It’s worth spending a few minutes going through your business outgoings to see if you can identify any that you can eliminate/reduce. Examples of this include:
- Office Space: with more people working from home, you may have areas of your workplace which are not being used. Depending on what premises you use, you could enquire about moving to a smaller area.
- Moving Office: we can be creatures of habit, so it may be worth checking to see if you could get a better rental deal, including business rates from new premises. However, don’t forget to check on certain overheads such as insurance and consider how any move may affect staff.
- Equipment: is your office equipment or furniture leased and if so, can you negotiate a better deal?
- IT Sytems: it is also worth checking pricing across your hardware and software. Often multiple use licenses will be cheaper than a few single use purchases. Look to see what costs are associated with certain software and if these are still being used by staff.
- Energy prices: if your contract is up for renewal, it’s worth using an online comparison tool to check out tariffs offered by other suppliers. Perhaps this is a job that can be delegated to another member of your team as it’s often too easy to forget to do this until it’s too late to change.
Speak to staff about energy usage at work; you’d be amazed how many people I’ve seen fill up a kettle to make 1 cup of tea. Investing in a kettle that allows you to select the temp to switch off may be worthwhile. - Bank Charges: you may have banked with X plc for many years, but that £7 monthly charge amounts to £84 for the year.
- Mobile Charges: if you or any member of staff has a contract, it really is worth considering SIM only plans.
- Switch off Appliances at the Plug: Remind staff about turning off appliances at the plug as most electronic devices such as computers draw energy even when in “sleep” mode. The same applies to microwaves – you don’t need that clock !
- Central Heating: Before radiators get switched on, it’s best to bleed them. Check areas that may not need heating such as corridors. Adjust timers to come on / go off to suit office hours; you probably don’t need the premises heated at the weekend either.
- Insurance: Use a broker and online comparison tools to get additional quotes for your employer and contents insurance each year. It’s too easy to just allow policies to auto-renew.
- Set Up Reminders: Use your mobile or computer calendar to remind you of your business commitments not only for meetings, but when you are required to renew policies, annual returns at Companies House and of course keep on top of your Tax obligations. Certain payments can be set up to auto-renew such as your ICO registration document to avoid you forgetting to do this, plus it’s cheaper online!
- Subscriptions: Review these regularly to see if they are still being used / needed. There’s no point paying for a monthly network meeting group if no one is going or it’s not bringing you any business. Check to see if there are any duplications.
