People, Process, Tech. Which Matters Most?

Intro

In business or IT, getting tasks done involves people using tech to execute a process. Even in the burgeoning world of AI, there is still, and frankly always will be, a people component. Given the dependency of each on the other, which matters the most?

Before you go thinking it's a trick question, I promise you it's not. There is one of these, that truly rules the rest. My opinion of this is based on 24 years of experience in IT Sales and Delivery thereof. I've been directly responsible for revenue and cost of IT infrastructure & application services at myriad billion-dollar clients and, regrettably at times, seen failings in people, process and technology. Old tech, new tech, mainframe, geographically dispersed cloud, data lakes, whatever. It didn't matter.

People

You could argue that people are the most important element of the three-legged stool. Certainly, a strong case for it. People create processes and use tech. As the progenitors of both, their skills and personality traits consummate the outcomes business and IT are seeking. People with their infallibilities are in the vast majority of cases the Root Cause of a given process or technology failure. Even in cases of machine learning, AI and other workflow automation designs, where people are largely removed from the process and technology, people are still needed to govern, and receive the outputs.

Technology

While generally viewed as the sexiest, technology is very plainly the least important. Lest one forget, paper and pen constitutes technology. And, just like the paper and pen, technology in of itself has no intrinsic or extrinsic value. Put otherwise, technology exists to execute processes, whether business or IT. That said, technology brings with it capabilities, the value of which is extracted by people executing processes. There are absolutely cases where technology foments new processes, but largely technology improves on existing processes, streamlining tasks, reducing manual labor, and leading to operational advantages over the competition.

Process

In case you were paying attention, you'll have noticed that I put process last, clearly intending to argue that process is the most important of the three. The argument for why it's the most important is simple; people use technology to execute processes. Direct procurement, accounts payable, hiring, firing, acquiring clients are all examples of top-level business process categories. A business doesn't exist unless it performs all of those processes. The extent to which a business thrives depends on how well it leverages people and technology to execute those processes. And, ironically, the extent to which a business selects the right people and technology is itself a process.

Why this is a Problem

Although process is the most important aspect of people, process and tech, it's very often the least documented and invested in. One could argue that if you buy an ERP like SAP or Oracle, you are buying processes, and to an extent that's true. The challenge with ERPs is either a company consumes the processes out of the box, or they escape the processes. Either way, underperforming companies don't have process definitions, drawings, or a clear understanding of the process branches or decision controls governing said processes. Consequently, businesses have inconsistent processes, which lead to inconsistent customer experiences, and inconsistent business outcomes. The goal of every process is to be as placidly boring as possible: same results every time.

Conclusion

So, with your new perspective on process, what should you do about it? Decide what your differentiators are and invest the most in those areas. Define your processes and draw them out. Business Process Mapping Notation is a great way to do this, with a variety of tools like draw.io which are free to use. Draw out your existing processes and note any breakages and or inefficiencies in your processes. When you have a list of gaps, then you can rearchitect those processes. If you're unclear on optimal processes, seek to hire business process engineers to assist. For those areas of your business which aren't core competencies and don't add any differentiation, look at outsourcing. Why invest in people, process and tech for a business function if it's not what you're good at?

For any questions, please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn or via email at [email protected]

Thanks for reading.