Article Contributed by Erik Johnson
Business process optimization can seem overwhelming if your business processes and management systems are in desperate need of an overhaul. Many businesses just put on blinders when they know they need help, because they don’t know where to begin and don’t think they have the resources to make the necessary changes. With the right business process management consulting, however, it’s possible to take the initial steps toward developing a strategy and then follow through on all those steps to complete the process of optimization. Most importantly, it takes the right practices to make the strategy work.
The following are among the best practices for business process management (BPM) optimization:
- Make the Necessary Changes in Phases
- Create a Guide for Documenting Your Processes
- Develop a Matrix for Making Strategic Decisions
- Analyze and Test Ideas Before Implementing Them
- Communicate Well at Every Level
- Observe and Track Every Process and Task
Most BPM consultants recommend making the necessary changes in logical phases that follow one another in a principled manner. With careful analysis and strategic planning, it’s possible to develop a set of stages that keeps teams, tasks and structures organized as changes are implemented step by step. This not only makes the process less messy, but it also makes it possible to more closely analyze and assess what is going on at all levels of the organization as goals are met and deliverables are measured.
Business process improvement consulting experts also recommend a system for documenting every step of the optimization project to understand what’s working, what areas could be improved upon and what strategic decisions should be made. A guide for documenting processes can help make it easier to record all the information related to a project in order to understand its full scope, see what procedures are taking place and figure out who the major decision makers are. A matrix for making decisions can also be quite helpful, and is highly recommended as a best practice for BPM. Information about who is overseeing a project, who is monitoring the successful completion of milestones, what tools are being used to get from start to finish and what decisions are being made can be recorded in such a matrix. When there are many decision makers affecting the outcomes of organizational initiatives, this can ensure a structure of checks and balances even when projects span cities and countries.
Analyzing and testing ideas before implementing them should sound like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how often we need to be reminded of this best practice for business and life in general. Ideally, this should include imitating a process to see how well the idea works, comparing different processes and testing the outcomes of those processes before adopting them permanently. BPM consulting can help make these processes much simpler thanks to firms’ experience with such aspects of the planning process, so hiring outside help is worth considering.
None of these best practices will work, however, without effective communication. Any project requires effective communication at all levels to succeed. Members of every team that is involved in a project should be fully informed, and should not have to continue asking questions to understand what’s going on and what their roles and responsibilities are. If people don’t seem to understand what’s going on, a breakdown of communication has occurred and must be fixed before moving forward. And, of course, the processes involved in the completion of a project must be monitored to ensure everything is going as planned, and to make adjustments when it’s not.
If it seems more complicated than your organization can handle, you’re not alone. Business process management consulting can help in this challenging effort to improve your business processes.
About the Author
Erik Johnson is the Digital Marketing Analyst for Paragon Solutions, an advisory consulting and systems integration firm that specializes in business process management consulting and business process optimization for organizations in various industries.