Every business needs an excellent customer experience. And this means more than just great service; it also means having the right team in place to support customers before, during, and after their purchase. That’s why you need all five essential departments for small business success.

Photo by Sebastian Voortman from Pexels

 

Every department—IT, accounting, marketing, human resources (HR), and operations—plays a role in building customer relationships that will create a return on investment (ROI) for your business. 

 

This Is Why You Need These Departments:

 

Information Technology

Small business owners need to make sure they have a robust IT solution. The first step should be building out the company’s website. This includes choosing a content management system, buying products through various online marketplaces, and linking everything together with one secure network hub.

This small business owner needs to hire an IT guru who can handle all of the technical aspects for them. Then, once the website is up and running, this person has to set it up so that email reaches employees no matter where they are in the world—and at multiple times throughout the day if necessary. 

Small businesses also need monitoring systems so that websites are always available for customers no matter what time of day it is or how many millions of people are trying to access the site at once.

Even if a business doesn’t have a dedicated IT employee, any small business owner still needs to be on top of what’s going on with their company’s website and their employees’ email accounts.

 

Accounting

In order for a business to succeed, it has to have some sort of centralized accounting program that all employees can use to access financial information whenever they need it. The most widely used bookkeeping software is QuickBooks, though there are a number of other options as well. 

Information about purchases, inventory levels, and revenue should all be readily available through this system so that small business owners can make quick decisions without having to wait around for multiple reports or put in hours doing math by hand.

This company owner is going to need an accountant who knows QuickBooks inside and out. They should be able to handle anything that comes up in a conversation about the financial status of the business. Even if this small business owner wants to do most of the accounting work on their own, they’re still going to need someone with expertise when tax time rolls around.

 

Marketing

The hardest part of marketing a small business is figuring out where people are looking for services like theirs. This information will dictate everything from website design to product placement in stores or restaurants. 

However, small businesses can learn what media outlets are being used by their target market through basic research on Google Analytics, Adwords, Facebook adverts, and Twitter posts—then put ads in front of those people at the right time.

Small businesses need to do more than just advertise their products, though; they also have to make sure potential customers know about them. So small business owners should be handing out flyers at local events, talking to managers of retail spaces that might want to carry their company’s products, and buying banner space on prominent websites.

All said and done; small businesses also need a marketing department for digital outreach efforts. For example, they can post information about new product lines or events on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts—and leave it up to their IT department to keep those pages secure from hackers.

 

Human Resources

When you’re hiring employees for a small business, you’re not only bringing someone new into the fold whom you’ll have to get acquainted with but also someone who will be working closely with your business’s other employees. Therefore, you want to make sure they’re capable of doing their job correctly and that they’ll be professional.

This company owner has no clue what is involved in hiring employees, so they’re going to need an HR assistant on hand every time they bring someone new onboard. That means helping them draft employment contracts and paychecks for all new workers, setting up benefits packages or insurance plans, assisting with any disciplinary procedures that arise, and making the employee feel comfortable in the office.

 

Operations

There’s a lot of grunt work involved in making sure a business is running smoothly from day to day. For example, you have to make sure the cleaning crew comes by every week, that your office space stays tidy and that all equipment is working properly—or at least has a backup ready to go in case it breaks down.

Operations also cover getting the word out about products or services, keeping track of inventory levels, and allocating resources where they’re needed most. 

The bottom line here is that you need someone who can keep an eye on everything going on at the business, so you don’t have to spend all your time worrying about what’s happening back home. 

In this instance, this company owner doesn’t have the experience necessary to hire people for any other roles, so they’re just going to have the staff keep an eye on operations.

 

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