The number of small restaurants in Sydney continues to grow with more people exploring hole-in-the-wall specialty shops, enjoying new experiences, and diversifying taste options. Given the expanding opportunities for this sumptuous industry, the pressure on small restaurant owners to make operations more efficient is also becoming more pressing. With a dream to expand operations by putting in more seats or even opening a new branch, having a central office system is, undoubtedly, one of the most important investments any small restaurant owner will consider.
There are hundreds of different software and applications available online to make life easier for small business owners. But at the core of business, especially the small businesses, are hundreds and thousands of small, bite-sized files that seem insignificant. Purchasing subscriptions to 10 different cloud-based applications can make sense, depending on the needs and the nature of operations. But at the baseline of operational efficiency are actually the most basic word document and excel sheets which need to be managed and secured. Here are easy milestones that can be achieved by moving to cloud-based operations, specifically to Office365.
- Create inventory and supply projections accessible and editable online, real time
A critical file that comes at the forefront of restaurant operations can be a simple excel sheet that gets passed around and edited on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Mistakes and discrepancies are inevitable in this manner, and many times, sales projections, cost-benefit analysis, and growth planning depend largely on this crude excel sheet. Bringing this file onto a secure yet easily accessible online storage makes collaboration between the kitchen crew, purchasing, and administrative staff more seamless and efficient.
- Share and limit access to important business data easily
Related to the first milestone is the security and accessibility of more confidential business documents. From sales reports, to staff salaries, to supplier contracts, all this sensitive information can be stored on the cloud, for ultimate safekeeping. Digital documents can be easily kept in individual drives, and this can cause transition issues or security risks. Having a central and secured location which could be easily and centrally managed assures small business owners of data security without limiting operational requirements.
- Create organized file system – from menu planning to supplier invoices, documents and records.
Having files in a central location enables pro-active organizing and sorting. While this task may seem impossible to attend to, especially for businesses with limited manpower, having cloud-based storage makes “dumping” files into a central location easier. But this does not mean that this will immediately or fully solve the requirement to organize. It simply means having the unorganized file in a central location will make it easier to jumpstart the job of creating an organized file system.
There are more ways to make small business operations more efficient by switching to cloud-based solutions. Talk to CMSIT today to find out how you can shift your restaurant’s business tasks to Office365 and Sharepoint.
