Planning for 2022: 5 Key Considerations

Planning for 2022: 5 Key Considerations

In a recent Inc. article, 3 Areas to Focus on in Early 2022 to Start the New Year Off Right, David Finkel, author of ‘The Freedom Formula: How to Succeed in Business Without Sacrificing Your Family, Health, or Life’, shares some very simple but sage advice about 2022 planning and beyond.

“As a business coach for over 25 years, I can attest to the power of strategic planning. I have seen business owners come in who were barely making ends meet … start to scale and grow at lightning speed once they learned how to properly plan and strategize for the upcoming year.”

Annual planning is critical to business success; the issue is that it’s often too limited, focusing on initiatives that fuel growth, for example. However, a successful strategic plan needs to consider initiatives that reduce risk, create efficiency, and build for the future, all while helping you respond to day-to-day needs and challenges. Finkel goes on to say, “All too often, business owners get so caught up in the day-to-day adrenaline of running their business that they forget to step back and think through their strategic decisions.”

Whether you choose to leverage the systems you have in place, upgrade and update, or add applications and workflows, taking a step back and knowing what vehicles are going to enable your success in invaluable. Here are the top five things all businesses should include in their planning for 2022.

  1. Cybersecurity. 2021 seemed to be the year when security hit businesses and organizations of every kind hard, and the need for vigilance has only intensified. Even if you already have a plan and are executing it, any measure you’re currently executing or planning should be evaluated annually, if not quarterly. ArcherPoint can help you with everything from providing an analysis of your current security status to endpoint and infrastructure security, end user management, remote monitoring, backups, data security, disaster recovery, and more. Watch this recorded webinar, Demystifying Cybersecurity with ArcherPoint
  1. Business analysis. How often should you analyze your business processes? As your organization grows and changes, your workflows and processes will likely need to evolve to address new requirements, business pivots, and technology. If you haven’t reviewed or completed a business analysis in several years, you might find that you’re bumping up against frustrations and inefficiencies. 2022 might be the year where you review your workflows, reevaluate your functional needs, and determine if your processes need updating, if you need functional consulting, if you might benefit from add-on software, or if you might even be ready for modern technology. 
  1. Digital transformation. IT spending is predicted to grow 5.1% this year to a total spend of $4.5 trillion, with enterprise software and cloud computing seeing an 11 percent year over year increase. What does this all mean? It means that businesses moving to the cloud is occurring at a fast rate with significant investments. Consider your path forward, whether that means upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central, moving to Azure, leveraging your ERP fully with apps and integrations, working with Power Apps, outsourcing some or all your IT, leveraging application managed services, or simply starting with a plan that outlines your goals.  
  1. Reporting and data. Do you have the ability to see a real-time snapshot of the state of your business, or are you pouring through multiple reports and applications to understand your top line metrics? Tools like Power BI can tap into various applications and pull the data you need to give you real time information, keeping you on top of what’s important. 
  1. Training. Are you using your investments to their fullest potential? So often we make investments in technology, software, and systems, have the initial implementation and training, and stop there. Get the most out of your systems by identifying problem areas or features that you aren’t using but might be able to use and plan for additional training and development.  

Put energy into strategic planning and be sure you’re considering these important factors. That way, you’ll catch issues, holes, and opportunities, which can save you from trying to, as Finkel says, “dig yourself out of a hole years down the road.” If you’re not sure where to start, ArcherPoint can help. As your Microsoft ERP and cloud partner, we understand your business and can provide the services or point you to solutions that can serve your needs. Contact your account manager or ArcherPoint to schedule a call to learn how we can help you with your 2022 planning initiatives today. 

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