Factoring is one of the first steps to starting a business. Whether called receivables factoring, invoice factoring or bill factoring, factoring helps your business get an initial amount of its outstanding invoices paid upfront. An invoice financing service is the ideal solution when your business needs immediate cash.

The internet has become an extremely important business tool, with most companies relying on email and web-based applications to do business. A website is recognised by even the smallest company as being key to successful marketing. But a good site is not enough, unless it works hard to drive potential business to your site through SEO or Pay per Click listings for example. The majority of web users rely on search tools, like directories and search engines, to find products or services online; this guide from Companeo will give you advice and information on how to increase the amount of traffic your website receives and how to boost its listing on search engines.

After salaries and premises costs, vehicle finance is often the largest expense for many SMEs. Making sure you get the right vehicles, at the right cost, with the most effective type of vehicle finance, will make a major difference to your business. This guide takes you through the main options, giving tips on the kinds of vehicle finance that best suits your business and suggesting ways to minimise your liabilities.

Cash flow management is a major concern for businesses. Unpaid debts, bad payment terms or delays in payment can be the difference between success and failure of a small business. At best, bad cash flow management will slow down business growth and affect your ability to pay for your own purchases and expenses. This guide is designed to help you keep on top of your cash flow and give your finances a proper health check.

Increasing the turnover of your business is not always enough to improve your profit margins. Cost control and reduction of overheads play an important part in managing the margins of small businesses. Some costs are hard to cut back but others can be easily controlled to stop direct and indirect costs getting out of hand. This guide from Companeo helps you consider your business spending and highlights areas where you can make some easy reductions.

There are several options when it comes to managing the accounts of your business. You can allow your staff to do it themselves. You can do it yourself; you could buy in an accounting software package or an accounting solution for your business; you could bring in a chartered accountant or simply outsource all of your accounting to an accounting practice. This guide will help you work out which method is most appropriate for your company’s needs.

Vending machines and coffee vending machines that serve hot drinks like coffee, hot chocolate or soup, cold drinks, sandwiches, snacks and confectionery on the premises, can give a professional and friendly image of your business. Also, if there are no shops close to the company, vending machines or coffee machines can benefit employees too. You can provide refreshments for employees, customers and visitors via vending machines that will cost them little more than a few pounds. Choosing the right vending machines for your business needs is not as easy as it seems. Companeo has reviewed the many different options available to help you make an informed choice on different types of vending machines.

The concept of electronic storage and online document management first emerged in the 1980s as office computing systems became widely available and affordable. Before that, documents were managed in filing cabinets and other kinds of storage, along with card indexes - a system that many businesses retain to this day. Since the 1980s, document scanning and electronic storage have progressed to the point where it is a wide-ranging and encompassing area of information technology, variously referred to as ' content management ', 'digital asset management', 'enterprise content management' or 'records management' among other things. Each of these areas of electronic storage and online document management implies slightly different issues, but this guide will stick with the main question of electronic storage, online document management and document scanning, as the most relevant terms for most SMEs.