Have you ever taken your business apart to the minute detail and measured the actual cost it can incur, long-term? We know what it’s like, ‘being on rails’, doing your day-to-day work and never really examining the little details that make your day stall or lag.

Some might think of email, or filing, or form-filling, or even financial processes. The list is a long one.

Imagine just pausing at the stage where you had that annoyance of wasted time, unnecessary input or repetition. Examining what could be taken out or introduced to make a small difference now but mean a greater gain later. 

We had one such instance this week where we were always being sent example, historic files and the exact version number or job folder was hard to locate, just from the naked file alone. We worked out that each search could take up to 7 minutes to ensure we had the correct file before we could start work.

This meant if we had an average of 8 files each week we were wasting about a week per year just searching through revisions of old work! If you then equate that to cost of the employee, their time wasted, plus any mistakes that could develop due to the wrong file being used etc, this becomes even worse.

All we did was add a tiny addition in the metadata to our output files, with an embedded, unique job/project number, so that in future any returning file could be opened and checked for the relating project, directing the designer straight to it. Saving those 'valuable' 7 minutes, mistakes and, in turn, money.

This is just one simple example of solving something that will ultimately improve your bottom line. With our knowledge and experience we have helped other businesses too. For instance, we have saved one company hours by supplying them with an export label template that cuts waste, never breaks and allows them to choose which label on any sheet is printed and what is not.

When you notice an issue, start with:

1. Record one process, note all the inefficiencies.
2. Measure the time, human resource and associated cost of that time into a spreadsheet.
3. Can these inefficiencies be automated, reduced, replaced or even removed completely?

We could help you too with problem-solving and examining a process you think could be better, even if you don't have the answer, just by discussing it with people that understand the software and how systems work can mean the solution becomes clear.