What is Business Process Optimization and Why You Need It
Business process optimization can help you reduce waste and become more efficient. Here’s why your organization needs it.
Business processes are the backbone of every organization, and success is heavily dependent on how efficient and effective those core processes are. While many of your daily tasks and procedures may seem mundane, the reality is that if you are not actively optimizing your organization’s processes, you are letting your competitors gain significant advantages over you.
In this article, we’ll dive into what process optimization looks like, why it’s so beneficial for businesses, and how to get started with process optimization within your own company.
What is Business Process Optimization?
Chances are, no matter what industry you’re in, or whether you’re a small startup or an established mid-market organization, your goal is to produce more while spending less.
That’s where business process optimization comes in.
Simply put, business process optimization is the act of improving your processes to maximize efficiency and reduce time, resources, and money spent in a process. It is the process of identifying and implementing new methods that make your organization more efficient and cost-effective.
Top Benefits of Business Process Optimization
The main benefits of business process optimization include improving productivity, waste reduction, lower costs, and increased profitability. You also develop a culture of processes, which removes organizational silos and can improve your employee morale. The cumulative benefit is that your business becomes more efficient overall. Here are the benefits in more detail:
Increase in efficiency & productivity
The main benefit of process optimization is the increase in efficiency across the board. After going through this process, you may realize that there are numerous manual tasks in your core processes that can be automated. By automating certain tasks and streamlining others, your organization will operate more efficiently. Streamlining processes also empowers employees to complete their tasks faster, and their output will yield stronger results.
Reduced inaccuracies and errors
A key part of process optimization involves having a single source of truth if your organization does not already have a centralized database in place. This helps streamline communications between departments and reduces inaccuracies that inevitably occur when data is stored in silos in more than one place or inputted manually. Shifting away from manual tasks will also result in fewer human errors and costly mistakes. Examining your processes critically allows you to find and remove those inconsistencies and inaccuracies that lead to error.
More agility & competitive edge
In the current business landscape, agility is more important than ever before. Your organization needs to be flexible and be able to adapt quickly. By undergoing process optimization, you enable your processes to become agile and take rapid action to stay ahead of the curve. A streamlined organization is better equipped to handle changing marketplaces, setbacks, or breakthroughs and is key to ensure business continuity.
Improved bottom line
This is probably the biggest incentive for companies to undertake business process optimization – the direct impact on their bottom line. Process optimization helps you cut operating costs and save money. It also helps you improve the quality of your organization’s results. When your processes are consistent and efficient, you’ll also improve customer satisfaction, which leads to a stronger reputation for your company and helps gain new clients and retain existing ones.
Who Needs Business Process Optimization?
There is often a mistaken belief that only manufacturing companies benefit the most from process optimization or only larger organizations really need it. The fact of the matter is that regardless of your industry or company size, optimizing your processes is the best thing you can do to drive business growth and operate effectively. In today’s competitive business landscape, companies need to stay ahead of the curve, and process optimization can help you do just that.
Business process optimization, when done correctly, is not a one-off project but an on-going process that should become a part of your organization. By continuously examining and improving the way your business works, you ensure that your company continues to move forward and remain viable.
How to Get Started with Business Process Optimization
There are numerous business optimization approaches, including
Total Quality Management – quality improvement system where the goal is to cut down on defective products or poor service. The emphasis is on individual departments and goals within a company, with the overall objective of improving customer satisfaction.
Six Sigma – the main goal for Six Sigma is continuous improvement. When implemented correctly, it continues to yield benefits long after the initial goals have been achieved.
Lean – the goal is to make manufacturing and production processes efficient, and the emphasis is on eliminating unnecessary or wasteful steps in a process.
But how do you actually get started? To begin thinking about business process optimization for your small or mid-sized business, begin by understanding your current core business processes and documenting them. Start with process mapping and identifying your key performance indicators. Process mapping makes your processes visual, which can help see how they actually work and highlight areas of waste or frustration.
Let Us Help
Kwixand Solutions is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner based in Vancouver, Canada, but we’re also much more than that! We help businesses across North America achieve their business goals and scale with ease. Our team of experts will dive into your business processes and work with you to optimize your organization. Reach out to us at info@kwixand.com or 1-604-256-5800 to learn how we can help your business.