How to Be Consistent about Your SME Management Practice When Traveling

Many small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners often strive to stay hands-on when it comes to their operations. This is because they want to ensure that their business will run as smoothly and efficiently as they can manage, the way they want. But what happens when they need to travel or be away from their business for some time? How do SME owners continue to manage their businesses when they’re cities—sometimes even countries—away from it?

Fortunately, solving this dilemma is much easier now in this digital age. That said, it’s important to use that technology alongside the right strategies to ensure that the business won’t suffer in the long run. If you’re an SME owner looking for ways to improve the way you manage your business while traveling, then here are some tips you might want to keep in mind.

1. Leverage an Online Invoicing System

Sending invoices for successful transactions is one of the key parts of any business’s day-to-day operations. However, if you’re currently traveling, it can be difficult to ensure that those invoices are sent on time, which can lead to delayed payments. To remedy this, consider using an online invoice payment system instead of writing manual ones to make the remote management of billing processes possible.

Online invoicing systems also come with multiple other benefits. For one, it makes payment more accessible to your customers since online invoices are often integrated with payment gateways. This allows customers to complete transactions using their credit cards, debit cards, or e-wallets. Online invoicing systems also let you keep track of the invoices you’ve sent via a dashboard, making it easy to monitor which ones are yet to be paid. By using this technology, you can create invoices on the go and ensure smooth cash flow management for your business even as you’re traveling.

2. Use Cloud-Based Business Management Tools

Cloud-based tools can give you 24/7 access to your business operations, whether it's tracking projects, reviewing customer feedback, managing sales leads, or checking inventory levels. So, as a traveling entrepreneur, consider investing in customer relationship management (CRM) software, inventory management platforms, project management tools, and similar technologies. They can help you maintain full control of the different aspects of your business even without being physically present.

For example, inventory management software takes into account sales that you’ve made so you can have an accurate record of your supplies. The program can also alert you once stocks are getting low, thus enabling you to place orders in advance rather than waiting to get back to confirm inventory yourself. Meanwhile, project management tools let you assign tasks, track deadlines, and collaborate with your team on the go. Doing so ensures that no projects are delayed just because you weren’t present to give approvals or provide instructions.

3. Delegate Effectively and Empower Your Team

Delegation ensures that your business keeps running smoothly even in your absence. Provide your staff with clear instructions and decision-making authority to avoid bottlenecks in daily operations. For instance, if you own a cafe, then you can assign a manager for the store to handle customer concerns and negotiate with vendors. This ensures that key tasks are accomplished right away even without your intervention. Just make sure to regularly check in via collaboration apps such as video calls or instant messaging to stay updated and address any concerns, if there are any.

4. Schedule and Automate Regular Processes

Using automation tools is another way to ensure essential tasks are efficiently handled without your manual intervention. In particular, this can be applied to recurring processes such as payroll disbursements, inventory restocking, and marketing campaigns like when specific social media posts need to be posted on time.

By scheduling these in advance or setting conditions that will facilitate automation—for example, payroll being automatically released by a system during a set date and time—routine operations can still run like clockwork even while you’re away.

5. Stay Connected via Digital Banking

Using digital business banking platforms such as Maya Business allow you to stay on top of your finances and complete transactions wherever you are. With all your business finances accessible via a few taps on your smartphone, you can easily and promptly address any financial matters. If you’re due to make payments to a supplier, for instance, you can use your digital banking app to transfer the funds to their account with ease. Moreover, having quick access to your transaction history allows you to spot right away if there’s any fraudulent activity in your business account.

6. Prioritize Cybersecurity Measures

Traveling often means relying on whichever Wi-Fi connection is available in your location, which can pose risks to your business data. Hence, secure your devices by using a virtual private network (VPN), activating two-factor authentication (2FA) for your banking and payment apps, and utilizing encrypted storage solutions for sensitive business data.

Ensure that all your devices are also up to date with the latest security patches to prevent cyber criminals from exploiting weaknesses in them. When you prioritize cybersecurity, you can handle your business operations remotely with the assurance that your data and any financial information will remain safe.

Running your business when traveling requires both the right tools and mindset. The next time you’re going to be traveling, use the tips above to ensure that you can keep your business operations running efficiently. Through this, you can then continue serving your customers and making profit, no matter where you are.

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