How to Combat the Threat of Skyrocketing Inflation

Posted by James Lusk on

The outbreak of the 2020 pandemic, and the closures and supply chain crises that came along with it sent shockwaves throughout the business world. Years later, even with the pandemic’s end in sight, businesses continue to struggle with inflation and supply chain crises affecting their bottom lines. This causes a great deal of stress to many business owners, forcing them to look toward the dawning of each new year with apprehension about what the future will bring. In fact, according to data from MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 85% of small business owners participating in a recent survey expressed concerns about inflation, with 1 in 3 indicating that inflation is their top business concern.

Unfortunately, these fears are not unfounded. 2022 has seen the highest inflation rate in three decades, and it doesn’t show any sign of dropping soon. But if history has taught us anything, inflation should decline after it has reached its peak. After the last major spike, which occurred in March 1980 when the inflation rate hit 14.8%, inflation decreased steadily for the next 40 months. So, as small businesses play the waiting game and try to stay afloat until the tides of inflation recede, what are some options for them to combat the threats they’re currently facing?

Stay Lean and Mean

The most natural response to the current climate is to trim the fat from your operation. Any savings you can generate will contribute to your cash flow and/or the time you can spend boosting sales through marketing to current customers. Look for any processes that waste time or take away from your profitability.

Commit to Growth

Another path small businesses can take is to focus on growing their current revenues to allow them to stay ahead of inflation. This requires a sharp eye for making suitable adjustments to pricing strategies and investments in technology for improving profitability, throughput and saving time to focus on growth-related activities.

For DoD contractors, both of these strategies call for eliminating time-consuming manual processes, costly human errors that can cause delayed payments for shipments, and the reallocation of staff to double-check documentation accuracy. Odyssey’s technology was developed specifically for the DoD contractor to automate data management tasks, eliminate errors and free up staff’s time to focus on more profitable work.

To learn more about how Odyssey can help your business achieve high efficiency and align your business for growth, contact us today.