If you want your business to be successful, then it has to be efficient. The problem is that many organizations struggle with this because processes that waste resources and hinder growth are more prevalently used than those that are streamlined or efficient. It should be a part of your business strategy to streamline your business processes, and these can transform challenges into opportunities for better productivity and profitability at the same time. Workflow should be optimised and you should have practical strategies that help your organization to achieve operational excellence. But how do you get to that space?
From using NetSuite apps to ensuring that you are focusing on targeted improvements, you should be able to turn any business inefficiencies into something that’s more of a competitive advantage. Business processes are sequences of activities that are regularly performed to achieve a particular goal, and streamlining these processes is the action of improving them day-to-day. Let’s take a look at the top ways you can streamline your business processes to make things run more smoothly.
- Map out what your current processes are. Before you can streamline anything, you have to have a business map of the processes you currently have in place across the area that the aim to streamline. A visual diagram for every department and every process in your business, with every step involved in that process, helps you to break it down and see the details about responsible employees and the resources that they require to complete the task. When you map out your current processes, you’re able to see what people need to keep those processes moving forward and that way you can see where you can cut the fat.
- Match your processes to your business outcomes. Once you have mapped out each process in your business, determine which organizational goals they contribute to or not. If your goals have shifted since the process was initially implemented, then it shows that you’re not growing or maintaining your business processes particularly well. You should make sure that any processes that no longer align are earmarked for improvement or elimination. Your business outcomes should always be worked on, and that means that the processes you may have begun with aren’t going to carry your business through.
- Map out areas for improvement. You can use data analytics tools from your software to analyze the effectiveness of your processes. You can use these insights to develop a plan for bottlenecks, digital friction, and resource waste. You can determine which issues affect your business outcomes the most and then work on prioritizing them according to how they impact the way your business runs. When you focus on eliminating inefficiencies, you can then map out new processes to put in their place. This way you’re getting rid of anything that’s wasting resources without taking away a process entirely.
- Make it simple. Go back to the beginning and look at your process maps so that you can see how you can automate or simplify any processes. There may even be some that you can cut out altogether. If you notice how one department handles a certain task more efficiently than another, take time to see whether you can duplicate these processes across the board. By standardising your processes, you can make it easier for employees to adopt them and understand how they function across the business and how it works.
- Go lean. Lean methodologies involve identifying and eliminating waste. These are then used to enhance your efficiency and enhance your business value. When you apply these lean principles, such as continuous improvement, you’ll be able to systematically analyze your workflow to pinpoint your inefficiencies. This is an approach that will reduce any unnecessary steps and improve your process flow. It should be your ultimate goal to use lean methodologies to encourage employee involvement and feedback. You want to foster a culture where your processes are continuously improved, not just stagnating.
