What do you think of when you hear the word “process”? Do you think about how you and your team do your jobs?
You may think about how much easier your life would be if everybody did what they should do, the way the process was designed!
When hearing this word, we’ve seen people get visibly excited, roll their eyes, and everything in between. That’s because if you’re in a business with a lot of pressure to – grow/cut costs / improve earnings / stay compliant / etc. – you know the only way to do any of those things is through well-designed and well-executed processes.
And the keywords there are “well executed.” Because THAT is the hard part.
“Murphy’s Law” is an adage that basically says, “Anything that can go wrong will.” The military uses a spin on Murphy when they say, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
Well, the enemies of well-executed processes are everywhere, but the good news is you can use some great tools to combat them!
1. Automation & Technology Integration
Connecting financial systems (i.e., your ERP) with sales, procurement, and HR systems enables seamless data flow.
This enhances collaboration across departments and ensures that accurate, real-time information is readily available for decision-making.
Eliminate manual data entry and spreadsheet-driven processes ASAP.
Why?
Speed & Accuracy – Do more work. Faster. With less error.
2. Standardization & Simplification
Simple….is not easy. But it’s indispensable.
But how do you make your processes simple to follow?
First, you’ve got to understand what your processes actually are.
Don’t simply map what you THINK your processes are and put that into visualization software, like Visio, once a year and call it a day.
Instead, use software tools to get a holistic and objective view of what is ACTUALLY happening, not solely relying on what people tell you.
You can understand where your redundancies and rework are, what’s causing bottlenecks and missed handoffs between departments, and, frankly, where the process isn’t being followed.
You’ll be able to standardize things and keep them simple
3. Data and Insights
You don’t need somebody else telling you how important data is – that noise is everywhere. But what good does more data than you can read in a timely manner do?
What you really want is more insights.
Think of data as raw information, while insights are data in a context that instantiates an understanding, which leads to a directed action.
In other words, insight is data that you can do something with. And isn’t that what we’re all after in the end?
Using data from existing processes can help you improve them or cut the ones that are falling short.
4. Cross-Functional Collaboration
Dissolve silos! Though painful to hear, it’s fair to characterize many growing orgs with the expression, “The left hand isn’t talking to the right hand.”
Sales and Operations aren’t in sync – quotes are “tossed over the wall,” leading to rework on the sales orders.
IT is struggling to understand the needs of Finance – the ERP is configured for the way the business operated 5 years ago, not the way it needs to operate today.
Accounting needs better alignment with Ops and Product – reporting should be generated that accurately maps the state of the business.
Cross-talk regularly, share information, be familiar with each other’s challenges, but most importantly, understand what happens downstream if you and your team don’t do your jobs right.
5. Talent Development & Training
Unless your business is 100% automated, chances are you have teams of talented individuals performing the tasks that have yet to be automated and using their professional judgment to make decisions that impact the business.
If that’s the case, wouldn’t you want to hear from them on how they can improve their processes so they can do more with less?
Not only that but with streamlined and repeatable processes, it’s easy to enable and train new talent as the business grows without impacting the existing team.
What’s Next?
In the end, if you’re getting a sense that this path to process perfection is a never-ending climb, you’re right! There is no “done”, and there certainly is no “perfect”.
But you don’t have to do it alone. At Chassi, they pride themselves on our software’s ability to utilize advanced AI modeling to visualize processes in an instant and provide all kinds of objective data surrounding the process – even down to the ability to tell you how many times one singular field on an invoice was changed, and by who, before it going out the door.
Hundreds and thousands of permutations of the steps of the processes that make up your financial operations are illustrated in a moment… imagine all that data.
Your success story starts with Chassi. Take control of your processes, gain valuable insights, and elevate your business to new heights. Don’t hesitate – the time to act is now! Contact us, request a personalized demo, and discover how Chassi can empower your organization. It’s time to thrive, and we’re here to make it happen.
