Whether you’re a fan or not it’s difficult to avoid the media storm surrounding the Royal Wedding.   Billed as the ‘wedding of the century’, small businesses across the UK have been quick to cash-in on the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, selling everything from replica engagement rings to commemorative plates.  At the same time, however, reports from London claim the extra day off the UK has been given to enjoy the wedding could cost the economy £5bn in lost productivity.

While we might not have to worry about the impact of an extra day off in Australia, improving productivity levels is certainly high on the agenda for small businesses here.

Doing this, of course, this isn’t easy.  Improving productivity requires the buy-in of all members of staff.  This view is supported by research from the Leadership Management Australasia, which recently found poor levels of job satisfaction means many Australian employees are performing at a level of personal productivity below their capability.  Raising the bar also requires a new way of thinking.

Take, for instance, document management.  Does it make sense to print and store all important documents on premises or can you save space and paper by storing materials electronically?  It’s the same with printing.  Do employees really need to print all the documents they do or can printing volumes be cut down by implementing ‘swipe and print’ solutions?

By challenging legacy approaches to printing and document management businesses can enjoy huge success in unlocking efficiency and cost savings.

Given economists are predicting Australian interest rates will rise later this year, all businesses should be looking at ways to changing the status quo of processes, identifying opportunities to improve efficiencies and continually reviewing ways of working to ensure optimum performance.  Adopting this approach with printing and document management is a good place to start as the savings often have an impact in months rather than years.

Efficiency and cost savings combined – now that’s what we call the perfect marriage.