Get expert advice on every topic you need as a small business owner, from the ideation stage to your eventual exit. Our articles, quick tips, infographics and how-to guides can offer entrepreneurs the most up-to-date information they need to flourish.
February 29, 2024
Helpful steps to implement that will set your business up for financial success.
The revenue potential of a company and its financial operations go hand in glove. Streamlined financial operations are pivotal business functions geared toward enhancing revenue growth. Every business, no matter its size, dreams big! But let’s be honest: turning those dreams into reality can sometimes feel like a massive burden. However, we’ve cracked the formula for success: effective financial operations management coupled with optimized revenue management are the superhero duo your business needs.
Before you get into the different strategies that can lead you to success, you must understand the core of financial operations and how they contribute to the growth of your business. Once that’s out of the way, we’ll get to our four strategies (those that you can test with a trust fall) to help transform your daily struggles into triumphs and turn your revenue potential into actuality.
Let us break it down: Finance operations, or FinOps for short, is that department in your organization that manages all the financial tasks in your company. Just as a layperson would manage their household budget, FinOps handles all the money matters within a company. Think of it this way: they’re keeping track of the incoming and outgoing cash flow, just as one would balance their checkbook.
They also do some serious crystal ball gazing, also known as predictive analysis in the business world, foreseeing and forecasting where the finances are headed next. But it’s not all about crunching numbers; FinOps also plays a strategic role in helping to develop financial plans and policies, ensuring the company stays on course toward its goals. Your FinOps team is the one that analyzes all your financial data and uncovers potential risks and opportunities to help keep you ahead of fraudulent activities that could trip you up. With this knowledge, businesses can make savvy decisions to stay profitable for the long haul.
4 strategy tips to ensure your FinOps is on point and revenue potential is maximized:
Stay S.M.A.R.T. with your goals:
In the grand scheme of running a successful organization, setting realistic goals for your financial operations strategy is like having a well-tuned guitar in a rock band – essential for hitting all the right notes! To be more specific, setting S.M.A.R.T. goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound is of utmost importance to help break down the burden and emerge victorious.
Now, why are these goals so crucial? One may wonder. With specific targets in sight, it’s always easier for a business to set tangible and achievable milestones. Some of the important things to track are the metrics we’re tracking: customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue, and churn rate (that’s one to keep low). By monitoring these metrics over time, companies can unlock valuable insights into their operations and make savvy decisions to enhance their outcomes.
The Unsung Hero: Automation
Organizations can stay ahead of the curve by deploying automated tools to monitor expenses and implementing changes based on regular reports. Manual processes are far from reliable and excruciatingly time-consuming, quite like that airport check-in line on most days. Automating processes is fundamental in the fast-paced cloud environment, where scalability and change occur rapidly. Just as security is automated in modern organizations, financial operations (FinOps) must be integrated into this system. Automation minimizes engineering impact and reduces cognitive load, ensuring proactive rather than reactive cost management. It also empowers organizations to set alerts for overshooting budgets. It allows teams to respond in real time to unexpected events triggered by unforeseeable infrastructure changes. FinOps isn’t just about monitoring production environments; it starts at the research and development stage, where teams must continuously be exposed to financial metrics to make informed decisions and optimize costs effectively.
The Saviour: Outsourcing
Outsourcing financial services offers small businesses several significant advantages. The biggest benefit is reduced costs by eliminating the need for full-time in-house finance staff. This results in substantial overhead cost savings, ultimately contributing to revenue success. Outsourcing also provides access to a pool of experts and advanced technologies without the responsibility of managing everything in-house. Partnering with a specialized financial services partner ensures access to higher expertise, especially in niche areas, and cutting-edge technology solutions that might otherwise be unaffordable for a growing business. Furthermore, it promotes the growth of internal finance teams, allowing them to channel their focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine tasks. All in all, outsourcing your FinOps is like that much-needed caffeine shot every day that’ll help keep your team focused with much more time.
Tell us how Escalon’s FinOps can help gain financial insights to make informed decisions.
Invest in the three T’s: Technology, Team, and Taskflows.
Technology serves as the underdog in financial operations. With the proper tech arsenal, teams can ditch mundane tasks and channel their Blair Waldorf Queen Bee vibes toward revenue-driving activities. Insights obtained from technology offer a treasure trove of customer behaviors that help to guide teams towards smarter decisions and higher ROI. Moreover, technology ensures data management is as secure as the burn book (one that will not be discovered this time), maintaining compliance with regulations and safeguarding sensitive information.
You should be training your team and setting up CRM solutions that pave the way for managing customer relationships, thereby facilitating revenue growth. Marketing automation tools unleash marketing magic, automating campaigns and enchanting customer interactions. Data analytics solutions unveil customer preferences, empowering teams to make data-driven decisions with mighty sass. Sales enablement tools help set up sales reps for success, speeding up deal closures while keeping customers happy. Training teams and equipping them with the skills and knowledge needed only helps them conquer industry challenges and reach organizational goals.
Last but not least, another essential pointer: implementing task flows helps ensure seamless information flow between departments. Clear communication lines and centralized processes are the secret sauce, ensuring everyone is on the same page and safeguarding data like prized possessions.
These 3 T’s are the Harry, Hermione, and Ron of the FinOps world, the golden trio that will always have your back. Potterheads, see what we did there?
Stability, growth, and profitability are like the ultimate trifecta in business. To succeed and boost your revenue, your financial operations strategy must be as sleek as a well-oiled machine, complemented by systems that are more reliable than your good ol’ dad during a crisis. Investing in your FinOps will help push you and your team toward success; hence, making it suitable to be at the top of your priority list is probably the smartest thing to do.
Want to know more? In addition to HR, benefits, recruiting, and payroll through its PeopleOps, Escalon’s Essential Business Services include FinOps (CFO services, taxes, bookkeeping, and accounting) and Risk (business insurance). Talk to an expert today.
With 6 years of experience in copywriting and social media management across genres, Devayani's heart lies with weaving words into stories and visuals into carefully crafted narratives that’ll keep you wanting more. She carries with her, her pocket notebook, a trusted confidante that goes with her wherever she goes, and scribbles down into it anecdotes on the go. Her secret weapon for keeping all things copy interesting! Apart from writing, Devayani is huge on travelling. You'll find her booking her next adventure while she's on her current one. And while on those adventures, you'll find her devouring true crime books one after the other. Whether it's a low down on a recent case or one that occurred 70 years ago, she can cook up a story narration you'll never forget.
We provide you with essential business services so you can focus on growth.
