Now that you are a big business with 300 – 500 employees, you have to think differently from when you were just another new kid on the block. Back then it was possible for you to be scrappier and lighter on your feet.
Like a racing boat versus a big ship, you were highly maneuverable with little effort. You can’t drive an aircraft carrier the same way without disastrous consequences.
You will find that the laws are different for big companies as well. The things you used to get away with as a startup are suddenly considered anti-competitive. You are on the radar of all the regulatory bodies. And it will seem like you can’t make a move that doesn’t run afoul of someone’s idea of legality.
You need a legal department because everyone wants to sue you for a piece of your prosperity. Environmental and human rights groups will start criticizing you for things that were considered good business practices when you were smaller.
Nothing about it feels fair but that is exactly the way it should be when you grow to a certain size. Here are a few other things that have to change when you get big enough to affect the local economy:
You Need Professional Content Management
A small company can get away with consumer-grade content management. In fact, they can get away with no content management at all.
Big companies have to take content more seriously since every bit of their messaging is considered content. And they have a lot more of it to manage. Content management systems deal with web-based content. And there is a big difference between enterprise and lesser packages.
Business-focused packages, like those offered by Zesty.io, eliminate migration and update headaches by doing it behind the scenes, are designed for headless administration, scale easily, and are designed for multi-site management.
There is a lot to consider when you move up from simple consumer blogging software. Because bigger businesses have bigger content needs, it only makes sense that you would use a more advanced content system. At a certain size, a good pen and a Field Notes will no longer do.
Workforce Tools
It is obvious that a company with no workforce will not need the same tools as a company with a workforce numbering in the hundreds. You probably don’t need an HR department when you only have a couple of part-time, contract workers.
At the enterprise level, you need workforce tools to help you recruit, train, track productivity, provide continuing education, handle payroll issues, and manage schedules. If office space is at a premium, there is also hot-desking to consider.
Tracking metrics and making the right optimizations for maximizing productivity is the toughest challenge. With two or three sales reps, the problems are pretty easy to diagnose. But when your workforce number in the hundreds, you need workforce management and process analytics tools to pinpoint the issues and make the right adjustments.
Big Cloud
Small businesses buy computers. Big businesses buy servers. More and more, hardware servers are giving way to virtual servers. And big iron is yielding to the big cloud.
Large server rooms are expensive to maintain and carry a lot of downsides. In this case, there are good reasons for small businesses to migrate to the cloud.
The difference is that big business has bigger needs. It is not just a matter of server space. Many SaaS options and cloud BI products just wouldn’t make sense for companies that generate limited data.
Dedicated Office Space
Big businesses need dedicated spaces to get work done reliably and securely. Small businesses really should be looking into desk hoteling solutions. One of the biggest unnecessary expenses for small businesses is the office lease that could be slashed in half or more just by going with a co-working space.
Small businesses don’t need to act like big businesses. They should enjoy their advantages for as long as they can. It is an even bigger mistake for big businesses to act like small businesses.
If you are making the transition to a big business, you need a professional content management solution, workforce tools, cloud-based operations, and office space fit for your endeavors.
