Organisational Development: What Areas Should an SME Invest In?

Almost at all times, the Small and Medium enterprises fall into this trap of choosing from a whole list of activities which need to be done for growing the business and taking it to the next level.

We have many items on our list, but we need to invest, what should we do?
Money and resources (time included) are crucial for any company and moreso for the SME. You have to prioritize at various stages of organisational growth as to what do you as a business invest into, at the present and what should you be keeping for the future.

But to me everything seems important, its difficult to prioritize
Many a times SMEs have the similar state of existence, when everything seems crucial to business growth. At this stage the business leads (vertical heads/ business heads)/ people who are responsible for charting our business growth must collaborate together and brainstorm to ensure that everyone is at the same page, while discussing business growth.
This activity will help bring new perspective to the business. Only the CEO sitting at the top, making decisions, in cases of SMEs may not be the right approach to prioritizing.

Are there any particular pointers which you think can help us set our thought process right?
At IndiaMart, our experience with the SMEs over years has led to some very basic pointers which will provide a direction to your thought process, while you are in the process of prioritizing the re-investment into your business.

Some crucial and un-avoidable areas of investment for a growing business, which often get ignored are:
HR

1. Training and Development
2. Investment towards recruiting the right talent on-board

Branding

1. Brand building - Internal and External

Corporate Communication

1. Internal
2. External

Technology

1. Automation and Process Improvement

Customer Service/ Support

1. Strong processes, making the customer support/ service strictly process oriented

Infrastructure

1. Re-invest into your infrastructure, give your people an environment to work in, which they love

Knowledge Retention and Management

1. Using technology you could retain critical knowledge and build practices around knowledge retention and management

Legalities

1. Invest into the right legal advice to build robust accounting practices

Marketing

1. Use internet for business promotion
2. Use mobile to reach to to your set of target customers
3. Go to events and make your brand visible
4. Marketing/Sales collaterals

Process Development

1. You must invest into process development - internally in your business. A process oriented organisation always has an edge over its competitors, people are more productive and all work towards achieving quality within their processes

One of the most important activity which must constantly be invested into is the improvement in an entrepreneur's own self. There has to be a constant up-gradation of the entrepreneur's self which keeps the competitive nature alive at all times and makes the team look upto the lead.

We are sure, as entrepreneurs you must be making many decisions of which area of the organisation to invest into such that you may derive the maximum benefit for your organisation. For more, drop in a comment and our team of experts will be happy to help!