Operating from Multiple Locations: How to Stay on Top of Things

When a company conducts its daily business activities from multiple locations, the overall control and regulation of tasks can become quite difficult. This is especially true for small to medium sized businesses that do not enjoy the sophisticated networking systems that are utilized by larger companies. It may be a challenge to keep tabs on what is happening at all locations when you are able to be present in only one location. It is also not practical to visit each location very frequently, especially if your business centers are located in more than one country. So how are you going to make sure that everyone is doing their job, targets are met and operations are running smoothly in each of your locations? Here are a few ways you can make sure that everything is going well;

Take Advantage of the Latest Technology

Connecting multiple business centers was not an easy feat some years back, but with advancements in mobile networking and technologies, staying connected and ensuring Small business phone systems, e-mails, instant messaging, e-conferencing and intranets have allowed businesses that are operating from multiple locations, sometimes situated around the world, communicate and integrate as though they were all operating under the same roof.

Installing small business phone systems that places calls over the internet has become popular in many companies due to its cost-effectiveness and efficiency.

Delegate Tasks to Those Who Can Handle It

Overlooking the day to day operations of all your locations on your own can be too much of a challenge. So in order to lessen your workload, delegate your work to those employees whom you can count on to get the job done. Appoint heads for each location and clearly outline the duties and responsibilities that are expected to be fulfilled by them. In the process of delegation, you will also empower your more talented and experienced employees to take on responsibilities and improve their performance. Stay in touch with these individuals for periodic updates and reports on the progress of each center so that you maintain control and are aware of what is happening.

Maintain Standard Operating Procedures and Practices across Locations

Standardization of business processes and procedures across all locations will ensure that order and uniformity is maintained. Of course you may have to allow for some deviations as not all individuals are the same but the general business practices outlined by the business model should be adhered to on a daily basis, so that it will be easier for you to monitor and regulate the tasks that need to be accomplished.