Small Business Technology & Quality Assurance

As strong markets for U.S. exports was a highlight of the fading economy of 2007, according to The Small Business Economy (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sb_econ2008.pdf) report by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, it is a testament to the unyielding power of small businesses.

In 2007, as housing sales fell and energy prices increased, small businesses faced growing challenges. A year that showed strong growth in the second and third quarters ended with fourth quarter growth down an annualized 0.2 percent. Still, the economy generated 1.1 million new jobs, largely in the service sectors populated largely by small businesses. Small businesses continued to lead job growth in the first quarter, creating 74 percent of the net new jobs. But, by the fourth quarter, businesses of all sizes were cutting jobs. These trends continued into 2008 and 2009.

Small businesses ability to maintain and create growth is an indicator that the small business community will lead America out of its present state. With improved processes, previously only mastered by larger businesses, small businesses, we believe, may become the backbone of our entire economy.

To improve operational processes of a business, through a top to bottom analysis, a business owner must look at three things. 1) Technology and Quality Assurance, 2) Decreasing Operations Costs, and 3) Processes that are on brand.

In this article, we will discuss why creating and evolving a set of processes for all aspects of your business decreases costs. It's "Total Quality Management."

Processes are how the work gets done in your business; how products get manufactured; how money is exchanged; how services are delivered. Brand is the personality of the company; what your customer is forming a relationship with. If you don't have a process for everything you do, and things aren't continuously done in a consistent and intentional way, a company risks not only costly inefficiencies, but also a weakened brand. A weak brand = a weak relationship with customers.

It is impracticable to maximize business performance with flawed or inefficient processes. It's essential to continually improve your processes, eliminate waste, reduce costs, and increase efficiency in technology (web solutions in specific when speaking of small businesses). Take Toyota, for example. Company leaders have been working on constantly improving their business processes for over 50 years. Yet, they still don't consider their processes for manufacturing perfected and they continue to evolve them.

When you look at things from a process point-of-view, you'll find the root of the problem and replace it with something more effective and efficient (web design, search engine optimization advertising, brand strategy, and b2b marketing). Process improvements reduce costs by saving time, eliminating rework and redundant tasks and that translates into Profit Improvement. Your bottom line will thank you for changes … and your brand and longevity will be improved.

Historically, small businesses have been at a disadvantage in process development because they haven't had the resources of larger companies. Not anymore. IN:FUSE takes big business expertise to the small business market. For seasoned support in small business process improvement and to become more profitable in the current economic downturn, contact IN:FUSE now at 651.307.5593