Over the past few years, the field of online business has grown to a huge scale as budding entrepreneurs realize the ease that comes with setting up their own business. However, with many of these new business owners going in blind as it were, many of these businesses have ultimately failed. Often, these failures will be caused by similar problems, namely being the business owner in question being unaware of the difference between online and offline business. Although the principles behind running these businesses are somewhat similar, online business requires a different approach in terms of promotion and execution.Nevertheless, there are a number of business principles that can be applied to both online and offline businesses in order to launch them successfully. How they do after their initial launch will be determined by the action plan of the business owner, but by applying these principles, many of the mistakes made by new online businesses can be avoided.Stay Ahead Of Your CompetitorsAlthough it can be beneficial to utilize many of the practices of similar, successful online businesses, in order to be a success it is important to develop these practices further in order to stay ahead of competitors. An online business that appears to the consumer to be a cookie-cutter of another, will simply fail as they are not offering anything unique. The web allows new online businesses to research their competitors in order to identify what does and does not work for their target market. Never underestimate the importance of research and changing your findings to suit your unique business and eliminate falling into the background.Trial and ErrorSimilar to offline businesses, it is essential that you test out every aspect of your business from the design to promotional campaigns and so forth. The effectiveness of your website in terms of attracting visitors is important, as are the online marketing tools you have utilized. Investigate into how much traffic these factors bring and in turn, how many sales are accumulated compared to your percentage of visitors. A business will always need to test out and and apply new features in order to remain fresh, unique and relevant.Content Is KeyAs a consumer, we will be deterred by products or services that do not offer us a satisfactory level of information regarding a product or service. The same applies to your target market, so it is vital that you provide clear, concise, professional content regarding your business, services, products and so forth. The web is predominately used as an information resource so the more information you can provide your customers, the better. In terms of online promotion, professional material will need to be added onto various online platforms frequently in order to aid your search engine performance.It’s Not Just About PricingOne of the main advantages of online businesses to the consumer is that they will more often than not; find their desired items in a range of varieties and prices. This makes online purchasing much cheaper, therefore attractive than offline means. However, it is more than just offering the consumer a cheaper alternative to a competitor. Combine a reasonable, realistic pricing system with a range of unique selling points and ensure that these points are well advertised- both on your site and other platforms utilized.Remember: Customers, Not Visitor StatsAs any online business owner will know, the level of traffic your site receives is connected to the amount of sales you will typically generate. However, it is important to remember that you are dealing with real, legitimate customers and as you would ensure your customers received excellent service from the beginning to end of a transaction in an offline scenario, the same must be applied to your online business. Although you may not be dealing with them in a face-face manner, showing thanks for the customer’s time, interest and sale is imperative. Furthermore the implementation of an after-care service is important to help the overall satisfaction of your customers which may affect your overall reputation.It can be relatively easy to make your online business a success once it is off the ground, but only if you ensure to apply sound, simply business principles to every aspect of the company. Just as an offline business must be cautious of its appearance, promotional efforts and customer service, the same must be considered for online businesses. Although the way in which business is carried out is different, the principles of each method are parallel.

Almost all departments within all companies have an untapped ‘cognitive surplus’. A ‘cognitive surplus’ is the difference between the specific tasks an employee is assigned to do and what they actually are capable of doing – the actual versus the potential work.It seems obvious, but to tap into it the ‘Cognitive Surplus’ can make a huge difference.Companies such as 3M, Dell and Google have all implemented what is called ’20% time’ or ‘innovation time’ – one day of their working week, dedicated to whatever projects they like… provided it benefits the company in some way.Does it pay off?One might wonder: Does it pay off? Well, at Google this has resulted in successful projects such as Gmail, Google News and AdSense, and according to ex-employee, Marissa Mayer, as many as half of Google innovations are a result of ’20% time’.But, while this approach might be considered something market leaders can utilise, many finance departments perceive they barely have the time to complete all the necessary work at present, never mind crafting new and innovative ideas, supporting procedures that aid business growth.Yet finance departments really do need this ‘innovation time’.In this slow and sometimes contracting economy, the next two years will be critical for businesses. It will fall largely on finance departments to walk the thin line between productive spending and managing a dwindling pool of resources. Additionally, with a host of new financial regulations coming into place in this two-year period, financial departments will be instrumental in helping businesses to remain compliant without losing their current standing.This extra pressure and workload will make it difficult for finance to inspire new talent whilst holding on to the employees they already have. Finance professionals require stimulating challenges without being overloaded with extra work – they need ’20% time’ to effectively tap-in to their expertise, and not have their time consumed by lengthy, repetitive tasks – that can be automated.How to make time for tapping into ‘Cognitive Surplus’ in the finance departmentOne way in which businesses can help free up some of their finance department’s time to complete tasks, is by automating the tedious and time-consuming tasks that turn prospective talent off finance work. Reconciliation is one such set of tasks that finance professionals find particularly tiresome and time consuming. Fortunately it is now possible to automate account reconciliation, processing hundreds of thousands of transactions in just minutes rather than hours or potentially days.While significantly reducing reconciliation errors, automation also frees up large chunks of time that could be dedicated to maintaining compliance, providing strategic insight in this tough economy.This additional time could even become the rarely considered ‘innovation time’ your business needs to inspire growth and stay competitive.

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