Three ways to make your business a success in 2025

With entrepreneurial tips from Joep Hoeks, Chief Product Officer at Exact 

How can you stay on track, gain an edge over your competitors and, most importantly, satisfy your customers as an entrepreneur? Questions like these probably sound very familiar. Especially in times with a challenging economic outlook and customers with ever-higher expectations. Same-day delivery, constant availability and (nearly) free returns have become the rule rather than the exception. In this article, Chief Product Officer Joep Hoeks shares his insights on current developments and tips on how to respond to them.  

“It’s no great secret that SMEs in the Netherlands need to stay on their toes”, says Joep. “According to research, economic developments such as persistent inflation and labour shortages form the biggest challenges, closely followed by legislative and technological developments. This can all make doing business rather less fun, and it’s increasingly common for us to hear that entrepreneurs aren’t getting much enjoyment out of their work anymore.” That’s a great shame. After all, enjoying your work is essential to keeping it all going: it motivates and inspires you while driving innovation. How can you make things better? Joep: “I believe that for SMEs, in these times, in a world full of challenges, you need to start by making sure your operations and financial matters are all in order. That way, you can do business successfully and be future-proof, take pride in your work and care for your customers.”  

Manufacturing, inventory management and logistics are all examples of operational processes that need to be organised well for you to maintain control in economically challenging times. “I believe automation plays an essential role in achieving this”, Joep continues. “Automation makes it possible to get more done faster, with fewer people. Considering the current labour shortages, an ageing population and ever-higher customer expectations, that is badly needed. Perhaps more importantly, the huge amounts of data produced by automation can give you more insight into your business and allow you to run it even more efficiently. Order and inventory management is one example. With an ERP system, you always have the right quantities of product in stock and know exactly at what times of the year to increase those quantities in order to assure your customers of prompt deliveries.” 

Thanks to artificial intelligence, and GenAI in particular, automation also keeps becoming smarter. You can see this in Exact’s newly launched Exact Assistant. Joep: “AI tools are becoming better at ‘conceptual thinking’. For example, these tools can take a voice recording of meeting minutes and then filter and process the most important data. A recorded sales conversation can be converted into a quote, complete with an allocation of associated tasks to colleagues, transport booking and automated time tracking and invoicing. While we aren’t quite that far yet, I do expect to see us all becoming more and more reliant on voice control in our work, creating enormous time savings.” To maximise your benefits later on, it is important to ensure operational processes are set up properly now and to have your data in order, says Joep: “Data is the foundation of your business, and with the right data, AI can really do the work for you.”  

Financial health sounds like such an obvious thing. For SMEs, however, it can be both challenging and anxiety-inducing to achieve. Joep explains: “Orders aren’t always evenly spaced throughout the year: prices of raw materials and energy increase, customers are slightly or very late to make their payments and meanwhile, your fixed costs are ongoing. Good cash flow management is essential to avoid running out of money. Not just to pay those fixed charges, but also to be able to invest in your business.” Again, automation is key. “A smart, automated system shows you how many outstanding invoices you have, but can also send customers automatic, appropriately worded payment reminders based on their customer profile. Customers who tend to pay late get a firm reminder, while those who are generally on time get a friendlier one. There is even an integrated payment link, and you are provided with a handy tool to improve your cash flow and give you up-to-date insight into your finances. And related to my third tip, an accountant or financial adviser may also have good ideas on how to optimise your financial situation. As an entrepreneur, you are passionate about what you do, but it’s perfectly possible that finances aren’t your strong point.”   

Besides offering you peace of mind as an entrepreneur, having your financial and operational processes in order also means you can meet customers’ expectations and thus improve their experience. While technology is the foundation, “It’s important to keep a personal touch”, says Joep. “In my view, enterprises that manage to strike the right balance are more assured of long-term success. AI agents can take a lot of work out of our hands and are doing so increasingly well. As a nice side benefit, these tools are also always on the job, can work day and night, never need a holiday and don’t get sick – well, except for software viruses. Still, AI will continue to act as a supplement to the efforts of human beings, people who, thanks to such applications, can be assigned more creative jobs and have time to put their passion to work. It allows you to differentiate yourself and offer customers that personal touch.”