Benefit of Remote Resources for Small Businesses

A small business model offers maximum flexibility and return on investment to many business owners. Providing the appearance and deliverables of a larger business requires creativity and, occasionally, outsourcing of services. Office administration requires the deployment of resources, and some small business principals think they can "do it all" to save money.

Some business owners fail to provide for the foundation of office administration. Consider these business administration essentials, courtesy of The Outsourcing Enterprise: From Cost Management to Collaborative Innovation (2011) by authors Professor Leslie P. Willcocks, Sara Cullen, and Andrew Craig:

• Prompt preparation of invoices promotes business revenues: business principals may not have the time to do paperwork on a regular basis. When business owners avoid sending invoices or creating other important paperwork, such as contracts necessary to prompt the creation of an invoice, the business suffers. Following up on slow-payers also costs the business money.
• Maintaining an expense record isn't a luxury: it's a necessity. Preparing expense reports--including the proper collect of receipts, business miles (or total costs of operating the company's vehicles)--and working closely with the company's accounting resources makes defensive record preparation unnecessary! Businesses of all sizes should keep accurate records that are perpetually audit-ready.
• Simple bookkeeping controls can help even the smallest businesses maintain good records. A business owner needs to analyze expenses, revenues, and costs of doing business. Monthly business credit card reports don't take the place of bookkeeping and accounting records!

How Off-Site Administrative Resources Help Businesses Stay Organized

Hiring an office manager and perhaps a bookkeeper can stretch a small business's resources quite thin. Maintaining payroll, benefits, and a proper office costs money. Even a small professional office may cost the business owner thousands per month. In the effort to appear as a thriving business to clients and prospects, the business owner spends needless money on overhead.

Remote personal office assistants and office administration services helps to organize small businesses. Depending upon the company's needs, the remote office or assistant may answer the business phone, collect and open mail, create correspondence (including proposals, contracts, and invoices), return non-priority emails, maintain files, itemize receipts or compile expense records.

A business may outsource other organizational functions. If the business has only occasional need for a human resources generalist, outsourcing the HR function can save the company the cost of another employee or the installation of costly human resources information systems (HRIS). The company may also outsource finance and accounting, information technology, procurement, or call centers.

Save Money with Remote Resources

Clients of a business may rarely visit the company's office. Yet the professional presence conveyed on the telephone by an assistant instills a positive impression in clients and prospects. Prompt attention to small daily details by a professional assistant pays big dividends, too.