Every organisation has multiple processes that come together to generate successful outcomes. These processes are typically designed at different stages in the organisation’s lifecycle. over time they get outdated as realities change – market changes, technology advances, changes in resources – are a few things that can contribute to this.
It’s important to review operational processes regularly. This helps to identify inefficiencies in these processes and find the best ways to improve them. In most cases, the first solution that comes to mind is automation; and even when the process is already automated, we try to find ways to either increase our processing speed either increasing infrastructure or running some steps concurrently or some other quick fix.
These quick fixes most of the time end up either creating more problems or not fixing the identified ones; and what’s more – they’re not usually cost effective. I bet you’re thinking okay, what then?
Process improvement / optimisation in itself is a process and it pays to follow identified best practice. It’s important to ask pertinent questions; the most important of which is – What problem are we trying to solve and what does a successful outcome represent?
Breaking this down and asking other key questions will help arrive achieve the desired outcome –
To effectively answer these questions, you’ll need to have a true picture of the current situation (AS IS). Process mapping are very effective tools for this. The next step would be to evaluate the process in detail by conducting a Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
Doing this helps to narrow down which part of your process is actually causing the inefficiencies and what exactly needs to be changed. The problem could be with the flow sequence, or a particular step that takes longer or requires more hands, or a number of other issues that will become very apparent. Once the root cause is identified, solving the problem becomes a walk in the park e.g. you may only need to improve one part of the process or change the flow. This process may sound painstaking, but the cost-benefit is definitely worth it.
Below is a suggested roadmap to making the journey from AS IS to TO BE easier. We’ve also included a few very helpful tools to help you on this journey.
ProduqtEdge partners with companies to create more optimised versions of themselves. We are interested in helping you achieve your goals. Reach out today to claim your free first consultation.
