Business Process Technology Alignment: How to Balance People, Process and Technology By Maria Snyder, Senior Management Consultant
When looking around your office, do you sense the “feng shui” of collaboration and harmony? Or is it more like Abbot and Costello in “Who’s on First?” If it’s more the latter than the former, you may be challenged with an imbalance of people, process and/or technology. The good news is, there’s help for that! It was discussed in an earlier article: “Strong Business Results Come From Aligning People, Process And Technology.” Here are some additional thoughts about achieving balance based on the Business Process Technology Alignment (BPTA) methodology: Anticipate outgrowing tools If you don’t have the right technology, your people will find ways around it by using manual documents and spreadsheets (often known only to the author), adding non-value-add time to your process. Stepping back and periodically evaluating your technology is one way to avoid or anticipate outgrowing your business tools. This will let you know if it’s time to consider making a change. Streamline core processes A good starting point is to streamline your core processes. This will reduce cycle time as well as cost, and eliminate employee frustration. Help your team members eliminate as much of the “busy” work as possible so they can focus on your critical business needs. Walk through your process flows and identify your pain points and improvement opportunities to make an immediate and noticeable difference in business outcomes. Once the benefits are realized, they can instigate enthusiasm and more improvement initiatives on their own. Create a culture of loyalty Investing in the right people and skills is also critical. Smart hiring and training decisions will drive employee development and convert your teams into your most valued assets. When you address the development needs of your staff, you place the right skills in a position to create additional value throughout your organization. And if someone isn’t the right person in a newly defined job, find an alternate role within your organization that adds value and creates a culture of loyalty that will serve you well in the future. Obviously, it’s much harder to address people issues and there’s never one right answer. Having a balance of skilled individuals, streamlined processes and the right technology is what we all hope for and, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know whether or not all three challenges have been achieved. If not, a BPTA project can help identify what needs to be addressed and how to go forward. If so, then congratulations – you’ve achieved the nirvana of office feng shui! |
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