Your customer expects a status update ASAP.
But to give her an update, you need to reach out to three different employees to see if they’ve completed their part of the project.
And each of these employees has a different tracking process, so it takes donkey’s years to figure out what the heck is going on.
You know you need to focus on business process improvement.
But how can you make time to analyze your methodologies, let alone implement new processes?
How can you know where to start?
For many owners and managers like yourself, it’s impossible to optimize your business while you’re busy supervising employees and managing customer relationships.
Let’s get one thing straight: broken business processes are costing you money.
Taking the time to create a business process improvement strategy is going to empower your people and delight your customers.
And we can help.
Read on to learn about some of the symptoms (and fixes!) of broken processes and how our Discovery Workshop can benefit your organization.
3 Signs Your Existing Processes Are Broken
- Inefficiency
Don’t you just love constantly asking your employees where a project’s at?
Of course not.
… So then why are you spending so much time doing exactly that?
Inefficiencies love to lurk in growing businesses, which may include:
- Having too many people contribute to the same stage of a project (double-handling)
- Constantly asking about the status of deliverables
- Navigating poor information flow
If you’re spending more of your time on any of these tasks instead of, well, actually working, then you should consider some business process improvements.
2. Unhappy People
Broken processes create unhappy employees who spin their wheels finding workarounds, navigating unclear communication channels, and firefighting when things go wrong.
Over time, this may cause people to want to set a fire just to escape the inferno that is their job.
Okay, hopefully, things aren’t quite as dark in your work environment as they are in the Office Space.
But regardless, you should care about employee morale. Disengaged employees end up costing you money in the long run because they’re less productive.
And as you can see in the table below, dysfunctional employment practices often lurk just beneath the surface of what appears to be a functional operation.
| Action | What You Think It Means… | What It Really Means…. |
| Staff explain that “this is the way we’ve always done it.” | Employees are rooted in the history of the company. | Staff aren’t empowered to make innovative or creative changes to increase productivity. |
| Employees follow rules to a “T,” no matter the circumstances. | The rules are working. | There isn’t room for flexibility or for employees to use their best judgement. |
| Employees spend time re-doing the work of others. | Some employees are perfectionists. | Expectations aren’t clear. Employees lack open communication channels. |
3. Low Scalability
Low scalability is another sign you may need to look into some business process improvement.
Scalability allows your organization to add more workload without increasing the costs associated with providing your product or service.
Put another way: scalability = more $$$.
But if you have broken processes, it’s going to be difficult to scale your product or service.
That’s because you and all of your employees are too busy:
- Trying to find workarounds for the broken process.
- Engaging in mundane administrative tasks.
- Spending too much time communicating.
And what does that mean? Sales slip through the cracks because employees are wasting time on tasks that don’t improve your bottom line.
3 Ways Software Creates Business Process Improvement
Now that you’ve read about some of the symptoms of a broken process, let’s define three ways software facilitates business process improvements.
Automating Repetitive, Mundane Tasks
Who wants to spend half their day answering customer questions about their order status?
Oh, not you? That’s what we thought.
Automation reduces the need for humans to undertake mundane administrative tasks that are much better suited to technology.
This might look like using any of the following to manage customer relationships or sales:
- SMS automation
- Sales automation
- Chatbots
The great news is that using automation, like chatbots, actually increases your company’s accessibility, which means happier customers.
Additionally, including more automation and technology reduces onboarding inefficiencies and frees up time for things like promoting positive company culture.
And the benefits of sales automation can’t be overstated. In addition to providing consistency, sales automation captures important data so you can answer questions, like:
- Are leads turning into customers?
- How many sales is each salesperson making?
- Are you experiencing revenue growth or loss?
The chart below summarizes the benefits of using automation as one of your business process improvement tools.
Each of these techniques provides you with one of the most valuable things around: more time.
| Automation | Benefits |
| Sales automation | Provides consistency in sales documentation Captures data for future decision-making Promotes lead generation |
| SMS automation | Alerts customers about order status Provides appointment reminders |
| Chatbots | Fields common questions Frees employee time for making sales Provides customers with easy-to-access support |
Capturing Institutional Knowledge
You trained an employee from an entry-level role up to a manager. They’ve been with your company forever. They’re your go-to person.
Then they leave, whether through retirement or for another job opportunity.
And they take all that institutional knowledge with them, forcing you to train a new employee from scratch.
Using technology to document processes is a great business process improvement that preserves institutional knowledge.
Why?
Because CRM systems provide everyone with access to the same information.
So, if a customer calls with a problem, your new employee can quickly check on the resolution status.
And you won’t need to bother the recent retiree while he relaxes on the beach.
Making Processes Scalable
Figuring out how to scale your business can be overwhelming.
But software makes it less so.
CRM software allows your employees to track leads, view customer profiles, record sales, and more. This means staff can focus on connecting with future customers instead of managing their own tracking systems.
Other business process improvement tools can also help you scale, such as creating a well-defined onboarding process or an IT support system.
These tools permit you to add more employees to your team without adding more of a (costly) administrative burden to yourself.
These are just a few of the many business solutions for growing companies. We’re excited to discuss other software to help you scale your business at a Discovery Workshop.
Why A Discovery Workshop Is The Place To Start
After reading this post, are you itching to find time to chat about business process improvement with your employees?
A Discovery Workshop provides you with just that opportunity.
What is a Discovery Workshop?
A Discovery Workshop is a productive discussion between all business stakeholders, facilitated by an expert in both software development and business process improvement.
By dedicating the time to in-depth business process mapping and feedback from your team, you can finally identify:
- What’s working? What needs to be improved?
- What’s your role (and other employee’s roles) in business processes?
- How much time are employees spending on X, Y, or Z tasks?
And a Discovery Workshop isn’t just about fixing problems.
The workshop is meant to help you fix the processes that are impeding your organization’s efficiency and effectiveness, allowing for continuous improvement.
How do we do that?
By taking a human-centred approach.
How Our Discovery Workshop Works
Our Discovery Workshop is unique in that it revolves around Human Pixel’s four key values:
- Humans at the centre
- People
- Partnership
- Integrity
We know that your organization’s success revolves around the success of your people. So we take them along for the ride in a half-day business process improvement assessment.
After identifying process pain points, we ask participants to vote on their severity. Then, we build a technology matrix to determine things like:
- The benefit to your business of automating a process.
- The time required to automate a process.
We provide you with expert knowledge about things like what to consider when choosing CRMs and then get to work setting up technologies and software to minimize your pain points.
Since we know that every organization is unique, we don’t push any specific approach. If your problem can be solved by an existing off-the-shelf solution, we’ll point you in that direction and help you set up your new system.
And if you need something more unique, we’re happy to develop bespoke software for you.
Why It’s A Gamechanger For Business Process Improvement
You’re probably already well aware of the broken processes that exist in your business.
But you don’t know how to fix them.
Our Discovery Workshop provides your business with a game-changing outside-in perspective.
Our experts know how to lead a conversation about your process defects, bottlenecks, and optimisation opportunities.
But…
We can ALSO point you to the best business process improvement tools and process automation software on the market to get you where to be.
If an off-the-shelf platform doesn’t exist – we’ll create a solution specific to your needs!
In addition to a fruitful conversation about business process improvement, you’re left with:
- Guided mapping of your business process
- Tools for continuous process improvement
- A technology matrix and technology recommendation
- 6-month to 5-year technology plan
- Technology Automation Recommendation
- You can credit the cost of your Discovery Workshop back to any development work from us – so it’s basically free!
Not too shabby, eh?
Conclusion: Book Your Discovery Workshop With Human Pixel
The success of every business lies in its process performance.
So ignoring broken processes isn’t doing anyone any favours: not you, not your customers, and certainly not your profit margins.
There’s never a better time than now to focus on business process improvements.
If you’ve noticed any of the symptoms of a broken process in your organization, don’t hesitate to book your Discovery Workshop with Human Pixel.
Whether you need a bespoke or off-the-shelf solution, our experts are ready to help you take your business to the next level.
About Author
