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Essential Things to Know When Analyzing Business Processes
- July 29, 2013
- Posted by: Admin
- Category: Blogs, Business Process Management
Business process re-engineering is no easy task. There’s a lot to consider when you’re going through the process, and approaching the project in the wrong way can seriously weaken the end result. Before you think about taking on a BPR project at your company, make sure you know all about these essential facts of BPR:
1. Fact Finding is Always Required
A large component of any Business process re-engineering project is going through your business piece by piece to make sure that all of the information you have is accurate, no matter how simple that information is (e.g., your mission statement or your target audience/customer).
You might think that you already know the things that you need to start the BPR process, but you should never approach BPR that way. It’s always possible that there is faulty information somewhere down the line or that some people hold misconceptions about certain processes within the company. BPR is about reevaluating and then organizing, and you have to absolutely sure that the information that you have is accurate before you start changing the way that things are done.
2. Information Flows Both Internally and Externally
There’s a lot to consider when you’re thinking about how to make your processes as efficient as possible, and one of the most important things to study is exactly how information flows through your company. The obvious concern is that information gets to where it needs to quickly and efficiently without being edited into obscurity. However, you also have to think about every way that your business uses information, which is not just internally.
If you have to provide information to partners or customers, you can’t let changes in your business processes change the information you output in such a way that it makes that information harder to decipher to outsiders. BPR is all about changing internal processes, but your external interface should remain mostly unchanged. Other people don’t run on the same specialized, efficient processes that your business will after BPR, and you shouldn’t expect them to.
3. BPR is not Downsizing
BPR has received criticism from some people who consider it to be a cover for what is really downsizing. It’s true that BPR commonly includes some elements of downsizing in order to achieve the highest level of efficiency possible, but it doesn’t require downsizing at all in order to be effective. In BPR, downsizing is simply a means to an end, and it’s entirely possible that you can go through a BPR process and find that there is no downsizing necessary to reach your end goal.
If you keep these essential facts in mind, your BPR efforts will be much more successful. However, if you want to guarantee results, get in touch with Plasma. Our business process management software can help you streamline all of your old processes to make your business agile and efficient. Whatever the changes you want made to your old business processes, Plasma can help.
Client Says
We are implementing Plasma Ag Solutions across our network of locations. Plasma Ag provides several capabilities that stand out for our users such as Programs, Rebate management, and Inventory tracking. It is quite difficult to track margin information on crop protection products in our industry so our Owner Operators love the transparency the system provides. We utilize the system to professionalize our support to the network and it has become a bit success with all of them.
Several hundreds of our retail locations and joint ventures use Plasma Ag solutions as a part of their core operations. Plasma solutions provide very useful tools and deep insights to users – including tracking customer transactions and financial information. Their applications are tightly integrated with CRM, ERP, Accounting, and our other mission critical IT infrastructure and third-party systems. The dashboards provide rich analysis and insights that helps us adjust to the changing markets.
Plasma Ag solutions have been a tremendous asset to our operations. They offer powerful capabilities such as managing Retail programs, Products, Programs, local discounts, and wraps. Ability to track inventory at physical locations, calculating true and average costs, rebates and accruals on user-friendly and simple interfaces has helped us and our retail customers adopt Plasma Ag solutions quickly.
Our software, system and processes used to be an old struggling engine. Plasma team solved all that. With exceptional training and planning, their consultative executive team down to their support team executed the deployment with first-class speed and professionalism. Their platform not only removed all the pain points in my division, but also created a ripple effect benefiting my entire company.
It has been my experience that Plasma has the technical expertise, commitment, and work-ethic to deliver best-in-class solutions that allow business owners to fully realize business strategies and objectives. They work in a highly professional manner to ensure that the clients’ requirements and recommendations are fully realized. I would highly recommend Plasma for any web enablement initiative that you may be considering.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us as our online business partner. I don’t even consider our work with them outsourcing because Plasma management takes the time to truly understand our business and is able to direct its technology resources for the most efficient and quality output possible. I don’t think you can say that about many companies in their space.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us with our online requirements. I would recommend them to any company looking to better manage their online presence.
It has been my pleasure to work with the Plasma Team since August 2008. We have completed three major builds and multiple smaller projects in this time. I heartily recommend Plasma Comp to anyone needing a workable, practical and effective system solution. Plasma’s Q&A process was extremely thorough. They quickly understood what was needed and then worked the process with pointed and penetrating questions to ensure they had the entire picture of the finished product.
I think Plasma has come a long way in embracing our philosophy of becoming more agile, both leading and following in this area when necessary. The teams have been very open to change and have a great attitude. I have no complaints!
Plasma is a great vendor to work with. They took us from an email-based process to a fully designed, web-based workflow. They have dramatically changed how our devices are certified to be used on our network and they will save you time as well! One of the many processes in our current environment has saved us so much time; from four months down to a few days!
