The Conference Coach™

Everyone has heard the expression, “Name that Tune in Fewer Notes.”  Companies that adopt the strategy of evaluating every aspect of their business to increase efficiency will find that they reduce costs, increase revenue and improve overall employee productivity.  Here are some key strategies that companies can use to improve their business efficiency:

Reduce Administration – If you take the time to understand people’s roles in an organization and what they do on a daily basis you are sure to find tasks that the employee has “always done” but are no longer necessary. In a Small and Medium Business (SMB), it should not take long to understand an employee’s daily tasks.  Take out those that aren’t necessary and replace them with tasks that add value.

Improve Internal Systems – Internal systems are an invaluable part of a SMB.  Even when business is down, investing in systems can improve your employee’s efficiency and save the company money in the long run.
Creative effective process with business partners – If you are hard to work with, your business partners are going to be less likely to work with you. Simplify your contracts and your contacts for your partners. Take the time to automate the data flow with your partners to increase efficiency.

Increase effective, interactive communication between employees, partners, suppliers, and customers to boost efficiency while also reducing costs. Audio and web conferencing provides the kind of interactive communications your business needs to foster seamless, easy collaboration.

Reduce travel time – Any time spent traveling, particularly by airplane, can dramatically reduce operational efficiency and increase cost. Replace the need to travel to offsite meetings and training sessions with virtual meetings. The time saved from traveling can be better spent on more productive pursuits.

Outsource IT tasks – Is it the best use of an employee’s time to manage your network security or systems? Often, a more efficient option is to outsource such tasks to an expert.  Outside vendors have the expertise that your business needs and can prevent your company from spending time or money developing that know-how in house. Outsourcing enables your employees to stay focused on productive activities related to your business’s core competencies keeping your business competitive.

Break down the operational walls – Just because you are in sales does not mean you could not provide valuable input to accounting. If you see that actions or programs initiated by one department that are causing customer issues or are not operating efficiently, reach across the aisle. Your company should be a bi-partisan group working together.
Analyze, Analyze, Analyze – You will not know what is working unless you measure results before and after you implement efficient improvements.  If you continue to analyze, you find items that are not working so you can make adjustments. Not everything will work the first time so continue to refine and rebuild.

In a tough economic climate all companies are looking to reduce cost, increase revenue, and in some cases, just survive. By utilizing your systems and employee capital in some no nonsense ways you can survive the economic storm.

About Conference Coach Christina
Christina Wafford, COO & CFO, brings over 16 years of business, finance and accounting experience to Copper Conferencing.

Christina has held senior management positions at a number of high profile and start-up companies, including Neodata/EDS, netLibrary, Concepts Direct, Raindance Communications and Accruit. Christina was most recently at Accruit, where she was the CFO and responsible for $6 billion a year in client funds, as well as, all finance, accounting and administrative functions. Christina has experience with both international and domestic, public and private company acquisitions and merger and integration planning. She has had responsibility in building and developing all aspects of finance and accounting functions including systems, policies and procedures, budgeting and planning, business plan development and facilities management.

Christina holds a Bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in accounting from Colorado College located in Colorado Springs as well as a Master’s degree in Business Administration from University of Colorado in Denver.

Have questions about Copper Conferencing or need to do an audio conference or web meeting?  Contact a Conference Coach today.