When you have a business, you need to understand the basics of its day-to-day operations. This includes keeping a record of tasks, understanding the finances, and being on top of your money (think cash flow, invoices and receipts). This understanding falls under the basics of business administration.
Business administration is the management of an organisation’s resources, time and people (employees). The people in charge of this task are called business administrators. They ensure that your business runs efficiently and effectively for maximum profit.
As a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner, you need to know the basics of business administration. This will help you make your business successful and long-lasting.
In this article, we explore the basics of business administration and how they help you improve the management of your business.
Finance Management
Financial management is an important part of business administration. This involves the management of money, taxes, and other assets. If you have a business administrator, they will cover tasks such as budgeting, financial planning, investment planning and risk management. If you don’t have a business administrator, you will need to keep track of these tasks yourself.
Effectively managing your finances ensures that your business can meet any financial obligations it has (taxes), take advantage of any growth opportunities and ensure long-term stability.
Marketing Management
Marketing is a key component of business administration. It focuses on marketing/promoting products or services to keep current and retain customers. The marketing part of business administration includes market research, advertising, branding and (digital) marketing strategies.
By focusing on the marketing side of business administration, you ensure that you can identify your target market effectively, understand your audience’s needs and be able to communicate your business’ purpose and service.
Business Management
This part of business administration involves coordinating and overseeing the many functions within a business. This ensures that goals are met, and the business keeps running. Business management involves planning, organising, controlling and leading the company through resources and processes.
By managing your business effectively, you ensure that employees maintain productivity, create a positive work environment and achieve your long-term business goals.
Operations Management
This part of business administration involves focusing on the processes which involve producing goods or services. This area covers supply chain management, quality control, production planning and the logistics of your business.
Effective operations management ensures that your business can keep producing top-quality products or services. It also ensures that the goods or services you produce do not cost too much and are produced efficiently.
Communication Management
Strong communication processes are essential for business administration. Effective communication ensures that your employees are aware of their tasks, responsibilities and the company’s goals and vision.
Strong communication management ensures that your team works better together, and all operations run smoothly.
Human Resource Management
This type of business administration deals with the planning, selection, leadership and development of your business’s employees. Elements such as workforce planning, employee recruitment and development, employee upskilling and development, compensation and labour laws.
The goal here is to ensure that your employees are happy, and that they want to stay in your company. It also ensures that your employees are upskilled to better the company.
Benefits of Business Administration
These are just a few business administration tasks that will help your business. Some of the benefits of effective business administration/management are:
Collaboration – Increased collaboration amongst you and your employees leads to better business operations. This helps everyone complete tasks, increases teamwork and ensures for smooth business operations.
Growth – Effective business administration/management means your business will be strong. This will ensure that scalability is easy to achieve in the short and long term.
Costs – An effective business administration/management strategy will help you see where you can save costs. By outlining your business’ vision, goals and processes clearly means you can see where investment is needed and where you can save money.
Laws and Regulations – Good business administration/management means you are able to see which laws and regulations apply to your business. You’ll be able to identify which laws you need to comply with that are industry-specific. This can also help you see which tax laws can save you money when you comply.
Efficiency and Effectiveness – A good business administration/management strategy will always increase the overall efficiency of your business. Because of the small details that go into the processes of business administration, you will be able to see where your business is falling short and quickly fix it. It also means that you can effectively communicate the products or services you have to current and new customers.
By following this basic outline, you can improve the overall viability of your business. This will lead to growth, sales and overall great profits. This will also ensure that the success of your business is long-lasting.
