Member Article

Saving money the ethical way: great business tips

It’s hard to work productively and ethically without spending more money. Given that utility bills and unemployment are rising, while overseas companies compete with their British counterparts to create a more hostile business world, it stands to reason that money needs to be saved.

However, it’s worth remembering that corners don’t have to be cut to achieve this; you can make real differences for your company and the community at large by thinking carefully about your strategy. These top tips may give you a couple of considerations you may have overlooked.

Make a move to the cloud

Data centres are far from the best investment you can make; aside from the cost of supplying these machines with electricity and maintenance, the initial price for the hardware can be very high. Instead, companies should consider a commitment to secure online storage. Not only will it free up room in the office and cut down on insurance costs, but the costs will be minimal in both the short and long term when you compare it to heavy-duty in-house offerings.

Internships

There may be no better way to boost your local community than to start an internship scheme. Given the aforementioned rise in unemployment, the pool of potential talent is now better than ever, particularly given the number of university graduates. Interns will demonstrate a desire to be your perfect employee, so consider putting an ad on a website such as Milkround and take advantage of the abilities of these potential employees.

Renewable power

If you run a small business, chances are that you could stand to gain a lot of savings in the long-term with the use of renewable energy. You could consider solar power from a provider like Evo Energy, or wind energy through one of the many companies that produces windmills - depending on your local climate - and possibly become carbon neutral (and have free electricity for years!).

Grow steadily and protect your business

This may be an obvious thing to recommend, though a lot of companies have fallen foul of this issue: try not to expand too quickly. Organisations need to be careful not to equate huge risks with even bigger reward - instead they need to grow organically, instead of putting jobs at risk as soon as they are made.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jonny Marshall .