Do you know how your business operates today? Is starting a new project or changing something in the business going to get the outcomes you're expecting? When you started the company you would have created your own processes and procedures, you would have had intimate knowledge of how your products and services were delivered from start to finish. But is it still the same now?
Over time you've grown and staff have come on board, learnt the processes and procedures and carried on so you can continue to scale. Technology, staff, legislation and the market have all changed and your business has been responding to survive these changes. But do you still know how the business processes are being done? Is the product the same as it once was? Is the quality just as good, better or worse? Are your staff working as efficiently and effectively as they could be? Are there new innovations now available to improve your business processes?
Business process mapping provides a visual representation of how your business is operating, everything from core product or service delivery to administrative and financial processes. Over time, the processes have grown much larger than they once were, even with the implementation of new technologies into the business. The intertwined relationships between admin, finance, operational and delivery can all be exposed by mapping out who does what and how it is done.
Once on paper and out there for everyone to see, there are often several in-efficiencies that are quickly and easily identified.
From these maps it allows you to pick out the areas that need the most attention and do so knowing what is required prior to the task and what the results of the change will have. This then allows you to strategically plan for the changes, when they will impact, budget and risk. Your staff will love you for it because they will now have a much better understanding of WHY the change is happening and necessary - though some will resist it if it means their role is becoming redundant. How you manage that is the topic for a completely different discussion.
Communication is also a nice little side benefit, particularly for processes that pass between two or more departments. Frequently we come across staff who don't know what other departments do, how they do it, or why it takes as long to produce what they need to continue. This is an amazingly universal way of communicating how the business units work.
Then comes the fun stuff for a tech guy - innovation. When its mapped out in front of us, we can quickly identify parts that can be automated using technology. Many times we see an entire series of tasks that can be easily changed to an online system where there is almost no human input. This gives your business better capability to scale but also means consistent output and reporting!
As we start to look at the process map as a whole we can put together an effective shopping list of features that allow us to go to market for the right product or group of products. This is where we see full suites of archaic software being replaced with modern software. The result being infinitely vast improvements in productivity and business insights, with effective reporting.
To continue the journey of improving your small business let me know what topics you're most interested in and would be valuable to you. Just fill out the form below and I'll get back to you as soon as possible or book a free consultation with me.
