Everyone knows that you have to spend money to make money. But with so many business expenses to think about, where will you get the most bang for your buck? Figuring out where to invest can certainly keep business owners up at night. While there are many beneficial investment opportunities, three stand out as offering big returns on your investment: Research, Cybersecurity, and Automation.

Research

Research and development (R&D) are at the heart of any business. All of today’s businesses began with an idea, and virtually all successful businesses stay afloat because of a steady progression of new ideas. Not only does R&D lead to innovative products and services to expand your business, but they also lead to progressive and efficient methods that will save your company time and money. Keeping up with the competition in your field requires constant vigilance. Of course, R&D is especially vital to highly technical industries such as software development, engineering, and manufacturing; however, it is all-too easy to get left behind in any industry if you aren’t constantly moving forward.

Cybersecurity

While cybersecurity won’t make money for your company directly, it will protect you from significant loss in the form of cybercrimes such as phishing, malware, and ransomware. Phishing happens when a hacker uses a false identity to lure people into a trap that involves disclosing passwords or other sensitive information or getting them to inadvertently download malware. Malware is anything designed to harm a computer’s hard drive. Ransomware locks down a user’s computer, only releasing it if the user pays up. All these security threats and more can wreak havoc on your computer systems, costing your company thousands of dollars to fix. Investments in cybersecurity help reduce weaknesses in your business.

Automation

Automating menial tasks can greatly reduce your business expenses, reduce human error, and streamline your company. Some examples of helpful automation include marketing, email management, billing, scheduling, appointment reminders, customer relationship management, payments, and more. When you automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, you free up time for what really matters. It will be hard to keep up with today’s competitive markets without automating as much as possible.

While it is true that you need to spend money to make money, wise business owners understand the areas that will give them the best return on their investment. When you aren’t sure where to put your money, remember that it is hard to go wrong with research, cybersecurity, and automation.

Check out this article on normal business costs you need to factor into your budget!