Last week, I shared my favourite business process—continuous improvement—and coupled it with the phrase “Just DO It.”

It was a not-so-subtle call to action. Why? We are in January, and nearly everyone- people and businesses- feels a productivity sag and a cash flow squeeze. I get it.

So, this month, I want to share some proven, continuous improvement ideas with paybacks ranging from a few weeks to a few months to up to six months. They are all super easy, not so sexy, and definitely worth your time. I promise they all work—I’ve used them, as have my clients. Some can even be adapted to work in your personal life.

Refresher time. What is continuous improvement?

Sometimes, it is referred to as continual improvement. Truly, it is the ongoing process of improving products, services, and processes. It may not be the most glamorous task, but when done even partly correctly, it is guaranteed to work, elevate your business, and boost your metrics. The journey of continuous improvement is not just about the destination. It is also about the transformations you find and steer and the growth you watch bloom from it all.

The only caveat is that it is NOT immediate or instantaneous. It does take time. However, once started and anchored into the business, continuous improvement vastly shortens the upward trajectory of the metrics we salivate for.

So, if you can be content with a short but not immediate payback, the only thing you need to bring to the table is a willingness to invest some time and focus. Remember, this is not about getting to the finish line lickety split. It’s about sorting out the best manageable steps to easily integrate into your business operations.

Have you done a DDC recently?

Acronyms are so annoying, aren’t they? I am talking about your Digital Decluttering Cleanse!

Decluttering is the act of cleaning up, sweeping away, and removing the stuff we don’t use, no longer need, or forgot we had. We all know what decluttering our kitchen, garden shed, garage, library, and closet means, right? We ended up with a neatly organized, efficient result that was exactly what we needed. Similarly, digital decluttering can lead to a more streamlined and efficient digital workspace, saving time, improving productivity and effectiveness, AND saving a few dollars.

If you have little to no idea how or where to start decluttering all things digital, here is a five-part process to get you started.

Take an inventory

Grab all the names, costs, and usage metrics you can find and align that data with the names of your digital tools/subscriptions. For example, for one year, Microsoft Office costs around $125 and is used daily, while Chat GPT costs about $240 and might be used three times a week. This may take you some time to work through — not in what it costs, but in what you have and how frequently you use it.

Hint: Look through all the integration tabs in every piece of software you have. That will help you remember some of the forgotten bits. Pick through the statements from your credit cards, PayPal, and bank accounts for ‘funny,’ one-off names and purchases. Don’t stop searching until your list has at least ten itemized. Remember, at least ten. (Yeah, I HAVE seen lists with hundreds of subscriptions!)

Score each tool’s ROI

You’re already using a spreadsheet for this exercise, right? Add three more columns: frequency of use, cost per user, and business impact. Then, take each column and assign a range of values. For example, while cost per user is pretty self-explanatory, frequency of use and business impact could be assigned a score of high (5), medium (3), or low (1). This will help you calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) for each tool, which is a key factor in deciding which tools to keep, consolidate, replace, or eliminate.

Rate the digital tools by ROI

Choose the ROI that is most important to you and your business. Whether that is frequency, cost per user, business impact, or something else, sort the data by the ROI column from highest to lowest.

Find the buried GOLD

Sometimes that rating system by ROI doesn’t quite work. So add in another column and call it the decision matrix. This is the place where you make the decision. Do you really need it? Can you eliminate or replace it? Or perhaps consolidate it with a similar but different offering from the same supplier: Use K for keep, C for consolidate, R for replace or E for Eliminate. Be prepared to be amazed at your results. (Don’t forget to group the data by these four key categories.)

Prepare for the next twelve months

Now that you have sorted the data correctly, you know which digital products you need. This newfound clarity and control should feel liberating. You also know which you can live without. Cancel those subscriptions immediately. Even with those you paid annually, you generally get access to everything until the subscription ends.

Do all your cancelling right away while it is fresh in your mind. You are in the driver’s seat, making decisions that directly impact your business’s efficiency and bottom line. In the same way, consolidations should also be done as soon as possible. You are preserving your cash flow, so why wouldn’t you do it right away?

The replacement piece may take longer, so make notes on your calendar to ensure you take care of it before you allow automatic renewals to kick in.

Take all your lessons and develop a template or framework for negotiating better rates, avoiding the latest shiny toy, and even preventing doing future business with certain vendors and services.

Finally, develop a list or action plan for migrating the data and training your teams on the consolidated and replaced tools. You’ve done all this amazing decluttering, so don’t leave your team alone in the dark.

Final thoughts

Like everything else in life, this will not take nearly as long as you think. Especially when you decide to Just DO It. I have absolutely no idea how much money you will save following this process. However, I do know all humans are weak when it comes to signing up for the latest and greatest—especially when it is $30 a month or less. I also know our human memories can’t retain the costs of all this when we don’t regularly use the applications. So, while your mileage will vary, you will SAVE MONEY somewhere when you do this exercise at least once a year. And you have a process for the coming year to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes you did this past year.

Next week, we’ll cover customers.