Recently, we have been talking more about Business Process Improvement (BPI) and we have come to realize that quite a few business executives are not really clear on the meaning. So, I wanted to spend a little time explaining what it is and how it can help a business become more competitive.
Business process improvement is a methodology that documents business processes and looks for ways to improve those processes to make workflow more efficient. Efficiencies can be gained by automating processes, eliminating unnecessary steps, or identifying a completely new way of getting something done.
The challenge for many business executives is to see beyond the way things have always been done. By getting an outside perspective, or using a systematic methodology, it helps you take a step back and look for other options.
For example, if most of your customer service happens over the phone, your company could benefit from allowing customers to have more access to their data to be able to manage for themselves what customer service reps had helped with in the past. This typically improves the customer experience while requiring less reps to help people. Or, maybe there is a way to restructure your costs to increase sales. The theater company Shen Yun had been selling most of their tickets through Ticketmaster. This meant that they were paying a fee for every ticket sold and they were not gaining market intelligence about who was buying tickets.
By building their own ticket sales system, they were able to bypass Ticketmaster (at most venues). The money they had been paying to Ticketmaster is now redirected to marketing, which allows them to sell out more shows. In addition, they are learning more about the people who come to their shows so they can market more to them directly. This has allowed the theater company to be more profitable.
BPI helps your company identify opportunities for making processes more efficient and potentially gives your company a competitive advantage through lower costs or more market insights.
Could Business Process Improvement Help Your Company?
Most businesses can benefit from having someone assesses how they can improve their business processes using technology or approaching work differently. Skyriver IT helps you collect the right data, leverage the right applications, and put the right technology in place to to make your company more effective.
If this would be of interest to you, then contact us to schedule a time to talk.
