an eye on things like harassment and workplace bullying.

You could set up an anonymous reporting system so that people can speak out against problems they see. If you’re experiencing a high staff turnover rate, this is something you could look into. If staff aren’t pulling their weight again this can be an issue, you could set targets that people need to achieve or even offer incentives for great workers. Point systems could be used for end of year prizes and could give people a boost to work harder.

Office

Another important element of your business that you might be overlooking when it comes to productivity is your office. Think about it, this is the place your workers (and you) will be spending your working day- a decent space mans people will be happier and therefore work harder. If your office is dull, dingy and cramped why not modernize it for the new year?

A coat of paint, some new carpets, office window treatments and furniture will all make the office look and feel much nicer. You could also upgrade your equipment, things like better computers, printers, phones and everything else will allow workers to do their job better.

When you’re looking to boost business and improve your company, there are a hundred and one different areas you could look into changing. These obvious elements of your business could easily be overlooked, but making adjustments here could be the difference between an average year and an excellent one.

What changes will you be making to your business in 2018?