Making a business efficient and streamlined

Bicycle Shop
Bill and Mary have been in the bicycle business for a while. It started off as the business of their parents. Subsequent to that, Bill and Mary inherited and took over the shop. The number of bikes done per week has mushroomed from roughly half a dozen to several dozen. The price point of the bikes is rather high, ranging from more than a thousand to roughly five thousand. Even with the ever-increasing amount of business for the shop, there are some accounting and other issues that should be addressed. This should be done as a way to harness command and control as well as maximize profit and standardize the operations of the firm. While the business would seem to be doing very well, the amount of control being rendered and the business status insight are both rather low given the way the firm is currently operating.
Analysis
One of the first things that must be changed is that each of the differing departments is in a silo formation when it comes to data. This would mean that they each have their own locus of control and data storage. Departmental autonomy and allowing for ease of operation is coveted by some people. However, it is almost always advantageous when departments that are fully transparent to each other and that can easily integrate and collaborate when it comes to shared, related or sequential job functions. There should be full visibility of what each department is doing. Beyond that, there needs to be a good amount of working together so that each department and modernize and perfect the way they do things so that costs can be kept down, profit can be maximized and wasted motion can be cut down or eliminated (Adaptive, 2015).
The flow of data as it currently exists at the bike shop is also in need of drastic improvement. First, the data must be complete and accurate. If the existing responsible parties cannot or will not provide data that is timely, complete and accurate, then people must be in place that can or will do that. That might mean hiring a permanent person to do the books for the departments. It might also mean contracting with a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or someone else. The owners should go with what is justifiable in terms of cost. In short, whatever needs to be done to standardize, improve and make the data accurate should be done, albeit in a way that is not excessively expensive or complex. Further, there should be a standardization of what each department does. There might be situations or patterns here and there that require a different approach. However, when that applies and how it is done should be defined in advance whenever possible. Making bicycles, even customized ones, is not something that is terribly complex or hard to decipher. For each department, each option, choice and workflow should be figured out in advance. Once that is defined, all employee should be made to follow that to the letter. The accountant (or someone else that is versed in auditing and verifying the data) should make sure that compliance is constant and at a high level (Adaptive, 2015).
Conclusion
It is entirely possible and likely that Bill and Mary will face resistance to this change. They themselves might be resistant to making the changes that are necessary. However, this cannot be allowed to stand as the current way of doing things is a sap to profits and smooth operations. The data needs to be accurate, the silos needs to go away entirely and there needs to be more efficient and adept completion of work-related tasks. This is true in all the departments. It will take time and effort to ascertain what needs to change, why it needs to change and how the firm will get from point A to point B. However, it is a necessary cost and the same is true of putting a proper chart of accounts and accounting system into place. Unless there is a situation or department that can justify being handled differently, everyone and every department in the shop needs to be receptive to change and responsive to the requirements of the management.
References
Adaptive. (2015). Data Silos: Why CFOs Think It's the Biggest Financial Mistake. Adaptive
Blog. Retrieved 10 November 2017, from https://blog.adaptiveinsights.com/perspective/
data-silos-why-cfos-think-this-is-the-biggest-financial-mistake/