Running a business is not a small endeavor. You need to improve operations and reduce inefficiencies so you can make better decisions. Your network can’t be down. At the same time, you want to make smart budget decisions for your company and provide benefits for your employees.

Fortunately, we compiled the top five areas that you need to help you run an efficient business. This includes finances, accounting, technical support, a lawyer and overhead services such as health benefits and payroll.

Your business can’t prosper without someone who knows how to manage finance, strategy and cash flow.

You need someone who can manage that performance so you can determine the best decisions you should make to grow your business. Your financial planner will manage your money or investments, and they make sure your resources are being allocated effectively.

Here’s what they can help you with:

• Putting together a financial plan
• Understanding where to budget or invest
• Whether or not you have the resources to hire and what salaries should stay at
• Building a long-term plan for getting out of debt

Ultimately, your financial planner explains your financial issues in a way that understand so you can make better decisions for your life and business. This ensures that you have optimal growth and wealth for your business. But remember, although they are experts, you should have an understanding of this because ultimately, you’re the person that makes the financial decisions.

Your accountant helps you figure out the best way to invest and file taxes.

They provide you with financial visibility, not to mention, one less headache during tax season. If you own large investments, you will probably have a complicated tax season. In this case, this can be difficult to manage on your own and that’s where an accountant comes into play. Your accountant explains the information you are supposed to track every day as well as restrictions around tax laws and bookkeeping.

While you can use QuickBooks, at the end of the day you want someone who can take the time off your hands so you can focus on what matters – your business. As a business owner, having both a financial planner and an accountant is critical for your business. As you’re looking for help, keep in mind that you can find some accountants who are also financial planners. Make sure to find professionals you trust. Try asking friends or relatives and ensure that you’re choosing the best person for your needs.

Whether you’re a small or large business, tech support services will quickly help you navigate through an IT crisis or prevent one before it happens.

Did you know that over 70% of Local Area Network (LAN) failures are the cause of bad IT cabling? Choosing how to set up your IT may seem like a small, insignificant decision but maybe that’s why over 70% of LAN failures happen. Tech support services are especially important for companies where technology plays a major role. For example, imagine a security breach that not only impacts your business financially, but your customers lose trust and confidence in your ability to keep their personal information safe.

When you’re having a technical problem that involves anything from email issues, to Microsoft Office, passwords, virus removals, file recovery, server management, and more, your technical support helps you resolve these issues as soon as possible. They monitor the state of your infrastructure to prevent serious issues, ensure that your company’s data is stored and backed up, and help with data security and disaster recovery.

As your IT service provider gets to know your systems and processes, some companies offer services like reviewing your technology expenses (service contracts, hardware costs, repair expenses and repetitive issues), with the overall goal of helping you reduce costs and streamline your processes.

You need a lawyer to give you advice on the legal issues relating to your business.

A lawyer’s job is to help protect you in a legal sense to make sure that the agreements you enter into are fair and reasonable, from employee contracts to partnership agreements. They also need to help make sure that your business structure protects you and your other assets as much as possible.

For example, if you’re a small company and you are writing a contract to do business with a Fortune 500 company, you are at a definite disadvantage. Their lawyers have been doing this for years and are well-equipped to take advantage of you. Hire a lawyer to handle this – not only could it save you thousands of dollars and keep your business alive, but it could prevent you from being sued for MILLIONS.

Your overhead services, like benefits, payroll, and HR are tedious, necessary tasks that can take up your time and keep you preoccupied.

Last, but certainly not least is someone to manage your overhead services. These areas come with many mundane tasks that take up your time, which takes away from building revenue and serving valued customers. This is why most companies choose to outsource.

Benefits of outsourcing your overhead services:

• Reduce costs
• Reduce time
• Enhance security
• Compliance with government regulations
• Avoid IRS penalties or mistakes
• Employee access
• Gaining a Human Resource Information System
• Expertise

When new hires or candidates are evaluating whether or not they want to work at your company they might ask questions regarding your overhead services. Although these services aren’t major questions, benefits, payroll, and HR are still critical pieces in retaining employees and running an efficient business.

For example, when attending to payroll you might run into issues with keying errors and inputting important amounts of data. This all takes away from your tasks and could cause issues with late direct deposit for your employees. and if you’re mind is preoccupied, is it feeding into your client interactions?

In Summary

We know that running a business is challenging. That’s why we strive to provide you with ways to streamline your processes, be more efficient, and ultimately, save you time and money when choosing professional service providers. Take the time to evaluate all your options and how much you’re willing to spend. Doing your research ultimately leads to a decision that’s right for you.

At Netsafe, we provide IT Services and Support at a fixed monthly rate, in hopes to help your business get the tech support needed to avoid IT issues and save costs. Contact us today and we’d be happy to answer any questions you may have or provide you with more information.