What are your business priorities for 2014?

Increasing profits and growing their customer base are two of the most common priorities businesses have for 2014, as four out of five say they have confidence in their strategy for growth this year, new research has found.

The survey, taken by law firm Taylor Wessing found that 84% of start-up owners said they were “confident” or “somewhat confident” about their growth strategy in 2014, with business priorities reflecting this.

According to the report the top business priorities for small businesses in 2014 are:

1. Increasing profits (29%)
2. Growing customer base (25%)
3. Cutting costs (11%)
4. International expansion (9%)
5. Improving customer service (7%)
6. Accessing funding (7%)
7. Protecting data and intellectual property (5%)
8. Investing in product/service innovation (3%)

The report also asked small business owners about the challenges they expected to come across in 2014, with a number of key themes emerging including:

1. Access to lending from banks (13%)
2. Increases in tax and interest rates (13%)
3. Increasing costs e.g. energy and travel (11%)
4. Retaining and boosting competitive USPs (11%)
5. Skills shortages (9%)
6. Transitioning from start up to SME (9%)
7. Accessing international markets (7%)
8. Overregulation (7%)
9. Economic volatility (6%)
10. Compliance and regulatory issues (5%)

What are your top business priorities for 2014? What challenges are you anticipating having to overcome? If you are looking to cut costs in your business, why not try IRIS Payroll Basics, free RTI compliant payroll software?

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