Management Information |
First Things First -- Process BEFORE Technology
Here's a brief story I encountered while leaving Newark International Airport following a recent business trip. Hard to believe, but true. After a long flight home from the West Coast, I took a short train ride to the long term parking facility, located my car (which is becoming more difficult with age it seems), and proceeded to the parking exit. Note that it's been a while since I've used the long term parking facility, as I normally use a car or taxi service, so I was largely unfamiliar with their new "high tech" customer solutions. As I pulled up to the pay station (expecting the attendant to inform me of my charge), she immediately looked at me with the gaze of a very frustrated woman who's obviously done this before. In a short tone, she barked out an instruction suggesting that I had passed an automated ticket booth, from which I should have inserted my ticket and noted the charge. I complied with the instruction, quietly wondering why this woman was in the booth at all, given the fact that the machine and I pretty much had this thing licked. I concluded of course that she must be there to collect the money, so I proceeded to pay her. Not a good assumption as she pointed me back to the machine to insert my payment. OK, I get it, I interact with the machine for this too...no problem, thinking that this is a pretty good solution. I wait for the machine to give me my receipt, an obvious assumption given how the first two steps went. Nope...wrong again. This time she wants me to drive to her and pick up my receipt, at which point she presses a button, lifts the gate, and I'm on my merry way. I can't help thinking about all the time and money went into implementing this slick new solution, that probably cost an arm and a leg, had little to no impact on cost savings, destroyed customer satisfaction, and obviously put the employee in a perpetual stae of 'grumpy'. No...what this was, is yet another example of "technology for technology's sake". When I work with organizations on business impovement, one of the most important themes I try to drill home is PROCESS FIRST, then technology. You don't implement technology on top of a broken process. Nor do you attempt to fix a broken brocess with technology only. The right path is to measure the effectiveness of the process before you begin. Establish a baseline. Understand how the process works today ('As Is' State). Look for places to improve the process. Define changes. Examine the effect of each potential change on overall performance. Then, and only then, define the technology, systems, skills, and organization needed to support the new process. Develop cost benefits and business cases. Re-examine the degree to which performance will be improved over baseline. And then your almost ready for implementation. It's a simple principle, but one that often get overlooked. Try to pay some attention to this in your everyday life and you'll probably see many similar examples. Then, use these as lessons learned, and start living by the mantra- "First Things First"- process first, technology later. For the past 18 years, Bob has served in a variety of capacities, ranging from Internal Auditing and operations management, to business process consulting and executive change management. He has worked for over 50 clients across numerous functional areas and process disciplines. His clients cover multiple industries spanning North America, South Africa, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. Bob currently serves as Chairman and CEO of e Performance Group International, LLC, a company that delivers a unique web based platform for online benchmarking and best practice sharing for business professionals and executives. In addition to his role at ePGI, he continues to provide private consulting, executive workshops, and selective speaking engagements to industry leaders worldwide in the area of benchmarking, business improvement and best practice adoption. Bob can be contacted at rchampagne@epgintl.com or by calling directly @ 908-656-1179.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Innovation Management - Time to Market or Time to Success? Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Business Leadership Skills - Managing the Human Being Behind the Business Managing the Human Being Behind the Business It's a common problem and we've all seen it - business owners that are just 'too busy' all of the time, and as a result, do not enjoy the success in business they had hoped for. Let's not kid ourselves, there is a lot to focus on: technology, employees, sales, marketing and so on. Let the Intern Do It - Affordable Help for Your Business Do you have more projects than time? Help might be as close as your nearest college. Many have intern programs, where students complete tasks for businesses as part of their studies. Déjà Vu MCI to Qwest International Inc: Can this Corporate Marriage Survive? Current Situation:As of this writing, the MCI Board of Governors has given Verizon Communications Inc. one week to sweeten their $7. Sharing the Reins: 10 Reasons To Sell Your Company To Your Employees In 1987 I sold my business, South Mountain Company, to my employees (and myself). My sole proprietorship became an employee-owned cooperative corporation. Is this A Good Time To Sell Your Body Shop Business? Have you ever asked yourself the question? "Is this a good time to sell my business?" That is a question every business owner asks himself, everytime he has a bad day. I once received e-mail from the editor of the Auto Body News, asking me that key question. Objects in the Mirror are Further Than They Appear Definition From http://www.merriamwebster. Make the Most of Your Time - Focus on Strengths Once working and focused in tune with what they do best, your people are freed up to deliver their very best performances. They encourage others to work to their strengths too. Why Would Anyone Do That in My Meeting? Imagine that you open a meeting by saying, "We need to talk about the budget."And someone responds with, "I named my dog Budget because everyone tells me he's too big. Hiring Great People And How to Be One Yourself: Five Secrets Bad news.Your senior vice-president, your marketing director or your accounting department head has decided to retire, move to Okinawa or start his own business--and you're left staring, horrified, at a polite letter of resignation. Your Company Without Training - Any Questions? Okay, be honest!Are you guilty of sticking in a few boring videos and calling it training?Do you send in your department heads to deliver a few, rushed, canned presentations and call it orientation?Are you then surprised when your new employees don't live up to your expectations, and your employee turnover numbers keep rising?What if you took the time and money that you spend on employee recruitment and put it into employee training? Would it make a difference? Would it be worth the effort?You Bet it Would!!Take, for instance, The Container Store, who has made the top of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the 6th year in a row! In an employee's first year they offer over 241 hours of training, far exceeding the training hours offered by other retail stores. In the next 18 months they are slated to open 5 more stores, creating over 6000 more jobs!More impressively, the retail industry averages 150% employee turnover, but The Container Store averages only 25%!!Learn also, from ACTS Retirement Life Communities, a Continuing Care Retirement Corporation, based in Pennsylvania with additional locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. One Bad Apple One Bad AppleI know what you are thinking but no, I am not doing atribute to Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. Although I will admit that their hit song from the 70's keeps rolling around in my mind as I type this. Performance Appraisals: Nightmares or Sweet Dreams Some managers think of performance appraisal meetings and recollections of torn Achilles' heels or root canals immediately surface. They're sort of "been there, don't want to go again" situations. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Measure Measure.The first key question to answer in starting a problem-solving project is, "How will you know when the problem is solved?" Answer this question in measurable terms before you start trying to solve the problem. Why Employees Are the Best Source of Cost-cutting Ideas Cost cutting has become a necessary and important reality in the modern corporate world. Yet many executives do not realize that their people are actually the best source of cost reduction ideas. Training Managers and New Trainers Training managers use many of the same interpersonal and analytical skills that other types of departments use. In particular, they need to be good communicators, and highly skillful in interpersonal relations. Time for Change - Clearing the First Hurdle "Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. My Companys Leadership Sucks! Maybe it's the season or just a more buoyant job market; but lately I'm sure involved in a lot more discussions about leadership.I'm receiving more requests for help defining the key characteristics which make a great leader; and I'm hearing a lot of negative stuff from clients about their bosses. Managing People - No More Mr Tough Guy I believe the media and our culture sends the wrong messagesabout how to manage people and this makes it difficult forBusiness Owners and Managers.We've all heard the old cliché "nice guys don't finishfirst" and that has a huge impact on how managers deal withtheir people. Give Yourself a Boss Day Gift, Part 2: Are You the Position or the Person? Are you the position or the person?Bosses can lose their own identity sometimes. It's easy. |
home | site map | contact us |