Businesses are faced with cost pressure on a regular basis, so any increase to the national minimum wage is likely to mean cost pressure.

On June 2, the Fair Work Commission awarded such an increase – granting a 2.5 per cent jump in the national minimum wage.

This is an increase of $16 per week, and the weekly wage now sits at $17.29 per hour.

While this will mean cost pressure for businesses, it’s also an opportunity to take a good look at internal operations and make some practical cost-cutting changes.

1) Minimise your costs

New technologies mean many businesses will have the opportunity to effectively reduce costs without a large amount of effort.

Smart management technologies can help to better understand where costs are being driven up.

For example, such systems can help to manage printers and track usage.

Our FreeFlow graphics tools can also be used to bring costs down while exceeding customer expectations.

2) Start to digitise

It’s not a buzzword – digitisation offers real benefits for businesses – and real cost reductions.

Right now, the average square metre of Australian office space is $1,500 per year.

By moving paper files and data into an electronic document management system, bulky file cabinets can be done away with.

This has the added benefit of making data easily searchable and accessible from wherever your staff require it.

3) Consider automation

Create more efficient processes using technology to automate workflows.

Now, with a simple press of a button, businesses can automate previously manual processes such as accounts payable and receivable customer data capture.

These are also more accurate and faster than older manual approaches.

If you’re finding that wages and other operational costs are becoming difficult to handle, get in touch with FUJIFILM.

We’re able to help you use automation and digitisation to effectively manage business costs.

Original via FUJIFILM