The SME’s Guide To Business Admin

Regardless of whether it’s finding new customers, securing more sales, or keeping on top of finances, owning and running a business comes with many diverse duties that need your undivided attention. Therefore, something like an admin is bound to be far down on your list of priorities.

However, that doesn’t mean to say it’s any less important than the things you’d prefer to focus on. In fact, an organized approach to business admin can make all your other essential activities much easier and more effective.

With this in mind, here’s an SME’s guide to business admin.

Take the time to do some planning

At the start of your working week, take the time to organize your admin requirements for the next five days. This will help you keep on top of everything and ensure your admin duties don’t spiral out of control.

Creating to-do lists is an excellent way of getting admin out of the way, as you’ll be focused on each individual task in hand and feel a great sense of achievement once they’ve all been fulfilled.  

Keep a detailed calendar with alerts for important tasks

As a business owner, chances are your diary or calendar is completely indispensable. So, it makes sense to fill it with any important admin activities too.

It’s also a good idea to set up alerts that remind you of the essential tasks and meetings. Thankfully, the vast majority of online calendars and email clients will provide you with alerts automatically, which can be edited according to their priority.  

Perform regular backups of important information

Along with keeping confidential and sensitive information protected against cybercriminals, data security should also take precedence for SMEs due to the possibility of losing all your admin work.

Unfortunately, many businesses learn the hard way and, with no form of disaster recovery in place, have to start from scratch. That’s why you should perform regular backups of important information, ideally with copies off-site or in the cloud in case of fire or theft.

Find ways to automate laborious processes

Despite the fact that 1.5 million people in England are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation according to the Office for National Statistics, this type of technology can be a godsend for business owners.

For example, mobile barcode scanning can simplify your inventory management while simultaneously reducing time and errors. Other automation tools can be used for invoice and purchase emails, CRM integration, cross channel consistency and back-order management.

Don’t neglect your bookkeeping

Accounting has got to be one of the biggest bugbears for SMEs, especially when it comes to calculating VAT. But, in an attempt to make the tax system more efficient, the UK government recently launched its ‘Making Tax Digital’ policy, which gives businesses the ability to predict, monitor, calculate and file their VAT payments.

Even so, bookkeeping shouldn’t be something you leave to the last minute. Aim to set one day aside each month to double check your accounting responsibilities are being met.

Was this helpful? Save for later: