As an LBM business owner or manager, you're constantly seeking ways to work smarter, streamline operations, boost efficiency, and drive growth. However, in today's fast-paced market, finding the time and knowing where to start can be challenging. That's where a Business Process Review (BPR) comes into play.
Here, we’re taking an in-depth look at BPRs, setting out why we believe they’re an invaluable part of effective business management software strategy.
What is a Business Process Review?
Think of it as a "health check" for your business processes, where you evaluate your current organizational processes and identify ways to make them more effective and efficient.
It usually involves a consultant or solutions architect (an individual who designs and oversees technical solutions for business problems) with deep industry expertise conducting a thorough examination of your end-to-end processes, identifying areas for improvement and opportunities for system enhancements.
Mary Matthews, one of our experienced Intact iQ account managers claims:
"It gives you the opportunity to take a bit of a step back, focus on your whole system and all of your end-to-end processes. This in turn can help identify opportunities for improvements and ideas for to improve your system."
At Intact iQ, we recommend doing this review every year. By working with our experienced consultants, you'll get an in-depth look at how your current systems and workflows are performing. Together, we'll identify areas that need improvement and find solutions to eliminate bottlenecks and align your processes with industry best practices.
But regardless of whether you are currently an Intact iQ customer or not, the insights you’ll gain from carrying out such a review are invaluable. They'll empower you to unlock your business's full potential, gain a real competitive advantage, and achieve long-lasting success in the LBM industry.
According to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, high-performing organizations focus on continuous improvement and measurement.
What a BPR is not
A business process review isn't a typical consultancy session where you receive immediate recommendations. Instead, it sets the stage for optimizing your operations. Think of it like taking your car in for a service—the mechanic needs to perform all the necessary checks before providing an accurate diagnosis and action plan.
Why Consider a Process Review?
There are many potential reasons to undertake a process review, including:
- New System Users: If you’re new to a system and planning future projects.
- Long-Time Users: If you haven’t had a review since implementing your system.
- Changing Business Needs: If your business has grown or changed significantly.
- Best Practices: To ensure you’re using your systems effectively.
The key benefit is ensuring you're getting the most out of your systems and processes. An experienced consultant can identify areas where you're not leveraging the latest features and functionality or where users have developed inefficient workarounds or inconsistent practices.
"It's about ensuring you're using the system in the most effective way for your business."
says Mary
Read on for more benefits…
What are the benefits of carrying out a business process review?
Besides enabling you to get the best use of your system, conducting a review of your business processes offers numerous other benefits. While many may seem obvious, it's crucial to remind yourself of the potential value you may gain by investing a bit of time into reviewing your systems and processes.
- Find better ways to doing things: By regularly looking at how you do things you can find smarter, faster ways to get stuff done.
- Get more done: By finding and fixing things that slow you down, you can get more work done in less time. This is great for freeing up staff to work on more value-added tasks.
- Make things better: Finding ways to improve how you and your teamwork means you can all do things better and make fewer mistakes.
- Save money: Streamlining processes cuts wasted time, optimizes resources, and reduces spending.
- Make people happier at work: When work is easier and more efficient, people enjoy their jobs more, which makes everyone happier.
- Make customers happier: Doing things better and faster means your customers get what they need quicker and with fewer mistakes, making them happier too.
- Stay ahead of the game: Regularly checking how you do things helps you stay competitive and ready for whatever comes your way.
- Avoid problems: By looking for problems before they happen, you can stop them in their tracks and keep everything running smoothly.
- Grow smart: Fixing how you do things now means you can grow without causing more problems for yourself in the future.
- Ensures everyone's on the same page: Keeping an eye on how everyone work helps make sure that everything they do lines up with your big goals, so you keep moving forward.
A BPR also ensures you're using the latest features and functionality. As Mary notes:
“A consultant might show you new features from the latest release that could significantly improve your processes.”
What to Expect in a Business Process Review
Preparation is key for a successful process review. Before your consultant's visit, gather feedback from your users about any bottlenecks, desired improvements, or "wish list" items they’d like to see. Be ready to involve stakeholders from different departments to provide a comprehensive view of your operations.
Mary stresses:
“By involving all the stakeholders within the business, it gives a consultant a bird's eye view of everything that's going on. It's really easy for your users to get into bad habits...it helps us to identify if people are working inconsistently, because that could be a real problem."
During the on-site review (with Intact iQ, this would typically be over one or two days), the consultant will observe workflows, interview users, and ask probing questions to understand the "why" behind your processes.
Expect them to challenge existing methods and suggest potential alternatives based on their industry experience. We all have our preferred methods of doing things, but by opening up your processes to being challenged, you might just uncover even better ways of doing things.
Post-Review Action Plan and Support
As part of an Intact iQ business process review, you'll receive a written report outlining suggested improvements and next steps. Your account manager will help you prioritize and implement recommendations aligned with your business goals.
While we can only specifically speak about our process, it's important to note that other software providers should offer similar steps. Generally, you can expect:
- Detailed Report: A comprehensive written report outlining findings and suggested improvements.
- Prioritization of Recommendations: Assistance in prioritizing changes based on your business goals.
- Implementation Support: Guidance and resources to ensure effective execution of recommendations.
- Alignment with Business Goals: Ensuring that recommendations and implementations align with your business objectives.
- Ongoing Assistance: Continuous support to address issues, make adjustments, and ensure the solutions remain effective as your business evolves.
Initiating Your Business Process Review
To initiate a process review, speak with your system's account manager about your goals and any issues you are experiencing. Involve people from different parts of your company early on to ensure everyone's on board with potential changes. Don't forget to include your day-to-day system users, as their insights are invaluable.
A process review will help your business run more efficiently, adopt best practices, and achieve long-term success. It's a chance to improve how you do things. So why wait? Contact your software provider today to get started, and consider making it an annual practice.
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