Running a small business in South Africa particularly these days comes with its own set of challenges. Between rising input costs and increasingly price-sensitive customers, you can quickly find yourself between a rock and a hard place. If you feel like your bottom line is under more pressure than it can take, it might be time to streamline your business.
Jeremy Lang
At its core, operational efficiency is about how well a business utilizes its resources to produce goods or services resulting in maximum output and minimal waste.
Here’s how to go about it:
1. Analyse your current operations
Before you can improve anything, you need to have an in depth understand of the core processes and systems in your business. This means taking a hard look at all aspects of your business. Where are the bottlenecks and which processes are taking up the most time? It’s also useful to get feedback from employees and customers here as they often spot inefficiencies that business owners miss.
A good operational analysis will give you a clear diagnosis of where the biggest opportunities for improvement lie.
2. Simplify and standardise processes
Complexity is the enemy of efficiency. The more steps it takes to get something done, the more time and resources it consumes. Streamlining means finding ways to reduce or eliminate unnecessary steps in your core processes.
Start by documenting key workflows, such as onboarding a new client, fulfilling an order, or resolving a complaint. Once you have a clear process map, look for steps that can be simplified, merged or automated. Standardising these processes also means less confusion for your employees and a more consistent experience for customers.
3. Embrace automation and digital tools
Many small business owners still rely heavily on manual processes – spreadsheets, paper-based filing systems, and repetitive admin tasks that take up valuable time. It’s important to use tools that automate the mundane, to save you time and money.
- Cloud accounting software can streamline your invoicing and expense tracking.
- Inventory apps can help you monitor stock levels in real time.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) systems can automate follow-ups and improve service delivery.
- Workflow tools like Trello or Asana can help teams stay organised and accountable.
Automating even a handful of routine tasks can free up hours each week, allowing you to focus on higher-value activities like sales, strategy and growth.
4. Tighten up cash flow and procurement
Cash flow management is a key element of operational efficiency. Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) tie up cash unnecessarily in slow-moving stock or overly generous payment terms. Others suffer because they have not negotiated better deals with suppliers or do not review procurement costs regularly.
Consider using just-in-time inventory models where appropriate and always compare supplier prices and payment terms to ensure you’re getting good value. If you can, negotiate bulk discounts or early payment terms or explore supplier financing if capital is constrained.
5. Delegate and empower your team
One of the most common traps SME owners fall into is trying to do everything themselves. This leads to burnout and bottlenecks, especially when the business starts to take off or is more established.
Streamlining is not just about systems and processes; it is also about people. Make sure you have hired the right team and that they have the tools, training and authority, while mitigating risk, to make decisions within their roles. Clear role definitions and accountability structures help prevent duplication of effort and confusion.
As the owner, your time is better spent working on the business, rather than in it. But that only becomes possible when you trust your team to take ownership of key functions.
