12 Sep 2018
Every activity can be broken down into processes, which can be determined based on the individual’s decision. However, in an organisation, the business could be chaotic and disastrous if people are freely allowed to operate in their own ways. From start-up companies to SMEs and more complex organisations, the minimum requirement is to standardise the business processes. This article addresses what, why and how to regulate processes and optimize your business performance.
WHAT IS BUSINESS PROCESS STANDARDISATION?
Business Process is the agreed sequence of repeatable activities to deliver products or services to the targeted customers. In companies, business processes are often standardised as the workflows demonstrating the operational scenarios based on particular rules and technical standards for everyone to follow.
An example of a food and beverage company’s process standardisation is to establish the guideline to produce servings in the same categories with the same quality, look and taste in every branch. The employees should follow the typical rules such as the standard inventory (ingredients quality and quantity), the standard time and work sequences (recipe), etc. so that the business is operated smoothly.
In short, Business Process Standardisation (BPS) is the discipline to make sure every staff member acknowledge their responsibilities and to guarantee the uniformity of products/ services delivered to customers. With the support of an automatic ERP system software, it can create a transformation to optimise processes in your organisation, especially if your company requires a high level of product consistency.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BUSINESS PROCESS STANDARDISATION?
With the procedures standardised, you can improve organizational efficiency by minimizing the costs of avoidable variabilities and errors while improving product quality and productivity.
1. Ensure procedures comprehension
Standard Business Processes are usually documented with flowcharts and images to make sure users easily follow the steps in order. Keynotes or further explanation can be added in for better comprehension. Once the workers understand the process charts, they are more confident and self-conscious in the job. This is even more helpful for new personnel as they can quickly capture the work insights as well as catch up with the routine tasks. Whenever not knowing what the next step is, people can refer to the available BPS materials without time-consuming enquiries. Additionally, the training process in your organization can be shortened, saving considerable time and costs.
2. Guarantee product quality
Another advantage of having your business processes standardised is to guarantee a consistent quality of your products/ services. Once your workers are well trained and closely follow the specified work sequences, you will notice a productive performance of fewer mistakes and errors and minimum product variations. Accordingly, your company can achieve stable performance to retain familiar customers and company reputation as well as develop a branding image.
3. Facilitate process improvements
After some time, you may realize the need to upgrade the procedures as your business grows. The business process standards can become the critical base for you to review and improve as well as to make a quick change in response to variations in the market or industry. Also, your team can easily adapt to the updated disciplines by visualising the process flows of their routine tasks.
HOW TO STANDARDISE BUSINESS PROCESS TO EFFECTIVELY TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS?
Creating standards for your business process requires the involvement of all departments. You should understand the entire company’s workflow and might go through a few trials before finalising the standards for long-term utility. Take note of these suggestions to build an ideal process to optimise your business operation.
1. Outline your organisation’s operation
As the goal is to generate a guideline for the entire company, involve all divisions when outlining the business process to achieve a consensus. It is recommended to meet up with team leaders of each department to discuss criteria in details such as required tasks in order, person-in-charge, specified conditions, deadlines etc. Other additional information should also be carefully noted down for further consideration. Also, make sure to specify the desired scopes and requirements of your organization so that users can properly adhere to.
2. Schedule to review and improve the business processes
Your designed business process standards might seem to be ideal at first but usually, there might be unexpected situations that occur. Thus, schedule to collect everyone’s comments/ opinions, for example, after a month or a quarter, depending on your business specifications. This is valuable information to review and adjust the process charts in order to establish effective procedures for your organization. Moreover, plan out the periodical revision to reshape your company’s processes to respond to internal and external changes.
3. Acquire technology to optimise business process standardisation
The automatic technology is advised to reinforce your business process standardization by reducing human errors and improving process management. For example, users can rely on an ERP system to automate manual tasks or access to real-time information, and thus, make better decisions, which improves workers’ performance. Also, you can be able to measure the process efficiency based on real-time reports and business analytics generated from the ERP software.
Conclusion
No matter how large your company is, the importance of Business Process Standardisation is undeniable. Each organisation needs a thoughtful business structure to achieve operational excellence. A standardisation success should be evident from positive results such as overall efficiency improvements, higher productivity, and profitability. The results can even be extended with the implementation of the innovative ERP software, which helps cut down on your process time so that your company can outperform other rivals.
Synergix Technologies offers free consultancy on automating your business processes with ERP software in Singapore. Contact us today to request a demo of Synergix E1 ERP System!
