The value of business systems

Do you ever experience that dread when external audits are looming and start questioning whether it is worth putting yourself through it?

That time of year is happening for us now, with external audits for the ISO compliant quality, health and safety and environmental systems. This will then be followed by sector specific UVDB and FPal audits and to be honest, the thought of having how we work being picked apart and the fear someone has gone rogue from our normal processes is not something I am looking forward.

Whilst the most recognised quality system, ISO 9001, was first published in 1987, the irony is that it does not mean you are getting a good product or service. Because the standard covers every type of business around the world, it cannot determine your processes, that is down to you.

And this is where many companies have missed the value in designing, implementing, and managing systems within their business. Some document their processes and get them audited to ISO 9001 standard to satisfy customer needs, for credibility or even a marketing exercise, rather than recognising the benefits as a true business tool.

If you’re too busy to build good systems, then you’ll always be too busy

Brian Logue

Yes, it will be time consuming and you are unlikely see any direct return, but having systems and processes detailed within your business is going to give you consistency which not only makes things easier to manage with more repeatable outcomes, but to introduce any improvements, you can look at how things have been done up to now and make changes to generate the benefits.

 Even if you are not working towards any type of ISO standards, the benefits of recording and using standard processes in the business are huge and they do not need to be daunting to get in place.

 We have already seen great participation with our engineering team as they have embraced developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the engine work, we do. 

 We have historically struggled putting these together because of the variety of equipment we work on but working on this with the engineers means we now have better consistency in what we are doing, ensuring best practices. It has also been a great way to capture some of the extensive experience they have accumulated to benefit the rest of the team.

 These SOPs are thought of as live documents as we continue to develop and improve them. The engineers appreciate having this level of information and the opportunity to offer improvements which result in a more efficient delivery of our service.

 And it does not need to be limited to the delivery of your product, or service. Documenting the processes across the business will see the same benefits and allow better on-boarding for new team members and understanding of other activities.

No doubt documenting your processes will take up some resources, but the benefits far outweigh this, and you have a much more complete business as a result.