Money matters: Basic cost cutting strategies for start ups

In wake of global economic uncertainty as well as financial recession operating a small enterprise may appear to be a daunting task. Under such circumstances, start ups are left to confront with the necessity to watch over costs to remain competitive, maintain profitability, or many a times even survive.

 

While, the market is flooded with innovative and creative concepts and great business models, without efficient cost cutting strategies, many challenges will appear in the long run. Hence, integration of efficient cost cutting measures becomes crucial to handle the drying cash flows.

 

 

 

 

Financial Management:

 

Dwelling on the current economic scenario, managing expenses becomes imperative for sustenance of the enterprise. The added competition in the environment also works like fuel to the fire.

 

 

 

Keeping constant assessment on the items that affect the liquidity of the business, like the level of debtors, stock of raw materials and finished goods can go a long way in managing finances. 

 

 

 

Managing a way to have optimum working capital rather than minimum or maximum working capital can works well for processing the cash flows.

 

 

 

Maintaining a record of financial transactions on a regular basis; at the same time maintaining relevant documents and preparing financial statements from time to time is essential.

 

 

 

 

Analyzing the financial statements:

 

Systematic analysis as well as understanding financial issues will have a far reaching affect for start ups. As it will ensure that the businesses are well informed regarding assimilation of developing trends, early warning signs, also ideas to reach out to wider areas.

 

 

 

 

Cloud computing:

 

Cloud computing holds key to minimising costs as well increasing profits for the small enterprises. It includes movement of localised software and digitized files to a cloud available over the web, it will ensure major savings by removing the need to upgrade the hardware and software frequently.

 

 

 

It is efficient technology which is also available on multiple devices.

 

 

 

 

Credit management:

 

Developing proper credit management is very important tool for the SMEs as it not only shrinks the unnecessary costs and avoidable debts, but can be a very important way of branding for the small business.

 

 

 

While offering credit is an important part of the start ups, it does not associate with the quality of services provided. Hence, it is advisable to work on a low-cost but good quality credit system to maintain business.

 

 

 

 

Future plans:

 

This is very important for any business to nurture and grow. Planning future can actually enable well established system, ensuring cost management in avoidable areas. Drafting out a proper plan will make sure that there are no unnecessary cost escalations, at the same time; it leaves enough room for charting out effective strategies to counter any uncertainties.

 

 

 

 

In the end, every entrepreneur starts with a different idea and business model; but it boils down to how well they are able to manage their business.

Hitachi Data Systems to introduce cloud services for Gujarat SMEs soon

Hitachi Data Systems has decided to unveil its cloud services for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the state as the state accounts for more than 10% of the three million-SMEs in India. 

 

SMEs in the state have been looking at data backup and email management services, along with data and business analysis from the cloud solution providers.

During the early part of this year, at the ninth meeting of the National Board for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has stated that Centre would be joining hand with service providers to offer latest information technology and software at cheaper rates.

Read more at: http://news.indiamart.com/story/hitachi-data-systems-introduce-cloud-services-gujarat-smes-soon-151290.html

Expert Speak: Mr. Mehul Kapadia, Tata Communications

InstaCompute: Building tomorrow’s IT business models today

In a rapidly expanding market like India, the rise of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is clearly no surprise. However, SMEs often face the challenge of fast-changing IT business processes and seasonal spikes, coupled with tight budget constraints. In such a scenario, can there be a single solution for such a business challenge? The answer lies in solutions like InstaCompute, which are based on Cloud computing model.

All businesses undergo a transition at various points. Whether you run a full-fledged enterprise, a medium-sized business venture or even a smaller, relatively newer business, updating business IT processes is a critical step in your enterprise life cycle. In fact, some businesses even have to undergo multiple transformation phases. Large enterprises have the capability and the resources to execute such transformations smoothly, but SMEs face a significant challenge in doing so, given their limited resources and capital.

Overcoming the challenges of transitional change

The major transition that SMEs need to address right away is from a local, traditional setup to a more global and more economic solution such as Cloud Computing. These solutions help Small and Medium Enterprises convert a typical Capex-driven business IT model into an Opex-driven model.

Advantages of IaaS for SMEs

By choosing a IT model that provides Infrastructure as a Service, SMEs can significantly reduce Capex and enable greater network control, scalable processing and storage capabilities and faster product delivery over the Internet. Few more advantages of IaaS for SMEs, apart from ones already listed, include:

• On-demand deployment for whenever a solution is needed
• Instant scalability to match business’ growth potential
• Pay-per-use pricing so that you spend for just as much as you use

Every bit of capital investment is crucial for an SME. Seasonal peaks are one of the greatest reasons for companies under-provisioning or over-provisioning. This can later result in a heavy loss and idle resources. With IaaS, your business can gain immediate computing resources, on-demand, when you need them.

Tata Communications’ InstaCompute

InstaCompute is a flexible, cost-effective and on-demand IaaS solution that with strong Service Level Agreement (SLA). Signing up online is quick and easy; hence you save time and do not require dedicated resources to utilize the service.

With their best-in-class technology partnerships, your business also gets the best infrastructure solutions. 

Gain the InstaCompute advantage

• Quick time to market with best in class Infrastructure assuring High Reliability and scalability
• Anticipate customer demands by preventing under-provisioning and over-provisioning
• Limited IT personnel and infrastructure required, thus saving costs
• Pay-per-use pricing structure
• Real time addition and removal of virtual servers, storage capacity and metered Internet connectivity
• Best-in-class security features such as business grade firewalls, secure MPLS on-ramp, data centers with highest security standards and Master User controls for overseeing and permission granting
  

For more information on InstaCompute, visit: http://goo.gl/xREBW 

The contributor for this blog is Mr Mehul Kapadia, VP Marketing and Strategy, Tata Communications-SME (http://www.tatacommunications.com/sme/)

Technology Simplified: top benefits of the Cloud for SMEs

The Indian SME and the Dynamic Nature
The Indian SME sector is one of the fastest growing industrial sectors and surely one which constantly faces many challenges. For any emerging economy the SMEs are one of the strongest parts of its economic backbone.

The dynamic changes which happen in the SME ecosystem, makes them more agile and swift, which empowers them to quickly create innovative solutions to address the challenges posed by the ever evolving marketplace, they operate in.

Technology: enabling the SME to be swift and agile
Technology has undoubtedly created many opportunities and changed the way business is conducted. The general trend of adoption has always been from the large enterprises to the smaller ones, but we are witnessing a change.

Technology: costs, risks and adoption:
Since its critical for SMEs to take result oriented investment decisions in all operational areas, technology adoption has been one of the key aspects. Largely technology has been related with costly licenses, growing costs, updating and managing costs, manpower costs and much more. Many SMEs also get stuck with the growing business complexities and the same with technology as well.

These challenges make the decision making for the CTO/ CIO critical, on what technology to adopt in the organisation. The risks weighed for the SME are always on the higher side.

Cloud has changed the game:
What is Cloud Computing: this Wiki article on Cloud Computing has an exhaustive explanation of the same!

1. Lowered cost/ Affordability – there is no need to install heavy servers, additional housing and maintenance cost, IT support staff and the best, pay as you use!
2. Scalable storage – If you need more space, it is just a mouse click away. You no more need to buy or invest into hardware
3. Remote access – since you can access your systems over the cloud anytime and anywhere, well, your staff has the power to be mobile and you as a business empower them with ready access to information
4. Access to enterprise-class service – New cutting-edge applications, platforms and infrastructure is available on the cloud at affordable costs
5. Re-knowned Technology Providers – Microsoft, Yahoo, Sales Force, IBM and Amazon are some of the most known names who are building services on the cloud for you, hence keeping your business always running
6. Easy to use and implement – its as easy as setting up your Google Mail account :)
7. Business Competitive Edge – Small and emerging businesses now can access smart business tools and technology, which originally was always available only to the large players.

This sounds good, So where is the problem for the SME?
The only problem is embracing technology and the know how. There are many resources from where you can get to know much about the cloud, but they are scattered and as the cloud market heats up with competition from large service providers, there is an overload of information for the small business owner.

If you would like to find out more about how cloud computing can help your business, increase productivity and much more, drop in a comment to this post and our experts will sure advice you right.