Update Your Org Chart
Fall is a good time to review your org chart to ensure the lines of communication and your decision-making processes are clear as glass. Still making organizational charts the old-fashioned way? Pingboard.com is a tool that allows you to create a real-time, collaborative chart that makes it easy to organize teams, plan for growth and keep everyone informed. It’s also great for clarifying the decision-making process, and that’s critical because if the lines are blurred, so are the results.
Strengthen Your Security
More than one in five Canadian businesses were hit by cyberattacks in 2019, according to Statistics Canada. That means the time to pump up your security is now. The first (and easiest) thing to do is to make your business passwords unique and ultra-strong because, according to a 2019 Verizon report, 81 per cent of breaches were caused by weak or reused passwords. There’s plenty of information online about how to create robust passwords and how to set up systems to manage those passwords. Don’t have time? Hire a well-recommended security consultant.
Yes, it’s that important!
Face your Finances
It’s a good time to check in on your business financial picture. Local CPA Evelyn Andrews-Greene advises that a quick way to summarize your current overall business picture is to look at money in/money out, plus current debts (business and personal), including bank and credit card debts, authorized limits and interest rates. Ask your CPA to spend a couple of hours in strategic planning with you. “If you have a CPA who has compiled your income tax returns for you,” she says, “you already have a super resource nearby.”
Do a Software Audit
With so many subscription-based online software services, it’s easy to incur monthly or yearly charges that may seem small at the time but add up to monster payouts over the long term. Drill down into what you are actually paying for and research alternatives. If you use Microsoft software, experiment with Google’s G Suite products, which are free, collaborative and on par, quality-wise, with most subscription-based software for word processing, spreadsheets and more.
This article is from the August/September 2019 issue of Douglas.
