Regardless of the time of year, it's important for business owners to keep an eye on their production operations and ensure the different components of the business are running smoothly and issue-free. Losing sight of the ins and outs of these operations can put a business in danger of damaging its reputation, which can be very difficult to repair. For example, a late order due to out-of-date inventory can easily result in an angry customer. It doesn’t take long for word to get around, which can cause a good reputation to disappear in the time it takes to read a bad review. Meeting business commitments every day and every time is critical to an organization’s continued success.

Unfortunately, several bottlenecks can affect a company’s reputation, and they are different for every organization. For example, a manufacturer could hit a business pot hole due to budget overrun, quality concerns and capacity overload. A wholesaler might face problems with low inventory or late/missed payments. A professional services agency could experience a server outage and lose track of its employees’ billable time entries. The key to overcoming these challenges, keeping the business on track and maintaining a strong reputation with customers lies with having greater insight into the business. In this slideshow, Kae Williams, general manager of Exact, has identified five tips that can keep a business running in tip-top shape all year long.