Not easy to identify non-performing processes with high performance gain potential because not all non-performing processes are created equal; some show higher earning potential than others.
In fact, the challenge for an IT manager is not only to identify non-performing processes, but also to identify the processes that will bring the most gain to the business when optimized. As an IT Director, you need to be able to recognize the performance improvement indicators that are important for your company.
Clues to identify non-performing processes with high earning potential
What are these revealing elements, indicating a major hassle that can lead to significant performance gains?
First of all, let’s mention a common plague in the workplace, a remnant of the last Millennium, which reflects a deficient way of doing things; that is Excel. Not that we condemn its use, far from it, because Excel is a formidable and powerful office automation tool. However, if you use a complex Excel spreadsheet for the management and/or calculation of critical data or processes in your company, which only a few insiders master; then you should strongly evaluate its performance!
In the same vein, if you take a close look at the way things are done in your company and talk to your employees, you will probably find that many of them claim and/or complain that they don’t have the right tools. Again, a quick look around might reveal a gold nugget.
No need to remind you of the lack of resources as a source of non-performing processes but we would like to point out that this lack of resources could mostly easily be made up for by some good office automation tools and/or automation of the related processes.
On the other hand, and paradoxically in the information age, the lack of information is still today one of the gaps to be filled in terms of performance within many companies. Information is the sinews of war in the field of competitiveness today more than ever. Therefore, it is important to evaluate its impact on decision-making processes, among other things. We’re thinking here of different processes like Planning, Resource and Budget Allocation, Marketing Intelligence for Product/Service Development, etc. There is no doubt that intelligent automated analysis of complex and cross-cutting metrics could generate tangible and intangible performance gains in the enterprise.
Let us conclude with the lack of knowledge/skills which, although still present in some companies, has for a long time now been largely filled by continuing education programs. That said, training programs themselves can be highly, if not totally, automated, providing immediate performance gains.
Where will you find high earning performance potential in business?
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, of course, but it bears to say that certain company departments (and their critical processes) are often finger-pointed at because they are repeatedly indetified and studied as common sources of non-performing processes.
It is not long ago that complex financial processes of Banks and Financial Institutions moved to automation and optimization, and it must be admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done.
Management and Administration are also often tinged with non-performing processes slowed down by a lack of information or intertwined with paper processes, here and there.
Finally, if there is one department that should constantly be evaluated, not only on the performance of its staff but also, above all, on its processes, it is Sales. If there is one business function that should effortlessly feed on cross-data and Marketing Intelligence that far exceeds the capabilities of a CRM, it is Sales. In Sales, we never know enough about the potential of a market and its territories, about the potential of our Customers/Clients, about our performance and that of the competition.
How to generate significant performance gains?
By integrating new communication, calculation, management and production tools; whether commercial software or, even better, by developing custom software.
You can also generate significant performance gains by eliminating manual processes through automation; critical processes that involve filling out forms by hand or sharing or transmitting paper documents such as CVs, Sales Reports or Purchase Orders, for example.
And finally, you can review all of your critical processes to evaluate their performance and see if some of them could not be optimized. It is possible that some of your critical applications, while still functional, may be somewhat outdated or even have glitches.
Conclusion
In short, Process Automation and Optimization should become continuing processes in the enterprise, just as Agility is becoming.
There always comes a time when staff input is no longer enough, it simply requires better processes (or better tools). This will apply all the more when good killed resources are scarce as we are currently experiencing.