Optimise Growth Rates With Business Process Improvement

Business process improvement incorporates a systematic approach for enabling an organisation to optimise its systems and procedures and to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. The method was primarily documented by H James Harrington in his book Business Process Improvement. BPI, as it is otherwise known, helps reduce cost and cycle time while improving quality.

In the current business climate it is more important than ever to ensure your efforts are focussed on €doing the right things well€. With the help of a management consultant working with your teams to optimise their systems and processes, your company can excel in its field. By conducting a systematic examination of your business processes, you can enable your business to identify its inefficiencies and drawbacks and more importantly, to identify the actions necessary to adjust your processes so as to make your operations more productive. Your business processes will be better aligned with your goals and your business will be on the right track. This helps avoid unnecessary and/ or inefficient actions, improves quality and saves time, effort and money.

Another important aspect of business process improvement is related to the focus placed on customer requirements. It is critical to meet the evolving needs of customers in order to grow dynamically. By improving your processes you are better able to serve the needs of your customers and to assist them to meet their goals and objectives and to strengthen your customer/ supplier relationships - everyone wins.

The aim of business process improvement is to ensure that your people are only doing the things that add value to your business (they are being effective) and that the things that they are doing are being done well (that the business is efficient). For the uninitiated it can seem confusing but in the end, it is just about ensuring that you have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time, only doing that which supports your business's goals and in turn delivers your customers' requirements.

By identifying the process steps that do not meet your expectations, you can use available resources to look into the areas that require development. This helps your company achieve maximum efficiency improvements. Personal coaching and training, for managers and team members in BPI and other supporting management skills, can also help in ensuring that the gains made are locked in and are sustainable, and the resultant improvement cycle is the natural way of operating.

Spending a few hours a week on business process improvement, and getting a head start on it with the right management consultant will have noticeable effects on your business profits as well as your time. Start now and see the rewards.