With all of the new technology and cloud-based services that are available these days, it makes sense to periodically review your business processes and apply that new technology to your business.
The world is changing at a phenomenal rate. New technology is being created all of the time and new cloud services seem to appear in business every few weeks. If you are not keeping up with these new services and taking advantage of them then you may be missing out on some great cost-saving opportunities.
Business process re-engineering is all about breaking your business down into the different processes that are required to make your business work and then re-think and research alternate ways to carry out those processes. With some processes, it may be possible to eliminate those processes.
If you are comfortable carrying out the process yourself (as opposed to engaging an accountant or a BPR professional) then the first step would be to break your business down into the various processes that you need to carry out to make that business work.
One approach in mapping out your processes might be to build a flow chart of everything that needs to happen to make your business work. You will then be able to see which functions flow through to other functions and the various dependencies.
Every business is unique however, here are a few areas that you might consider looking at initially in the process.
BPR involves taking a serious look at your business and making each staff member and each process justify its existence. Don’t hold back and try to think outside of the box.
A suggestion would be to build your flow chart and research each of the systems one by one. People are usually quite averse to change so it may be an idea to drip feed in your new processes.
Most of them are surprisingly affordable, however, they generally operate on a “software as a service” type model. What this means is that you pay monthly and usually on components. Make sure you understand what you are getting before you commit.
How long is a piece of string? It very much depends on how manual your current processes are and what you can automate. Some of our customers have saved up to 40% off their receptionist costs by outsourcing their telephone answering to us.
BPR applies to all companies, whether you are a one-man band or a multi-national billion-dollar organisation. New opportunities are presenting themselves all of the time and need to be investigated.