2. Accelerate your digitalisation efforts

Digitalisation is not just something that large enterprises pursue for competitive advantage. SMBs can also benefit from digitalising certain essential revenue generating processes such as sales pipeline management, store purchases and payment methods. Many SMBs reaped the benefits of shifting their processes to digital platforms during the pandemic.

3. Cut non-essential business expenses

Another way to improve cashflow is by cutting out costs for things that are not absolutely essential to the business. This is not the time to be extravagant with your business expenses. Look at your previous months’ accounts and go through each expense item by item to see if any of them can be avoided in the coming months.

With more employees choosing to work from home, it might be worth considering if you really need a large office space all the time. Evaluate whether shifting to a smaller office and using coworking spaces for larger meetings and company events is more cost-effective. In fact, a recent survey by the ADP Research Institute showed that more than half of Singapore workers would consider leaving their jobs if asked to return full-time to the workplace. 

5. Reduce data storage costs by using the cloud

In trying to cut down on expenses, businesses should not compromise data storage and security. SMBs, just like any other enterprise, can be targeted by cyber criminals, leading to data leaks, financial losses and reputational damage. In fact, two out of five SMBs in Singapore suffered a cyber incident in 2020 according to a Cisco study.

Moving data to the cloud can help businesses reduce the expenses related to purchasing physical  storage, hard drives or servers. But many SMBs hesitate adopting cloud due to concerns around privacy and data confidentiality.

But SMBs can still explore data storage and backup solutions that come with advanced security and protection. Singtel Cloud Backup and Recovery is a cloud-based solution that allows businesses to automatically consolidate backups and protect against cyberthreats at the same time. At only $2.67 per user monthly, it can back up data from Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace as well as endpoints and servers.