How to cut costs in business: 20 effective cost reduction strategies

The “winter” in tech is still progressing. And while it’s unclear how long relative inactivity will last, businesses are forced to cut budgets. We’ve been witnessing waves of layoffs since 2020, with tech giants letting go thousands of people and venture firms freezing investments.

While layoffs are a common approach to cost reduction, they’re not the only way to save money. So, how to cut costs in a company that doesn’t want to put business growth on pause? We’ve gathered some simple but effective strategies to cut expenses that don’t require significant changes in team composition or business processes.

Review your subscriptions

By auditing subscriptions, you can eliminate redundant services, avoid overpaying for underused tools, and ensure that they are only paying for what truly supports their needs. List all the tools and services your team uses to audit all active subscriptions. Check for identical and resemblant solutions. Opt for a compromise and cancel the rest. If possible, downgrade to plans that better match your current needs. Use discounts offered for yearly plans for the critical tools and services.

Pro tip: Set a recurring reminder to review subscriptions every six months. This ensures that you’re staying on top of any new services and can adjust your plan according to changing needs.

Replace legacy systems

Invest in better software. It may seem the opposite of cost reduction measures. Yet, it is a strategic decision that guarantees the economy in the long term. As a rule, legacy systems are costly to maintain. They call for specialized support. They can’t integrate with modern tools and are prone to breakdowns. Meanwhile, replacing them with new solutions enables scalability. It immediately enhances performance across departments. Although upgrading systems requires an initial investment, the long-term savings from reduced maintenance costs, improved efficiency, and fewer breakdowns make it a cost-effective strategy.

Pro tip: Conduct a cost-benefit analysis before making the switch. Sometimes upgrading incrementally can offer a better return on investment compared to replacing everything at once.

Switch to cloud-based tools

With migration to cloud-based platforms, you won’t need to invest in physical infrastructure. Besides reducing hardware maintenance costs, cloud solutions offer flexible pricing models. They scale with your requirements. For example, per-pay-use plans adjust to the company’s business needs at every given moment. It provides remote teams with easier access to data and tools. Altogether, it improves collaboration and effectiveness.

Pro tip: Start with a hybrid approach – migrate less critical functions to the cloud first to ensure a smooth transition without disrupting business operations.

Explore software alternatives

Nowadays, you can find cheaper alternatives for most tools. Free or open-source software can replace costly paid tools, offering similar functionality without the ongoing subscription fees. Just check if the alternatives you consider integrate with other, non-replaceable applications. And ensure they meet your security requirements before migrating.

Pro tip: Before fully switching to a free or open-source tool, test it with a small team to make sure it integrates well with your existing systems and meets security standards.

Consider IT outstaffing

IT outstaffing extends the talent pool during hiring. It opens access to skilled professionals who aren’t available for office-only offers. And it’s not even the best thing about this cooperation model. Outstaffing allows you to reduce business expenses without giving up quality. Outstaffing usually entails cooperation with remote and offshore professionals. They request lower compensation only due to the logistics and job market trends in that area.

Pro tip: Partner with outstaffing firms that specialize in your industry or required tech stack to ensure quicker onboarding and a smoother integration of remote professionals into your existing team.

Reduce the budget for business travel

There are various advanced video conferencing tools and virtual collaboration platforms available. These tools eliminate the need for costly flights, hotel stays, and other travel-related expenses. So, there’s hardly a meeting that cannot be conducted remotely. Establish clear travel policies prioritizing virtual interactions for non-critical or routine matters. Reserve travel for high-impact situations like major client meetings or industry conferences.

Pro tip: Implement a travel approval process to ensure that only essential business travel is authorized, making it easier to assess whether the trip can be replaced by a virtual meeting.

Encourage remote or hybrid work

Does it make sense to still require a full-time presence at the office? Let’s see. Full-time office workers change companies more often than hybrid and remote workers. It’s 24% compared to 17% of respondents. One in four people will sacrifice 15% of their annual salary for flexible working hours. Meanwhile, fully or partially remote work will reduce office space and utilities expenses.

Pro tip: Invest in technology that supports remote collaboration, such as cloud-based project management tools and video conferencing software, to ensure productivity remains high despite fewer in-office hours.

Optimize your marketing spending

As a rule of thumb, B2B firms should spend 2–5% of their revenue on marketing. The numbers for the B2C sector are slightly higher – around 5-10%. Given the necessity to cut costs, higher marketing budgets are unlikely. So, analyze the ROI of the marketing channels you use. Cut back on underperforming campaigns. Focus on those delivering the best results. Explore strategies like social media, SEO, and email marketing.

Pro tip: Use A/B testing to refine your marketing campaigns and ensure that every dollar spent is directed toward strategies with the highest ROI.

Reassess your offerings

How can reviewing your product or service lineup be a cost-cutting strategy? It is a way to identify items with low demand or profitability. With this data, you can reallocate resources to more profitable areas. At the same time, you can lower production and storage costs. The same goes for expenses on marketing less popular items.

Pro tip: Regularly collect feedback from customers to understand which products or services are most in demand, and discontinue underperforming offerings to allocate resources more efficiently.

Optimize inventory management

Excess inventory ties up cash and adds storage costs. What’s worse, shortages can disrupt operations. Cost reduction solutions that can fix it revolve around better corporate software. Implement inventory management systems to track stock levels in real time. It will allow your team to forecast demand accurately and maintain the right amount of inventory.

Pro tip: Implement just-in-time (JIT) inventory strategies to minimize excess stock while ensuring you meet customer demand, reducing storage and holding costs.

Look into government incentives

One of the best cost reduction strategies is using government incentives and tax credits. Governments offer grants, tax credits, or subsidies for various purposes. Businesses get bonuses for adopting green practices. Companies can be rewarded for investing in research and development or creating jobs. Task your financial or legal experts with finding the right program that aligns with your broader business goals.

Pro tip: Set up alerts for new government programs or incentives that apply to your industry. An up-to-date knowledge of available tax breaks can help ensure you don’t miss valuable opportunities.

Automate repetitive tasks

The data on the value of automation varies across industries. For example, McKinsey suggests it’s already possible to automate up to 70% of business activities in banking. The company identified 63 generative AI use cases spanning 16 business functions. Regardless of the industry, automating data entry, payroll processing, or customer service inquiries reduce human error and free up employees. The same goes for workflow automation and chatbots.

Pro tip: Start with the most time-consuming tasks and automate those first to maximize time savings. Don’t forget to train your team to use the new tools effectively.

Increase employee retention

The real cost of turnover starts at 33% of the employee’s annual salary. Depending on the complexity of the position, it can reach 200%. It can take up to six months or more for a company to break even on the hiring investment. Long story short, high turnover is costly. Competitive pay, growth opportunities, and a positive culture are not just good working conditions. They are cost reduction techniques.

Pro tip: Offer personalized career development plans for employees to increase job satisfaction and engagement, which in turn reduces turnover and its associated costs.

Audit team roles and responsibilities

A deep analysis of your team’s structure helps identify overlaps, inefficiencies, and gaps. Such audits prevent resource misallocation and improve overall team productivity. They also reveal opportunities for restructuring or upskilling employees. But you don’t just eliminate redundancies. It’ll ensure employees focus on tasks that align with their skills and contribute directly to business goals.

Pro tip: Hold quarterly reviews of team structure and workload distribution to keep things running efficiently as business needs change.

Outsource non-core tasks

Similarly to outstaffing, outsourcing is one of the most effective cost-saving strategies. It reduces the overhead costs of hiring and training in-house staff. Outsourcing non-core tasks allows businesses to focus on their primary objectives. Specialized vendors often perform these tasks more efficiently and at a lower cost.

Pro tip: Clearly define the scope of outsourced work and set specific performance metrics to ensure the external provider meets your expectations without compromising quality.

Review employee perks

It is one of those cost reduction ideas companies should be cautious with. It’s critical to keep the balance and avoid cutting the perks drastically. Reassess your package carefully. Leave the benefits that truly matter to your workforce. Focus on perks that promote well-being and productivity. Leave flexible schedules and compensation for professional development. Let go of low-impact perks, like underused gym memberships or overly lavish events.

Pro tip: Survey employees to identify which perks they value most, then streamline your offerings based on the feedback to ensure you’re investing in benefits that make a real impact.

Employ data analytics

Use data analytics to spot and fix inefficiencies. Plenty of tools are available nowadays. They can analyze spending, customer behavior, operational processes, and more. All can provide actionable insights and highlight what can be improved. For example, analytics can reveal underperforming products and detect unnecessary expenses. A smarter process organization always results in cost optimization.

Pro tip: Use data visualization tools to make insights easier to understand and share across teams, enabling faster decision-making and more actionable cost-saving strategies.

Build strategic partnerships

Such cooperations allow businesses to share resources and open new opportunities. Partnerships often drive innovations. They can help find new clients and close deals faster. The right partnership can be a guest pass into a new market. Look for partners with complementary strengths and aligned goals. By pooling expertise, companies can achieve more with fewer resources, benefiting from shared knowledge and reduced individual costs.

Pro tip: Look for partners who share similar values and customer bases. This increases the likelihood of mutually beneficial collaborations that help minimize costs and grow your business.

Switch to digital documentation

Going paperless reduces costs associated with printing, storage, and disposal. Moreover, it streamlines workflows. How’s so? Digital systems make it easier to access, share, and secure documents. They ease the management of paper documentation throughout processes and archives. This, in turn, frees up time for more strategic tasks. Paperless practices also support environmental sustainability.

Pro tip: Invest in a secure document management system with cloud backup, making it easier to organize, share, and recover documents without losing time or money on paper-based systems.

Build sustainability-centered culture

Let’s wrap up today’s list of business cost saving ideas with an awareness initiative. Go beyond managing documents online. Adopt more sustainable practices. Recycle. Improve energy efficiency. Reduce water consumption. Source eco-friendly materials. It will lower costs over time. Besides, encouraging a sustainability-centered culture engages employees and customers alike. It positions your business as responsible and forward-thinking.

Pro tip: Set measurable sustainability goals and communicate progress regularly to employees. This boosts morale and encourages everyone to contribute to the cost-saving efforts.

To sum up

Cost reduction isn’t always pleasant, but it may be inevitable. Moreover, cost reduction shouldn’t be a downgrade. Businesses can view it as an opportunity to boost efficiency and remain competitive. It can also help modernize processes – automate routine tasks, reduce waste, optimize inventory, and build a more resilient staff management strategy.

If you choose IT outstaffing as a part of your cost reduction strategy, our team is here to help. DigitalSuits has vast expertise in closing tech vacancies. We have a pool of skilled and motivated IT professionals ready to join your project and support your business goals. Contact us to learn more and discuss the terms of cooperation.