Streamlining is a set of tasks and tools that are aimed at improving individual operations or all of the company’s activities. This optimization is often misinterpreted by some executives, thinking that it means reducing the number of employees. This measure is applicable only in the case when competent management and improvement of business processes in the company has led to a decrease in the burden on employees. However, the list of possible solutions is not limited to dismissal.
By streamlining business processes, it is possible to:
●
speed
up the execution of operations;
●
reduce
the cost of goods or services;
●
improve
product quality and customer satisfaction;
●
make
the progress of operations and the allocation of resources more transparent;
●
improve
control over business activities;
●
get
free resources and space for development;
●
improve
the planning and management system.
How to understand that business process streamlining is needed?
Some signs indicate that a company needs to streamline its business processes:
1.
Due
to inconsistency, decisions and operations take a long time to complete.
2.
Business
processes in the enterprise are not controlled (there is no owner of the
business process).
3.
The
quality of services or products is lower than expected, the return rate is
high, and buyers leave negative reviews.
4.
Control
is mainly carried out not over the result of work, but employees.
5.
There
is no division of responsibility by level.
6.
Communication
between departments is poor. For instance, salespeople are unaware of
promotions.
7.
The
number of employees and departments is growing, but the results are not
changing, and incomes are decreasing.
Step-by-step instructions for streamlining business processes
Step 1. Determine the optimization goal
The goal of optimization depends on the strategy of the
business, its type of activity and the position of the company in the market.
Here are some examples of optimization goals:
●
optimization
of costs and reduction of the cost of goods;
●
reduction
of the production time;
●
shorter
delivery times.
Step 2. Describe business processes as they are
At this step, you need to analyze and describe the business
processes soberly. To do this, you need to make a list of all processes and
answer the following questions for each:
●
What
are the “entry” and “exit” from the business process?
●
What
procedures does the process involve?
●
Who
performs each procedure?
●
What
is the result of its implementation? (You can try to evaluate the results in
money)
●
Who
gets the result, and what does he do with it?
As a result, you have a detailed map. When analyzing it, all
the advantages and disadvantages of the business activities are revealed. This
helps to clarify the list of tasks and goals.
Step 3. Search for flaws and bottlenecks
Just like in Forex trading, at this stage, it is necessary to identify problem areas of both individual business processes and the business as a whole. There may be recurrent problems. An example of a bottleneck in a separate business process: on weekends, a furniture showroom in Nigeria is visited by a sufficient number of buyers, but sales are not growing. The bottleneck is sales assistants: there are as many of them on weekends as on weekdays. As a result, customers come, they are not paid attention to, and there is no sale.
At this stage of the analysis, take into account:
●
competitors’
performance;
●
your
opening hours;
●
the
number of employees;
●
quality
of goods;
●
customer
benefits;
●
niche
features.
Step 4. Description
of the desired business process
After describing business processes as they are and
identifying bottlenecks, you need to describe how it should be. A simple
example from the Forextime
blog: a sales manager talks to a customer on the phone and enters information
into an Excel spreadsheet. Often, the client needs to call back at certain
intervals, but the manager does not have a tool that would remind him of
communication with the buyer.
In this example, the desired result is that the client
receives reminders in the morning about whom he needs to call, at what stage of
negotiations he is and other important information. A CRM system can be a good
solution. But to come to such a decision, you must first describe the vision of
the future result. When you understand how it should be, you can find the
optimal solution.
Step 5. Implementing changes
At this stage, it is crucial to be flexible and calculate
the risks. The fact is that all business processes are interconnected and
changing one of them can lead to negative consequences for the other. For
instance, you realized that the bottleneck was salesmen and consultants, you
hired 5 more people, orders increased, but production ceased to cope with them.
A rejection began to arise due to haste, as a result — dissatisfied customers
and a lot of complaints.
To avoid such risks, you can implement changes in individual
business processes gradually. For instance, as in the example with a furniture
store, first, take 1-2 consultants who will work on weekends and see how the
revenue changes and how the production will cope with orders.
Get outside experts to take a detached view of your
business. At the same time, do not be tempted by low prices: put the quality of
services in the first place.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com