DC Chamber Panel Recap "How Healthy is Your Business" with Raj Malik of Network Solutions

"How Healthy is Your Business" Panel

On May 8th, 2009, Network Solutions Sr. Director, Legal & Business Affairs, Raj Malik was on the panel, “How Healthy Is Your Business” at the 2009 Business Summit and Expo. He moderated a panel that covered how businesses are coping with the current economy and what steps are they taking to . Panelists also included:  Horace McCormick, HGM Management Technology, Matt Voorhees, President & CEO, AnyBill, Inc. and Byron Lindley, District Manager, Paychex.

Here are some highlights from what the panelists covered during the session:

1) Companies need to look inside and do everything possible from IT, hiring, operations and customer service to prepare for the eventual recovery that is going to come soon. Companies that take steps to prepare themselves like hiring wisely (and using non traditional sources like Craigslist), investing wisely in internal operations and cutting wasteful costs will come out ahead and be best suited for growth.

2) During the downturn in the economy, companies have increasingly discovered tools to cut marketing, HR and payroll costs. They have done this by using social media tools (blogs, Twitter and Facebook) for marketing while also outsourcing key areas by using technology like accounts payable software from AnyBill and payroll software from Paychex to increase efficiency and productivity.

3) Companies during this time should take the opportunity to visit their customers to see how your customers are doing and reconnect with them. By getting a closer relationship with your customers that will help you better serve them now and especially down the road when they may buy more from your company.

4) Take steps right now to audit internal systems such as corporate compliance, HR, data infrastructure, payroll and tax reporting and finance operations. If there are ways to locate risks and inefficiencies, now is the time to identify and address these risks and inefficiencies to protect the company and cut unneeded costs to make the company even more competitive. Failure to make these assessments, either internally or by bringing in an outside subject matter expert to conduct an audit, can leave your company open to risk that may only increase over time.

5) The new administration may be an activist administration from the marketing (FTC), payroll (IRS), HR (Dept. Of Labor/EEOC) and accounting (SEC) standpoint so precautions should be taken to ensure compliance with various state and federal regulations.

6) The media storm is overblown to some extent about the overall weakness in business. Taken action when needed while also being practical and realistic. An optimistic viewpoint, which is inherent in small business ownership,  will help you push on to growth for your business.

Let us know any of your thoughts or comment on how you are dealing with this ecomony as a small business.