Businesses have a lot to work on apart from just trying to manage their operations.With economy just tripping over live wires now and then, there seems to be no respite at least for a while. Small businesses owners are left to fend for themselves. But what exactly should be done to cut costs?

1. Get real, you don’t have to travel: This is a new era and it calls for new ways to do business. Traveling on business is expensive and out-dated. There is really no need to cross oceans and hill-tops to get there and talk to people about your business. Espouse technology and use virtual meeting, telepresence and Internet for a change. Not only would you be saving tons of money on useless travel, but you would be doing your bit by saving energy, reducing carbon footprints and going green.Greenblog even has a Travel Green Manual in Series, it is a good read and I think you must check it out.
2. Don’t fire, but suspend fancy perks: This might come as harsh but when given a choice between firing someone and just reducing the fancy takeaways, the latter is best. Avoid perks, excessive bonus packages and vacation giveaways. Put a stop on corporate gifting (love, affection, reward and recognition can all wait).Reducing the daily spending limits for your roving, globe-trotting executives.. However, don’t fire and let go of your workforce. Just cut costs.
3. Watch what you are burning away: Energy happens to be expensive. Most of your expenses each month or each year are heavily skewed towards your energy bills and it is only because of the screaming voices of the media and scorching summers that people suddenly realized the need and importance of going green. Now going green isn’t a fancy slogan — it’s an imminent requirement. Watch your energy usage; switch off your equipment when not in use; use computers that meet the stringent norms of EPEAT and energy star 4.0 and beyond.
4. When it Breaks, fix it not replace it: Businesses- small or big – have had it easy for so long now that replacing everything that doesn’t seem to work has been the norm. That can change for good now. Look to repair broken or dysfunctional equipment — machines to computers — instead of replacing them outright. It might not work for all equipment, all the time, but it sure saves money sometimes. An analysis sure helps here.
5. Overhaul payment and hiring structures: Simple ways to do this exist. For instance, all the sales staff can be put on a reduced fixed payment and increased variable type of pay where the fixed outflow is reduced and more payments come only when more products/services are sold. Usually, businesses tend to have more people for ever set of things to be done. Hiring competent people who can multi-task can be profitable since each of these persons can do the work hitherto performed by 2 or 3 people.

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