Challenges are normal in business, but you can still achieve your goals with the right practices. A new year gives you new opportunities to grow and improve.
In 2019, these factors can guide you in taking your business in the right direction and enhancing your productivity, potentially bringing you higher revenues every quarter.
Automate Your Procurement
Procurement plays a crucial role in the productivity of your business. Switching to digital can significantly improve your process as it eliminates the slow, manual process, which is time-consuming and prone to errors. Invest in a reliable procurement app to help you streamline your process. This tool can help you input important data easily for a quicker processing and payment of invoices.
Using digital procurement tools can assist you in finding new suppliers with minimal risks. Since it’s an electronic process, it reduces the paperwork, process times, and manual overheads of supplier negotiations. Here, only qualified suppliers can tender for work based on the criteria you have specified.
Additionally, a digital procurement process can speed up order to delivery timescales. It automates requisition approvals that enable users and approvers instant access to manage orders. Fast delivery is more crucial today as consumers demand it.
Maintain a Short Lead Time
Lead time refers to the amount of time you consume in a certain process. Factors that determine lead time include manufacturing, supply chain management, and project management. Applied consistently, these factors should help you reduce the time you use for a project.
A longer lead time may leave a negative impact on your sales and manufacturing processes.
Since supply chain sources have a different lead time, it can be challenging to predict the delivery of items, which can cause excess inventory or stock-outs. The latter refers to a situation in which the materials you need to fulfill an order are unavailable. These problems can put a strain on your budget and revenue.
In some cases, you may experience lead time delays due to shipping obstructions that occur due to the following elements:
- Shortages in raw materials
- Human errors
- Natural disasters
Problems in your inventory can increase your lead time. That’s why it’s necessary to have a backup that can help you maintain your production and minimize profit loss. One way to get around this problem is to opt for a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) program for automatic stock replenishment.
Embrace Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) simulates human intelligence. It can learn, plan, solve problems, and recognize speech. You’ll see evidence of this on mobile devices with smart assistants, like Siri and Alexa, search engines, like Google, and smart cars.
AI can also transform the way you do your business. It can process extensive information and come up with a solution, using complex data, faster than any human being. This technology can give your organization greater capabilities, allowing it to be productive, efficient, and profitable. It could help your business get ahead of the competition.
Running a business comes with ups and downs. Be aware of the latest trends, and be open for changes so you can overcome challenges in 2019, and maybe even the coming years.
