Operational sustainability refers to the capacity that a business maintains its existing practices well into the future, ensuring prosperity and manageable growth. Ensuring adequate operations is necessary for a business to thrive and in this article, we shall discuss some of the elements that make a company operationally effective.
Cost consciousness
A sustainable company is one that keeps its costs under control. A cost consciousness mentality is beneficial, especially when all employees would embrace this mantra. In order to manage costs, understandable policies and procedures need to be implemented to ensure sustainability. Such an approach would include proper processes when it comes to procurement and day to day operations.
Customer loyalty schemes
A business must continuously strive to ensure long lasting relationships with its customers. To achieve sustainability, a business needs to come up with schemes and incentives to entice repeat purchases from its existing client base. Acquiring repeat business will ensure that marketing activities render a greater return on investment.
Facilities management
A business must also ensure that its offices are being managed adequately to provide a suitable framework where its employees can work efficiently. In a time such as this, work facilities need to be cleaned frequently and social distancing applied throughout.
Customer acquisition
To ensure that its operations remain sustainable, a company needs to focus on acquiring new customers. This will justify the marketing investment and arm the business with necessary information on how much it costs to acquire a new customer. New customers will allow the business to increase its income and subsequent profitability.
Employee productivity
It is important that a company and its management keep tabs on what employees are working on and whether this promotes value. In instances where employees are performing tasks that are not in line with the company’s evolving vision, decisions to effectively re-deploy such staff need to be taken to ensure operational efficiency.
IT backbone
A business must maintain adequate IT standards to ensure that it can maintain its operations. In an age where most data is stored on computer drives, and cybersecurity threats constantly on the rise, companies need to arm themselves with proper defences to keep cybercriminals at bay.
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