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71% of small businesses are optimistic about the year ahead according to a JPMorgan Chase survey (January 2022), and 63% anticipate revenue and sales growth in the year ahead.

That’s welcome news for small business owners. But optimism doesn’t guarantee success, especially given the ongoing challenges posed by Covid-19.

One surefire way to help combat these challenges and position your business for growth is to take a closer look at your operational expenditure and focus on cost efficiency.

This doesn’t mean switching to ‘cheap’ alternatives.

Instead, it’s about focusing on the value you gain from each expenditure. Take a look at each of your biggest costs and think about its real worth to you and your team:

• Are you using it to its full capacity?
• Does it support your business growth plan?
• Does it align with your operational priorities?
• Do team members benefit from this purchase or expense?
• Can it be customized to meet your needs more closely?

These points can be applied to any purchase, such as a new software tool, or even the space you work in.

Indeed, office space is often the second biggest expense that businesses have, just behind staffing costs. Yet, in our current age of remote work, you may be questioning your dependence on physical workspace.

Using office space as an example, let’s look at those key questions again:

• Are you using it to its full capacity?
  • Unless you have staff using every available workstation 24/7/365, then the answer is no. After all, on a traditional office lease you pay for space around the clock, 365 days per year, but most offices are used less than 50% of business hours.
• Does it support your business growth plan?
  • Possibly, if you rely on workspace to collaborate and meet in-person. But the rest of the time, you may find that your team works and collaborates just as well (or better) remotely. Consider whether you have the right amount of space, or whether a flexible, shared, or ad hoc approach would work better.
• Does it align with your operational priorities?
  • Again, consider how much you really need physical workspace for the daily roles your employees are doing. Is it a necessity or just an operational process you have grown accustomed to?
• Do team members benefit from this purchase or expense?
  • There’s no denying the benefit of regular in-person collaboration with team members and clients, both for business and for personal wellness. But you may find that many of your employees prefer working from home, at least part of the time. Speak to them or conduct a survey to find out their preferences.
• Can it be customized to meet your needs more closely?
  • There is now a huge variety of workspace agreements to enable you to find a more flexible approach that better fits your business needs. More on this below.

There are various ways you can maximize your company’s office utilization to not only save money, but to operate more efficiently and support future growth.

For example, consider switching to a flexible office agreement, in which the amount of space and amenities you utilize can be easily right-sized.

You might also consider a hub-and-spoke approach, using coworking spaces as regional branch offices for your team. This provides a workspace that’s near home but not at home, giving employees an ‘escape’ from the distractions and loneliness of home, while also providing a professional workplace for productive work and meetings.

And what if you could do away with the office completely?

Many businesses of all sizes now work independently of a formal head office, instead allowing staff to work from home or from wherever they are most productive.

The benefits include huge cost reduction, less risk in terms of balance sheet debt, and greater flexibility for the workforce.

Of course, you’ll still need a business location with a fixed address, even if your company operates remotely. That’s where a virtual office comes in.

A virtual office provides a commercial street address at an office building, which you can use as your company office — even if you don’t work there. It’s a professionally managed office, unlike a PO Box; receptionist staff are onsite to receive and process mail, and you also have the option to use onsite meeting rooms and office space as needed.

The key point is that you rent the address — not the full-time office space — which keeps costs low and reduces waste.

Every business growth plan requires cost efficiency, and by taking stock of your current expenditure and seeking out ways to operate more flexibly and to gain more value from the tools and services you work with — especially workspace — you are more likely to position your business for growth success in 2022.

Our partner, Alliance Virtual Offices, provides virtual office plans with recognized addresses in hundreds of locations globally, starting from just $49 per month. Find out more about Alliance’s flexible and cost-effective virtual office plans by searching for a location or chatting with a member of the team online at www.alliancevirtualoffices.com.