The profit margins on small businesses are usually razor thin. This means that any area where you can cut costs could be the difference between profit and loss. Here are a few tips to take under consideration when you’re looking for places to save.

1- Back Up on the Cloud

Using traditional approaches for backing up your info can be incredibly expensive. This is especially true for trying to back up everything on hard disks. All of those disks cost more and more money, and if they become old you may have to switch them over again, costing you even more.

2- Use Open Source Applications

Using something like Open Office instead of Microsoft Word could save you a large amount of money, especially if you factor in many computers that need the software. Using open-source is often just as good and you’ll save hundreds or more.

3- Hire Interns

Local colleges will often have programs that let you get young people in school to do certain easier job functions for free in exchange for learning something about your business and college credit.  This is a win-win scenario for everyone.

4- Encourage Telecommuting

It’s nice to have tons of office space and lots of employees in person for collaboration, but this approach is quickly becoming outdated in terms of business models.  Your employees will certainly appreciate being able to do everything remotely, and you’ll find it easier to find employees by selecting from a wider pool. Additionally, the savings on office space will often be significant.

5- Switch to VoIP

Using a VoIP service instead of a traditional phone line can be a fantastic way to cut costs in your small business to ensure that it’s profitable.  The only downside to this plan is that you have to make sure the VoIP is properly encrypted since this is often an issue with VoIP approaches. But this is easy enough. And the advantages are many. They include;

• Low International Rates– Let’s face it, international calls can be a killer in terms of costs for your business. If you run a business that needs to do a lot of business overseas, then this could save you a small fortune. VoIP rates are notoriously lower for International calls then the other options like mobile or traditional.
• Free Calls– It’s definitely pretty hard to cut costs any more than making something totally free. But if you’re making phone calls with other people who also use VoIP, and you already have WiFi anyway in your business, then VoIP providers will often allow you to make these calls totally for free.
• No Phones Needed- Buying actual phone units can be expensive. But with a VoIP approach you make the call over the Internet, so you can actually simply make calls straight from a computer, saving you money on needing to buy a lot of individual units if you have phones anyway.

Saving Costs

Quick tricks like using a business VoIP instead of traditional options, hiring interns, or going virtual are easy to do, but can often have a huge impact in terms of your profits.

This is a guest post by Kate Simmons, a freelance tech writer who enjoys sharing advices about tech solutions.