No matter how smoothly your business is operating, every business has the potential to do a little better. Or, in some cases, a lot better. Processes are established in business to keep things running or a quick work around, but inertia and old habits can keep us following those processes even when they’re not the most effective.
The benefit of implementing a process improvement methodology as part of your overall management systems is that it gives you an avenue to spot and improve challenges in your processes. These challenges could be impacting the operations of the business.
Broken or inefficient processes can cost time and money. By putting a process improvement method in place, you can ensure you're always looking for these and addressing them.
Improvement starts at the basic level to question a process, such as changing a repetitive manual process to automation. This provides the ability to redeploy resources into higher value uses.
Process improvement could range from a limited review on one process or could be as wide as an organisational bottom-up strategic review with the implementation of a new system.
Process improvement should involve employees at all levels and includes:
Setting and stating business or project goals
Reviewing the current process to spot room for improvement
Implementing necessary changes
Reviewing the changes, and fix as necessary
Documenting and reporting results
Process improvement is designed to continually identify, analyse and fix constraints, challenges and opportunities in processes. The basic steps for process improvement are to identify the opportunity, analyse the challenge and implement improvements.
To identify opportunities for process improvement, start by defining the existing processes in the organisation. Then undertake a review involving the key people to identify opportunities for improvement.
One way to begin process improvement is to set certain guidelines ahead of time. These include:
determining what will be improved
how it will be improved
what is the measure of success
analysing the outcomes as a result of the process change implemented.
Process improvement also includes the development of new systems that may include customised architecture or applications with new or existing hardware, packaged and custom software.
Services
The services that Executive Financial Services provides include:
• Document processes and procedures
• Process mapping
• System review and optimisation
• Systems design
• Implementation management
• Budget and assessment