The Process and the Bottomline

How can technology help streamline business processes?

Before the advent of mainstream technology many businesses relied on manual processes to effectively deal with different aspects of their business.

There were processes for all sorts of things and different aspects of the business. Some of these processes evolved as the business evolved and others remained practically untouched and the same over time.

Other processes were embedded deep within the business policies making it almost impossible to change without an impact on the business itself. These processes may have been made with good intentions and actually did serve their purpose for the times that they were required.

Careful thought and methodical planning went into the development and deployment of a number of these processes.

What was efficient years ago, what grew profits for the business, what made life easy for both employees and employers, what was hailed as the best of solutions at the time, sadly, in many organisations is now the very thing causing so much pain and loss to the business and in many instances is a threat to the very existence of the business.

What worked yesterday is clearly not working today. Businesses are faced with this dilemma day in and day out. Business owners, management, and staff alike feel the brunt of this dilemma and in some cases feel trapped.

There are also instances where regulatory concerns outrightly prevent the modification of certain processes OR so it appears to be. The legal work involved in such an attempt to modify or outrightly replace entire processes appear daunting.

Business Issue or Technology issue?

The question is, “Can technology effectively resolve these seemingly business issues?” Or should we say, is this a business issue or is it a technology issue?

Not to be confused though, 'technology' and 'technical' mean different things. So the question is NOT, “Is it a business issue or is it a technical issue?”

Now when we look at it from a standpoint of it being a technology issue rather than a technical issue - it becomes easier to see that both ‘business’ and 'technology’ may in many instances actually mean the same thing!

So back to the initial question: “Is it a business issue or is it a technology (NOT technical) issue” - could be rephrased to directly mean - “Is it a business issue?” And if the answer to that is ‘No’, then it is highly possible that technology cannot resolve it.

If on the other hand, the answer is ‘Yes’, then by all means it is highly also possible that technology can resolve it.

Technology isn’t just about buying software and deploying it, it isn’t also about only upgrading existing software to make it faster. It is way more than that.

The crucial first step

For technology to work efficiently, the nature of the issue or problems must first be understood and fully articulated to the point that it can be explained in plain language, simple enough that it is possible to get a child to understand it in its distilled form.

The full understanding of the problem or issue, it’s nature, it’s cause(s), it’s current impact and every related detail is extremely essential as the very first step that then leads to the path of finding possible and lasting solutions.

If deep thought went into crafting a process in the first place - whether this was done several decades ago, a shallow approach would definitely not provide the needed answers. It would take a meticulous amount of effort to think up the solution that would work and work efficiently for a long time to come.

And with the rapid changes and evolutions in the business/technology landscape whatever solutions are proposed should be nimble enough to adapt easily as may be required over time to maintain the level of efficiency and productivity it was meant to provide.

Sometimes the solutions are inside the box (within the team itself) and sometimes it is outside the box (an external team - a business or team with deep experience). Either way, a fresh set of eyes may provide the needed insights - untainted by the issue/problem itself.

Every Business can benefit from technology

Technology has been applied efficiently to every business vertical successfully and has in many ways transformed entire industries making them more efficient, nimble and resilient to the changing times. So ‘Yes!’ Every business can benefit from the use of technology to streamline its processes and increase its efficiency, boost productivity and increase profits, which is ultimately why the business was set up in the first place.

Whatever the issues, however large the problem may seem, there is a fix. You may just have to look in the right places or speak to the right people to get it resolved.

Your business processes are meant to be efficient and streamlined. Make that move today and choose the right partner to get things started in the best direction for your business.