Process improvement is a strategic approach to optimizing business processes. This practice includes identifying, analyzing, and refining existing processes to ultimately improve them. That improvement may mean increased efficiency, improved end-user experience, cost reduction, or stronger adherence to best practices and regulations.
Continuous process improvement is an important exercise for any organization as the business evolves. Process improvement may be required due to changes in business data or rules, updates to regulations and compliance, or efforts to make the business more efficient and improve ROI.
Resource utilization
Process improvement is crucial for utilizing resources effectively, as it enables organizations to minimize waste and enhance productivity. By identifying and eliminating inefficiencies, businesses can allocate their resources more strategically.
Customer satisfaction
Optimizing processes enables organizations to deliver a better experience for customers. Streamlining workflows enables businesses to deliver products and services, answer queries and solve issues faster, meeting customer expectations and promoting loyalty.
Innovation
Implementing process improvement promotes innovation by encouraging creative problem-solving and the implementation of new ideas. This continuous cycle of improvement positions organizations to adapt to changing market dynamics and stay ahead of the competition.
Automated lending at Luminor
Luminor Bank automated consumer and corporate lending to allow employees to focus on delivering the best customer experience.
Continuous improvement at Insight Investment
Global asset management company, Insight Investment created a multi-skilled and dual-location process engineering team to deliver continual, incremental improvements to their client change process.
Enhanced visibility at Unilever International
Unilever International integrated systems and automated workflows across supply chain and finance processes to improve process visibility, increase data accuracy and reduce cycle times.
There is no one way to go about process improvement. In fact, there are many different methodologies that can be used to solve problems and optimize business processes, including Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen and Total Quality Management (TQM). Two other leading methods are Six Sigma and Business Process Management (BPM).
Six Sigma
Introduced by engineer Bill Smith in 1986 during his time at Motorola, Six Sigma aims to improve processes by using data to reduce defects. The methodology follows the steps below.
1. Define the improvement opportunity
2. Measure the current process’ performance
3. Analyze the process to identify defects and their cause
4. Improve the process by fixing the defects
5. Control the new process to maintain improved performance
6. Process Accelerator available in Bizagi Xchange
Business Process Management (BPM)
Business process management (BPM) analyzes business processes from end-to-end, mapping each step to identify issues, make improvements, and track performance.
1. Design - Identify which process is in most need of or would benefit most from improvement and define how the improvements are going to be made.
2. Model - Map out the current (‘as-is’) process and design the improved (‘to-be') version.
3. Execute - Roll out the redesigned process.
4. Monitor - Track the performance of the new process to measure whether the improvements are achieving the expected results.
5. Optimize - Look for ways to improve the process further – the aim of business process management is to continually find ways to improve business processes and enable the organization to work smarter.
When it comes to process improvement, the best place to start is with process visualization so you can have an overview of your current state. By mapping out your processes using a business process modeling (BPM) tool, you can easily identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement. Using a low-code tool that has a drag and drop interface makes this mapping stage quick and easy.
Once you have an overview of business processes, it’s easier to identify the pain points and steps within the process that can be eliminated or condensed to help increase efficiency and reduce cycle time. Not only does this help to streamline the process itself, but visualizing the process end-to-end will help identify where people and other technologies are incorporated into the process so that the entire organization is orchestrated and acting as one to achieve the end goal.
An effective way to assess process improvement, process simulation can help organizations to test and analyze their business processes in a virtual environment before a live roll-out. This can be particularly helpful for mission-critical processes or if you don’t know what results to expect as the simulation does not pose any real-life risks, so you do not have to worry about any adverse effects on your organization while you iron out the imperfections in the process.
Mapping out processes and changing different variables to test the outcome is a great way to experiment with different ideas and identify any potential mistakes before they play out in the real world. This can save time and money by ensuring the process is optimized before go-live.
Using a BPM tool that provides process metrics and results can significantly with process improvement by allowing users to examine the results and identify further areas for improvement.
HSA Bank used process metrics to understand the current state of their processes by examining the charts of case output. “We were able to use this data to go back and work with the team. We talked about case duration and total lead time for many years with not a lot of success. But when they were able to show it and understand the current state of work with the team, we were able to make quick adjustments, not just to the process in Bizagi, but the way people are working, and how they are pulling work through the process so it doesn’t sit too long in one place,” explains HSA Head of Continuous Improvement, Tom Spolar.
“Very quickly in a two-month period we now have an average two-day case duration, literally going from weeks to days just by being able to talk about the data, show it and make adjustments.” This demonstrates how process metrics enable organizations to make rapid, meaningful improvement through the identification of pain points.
You can find out more about HSA Bank’s process improvement initiative in their Bizagi Catalyst 2020 session, Bringing Process to the People.
This is an effective method of process improvement, particularly if there are different ways in which the process could be improved. In outcome testing, you model different versions of the same process, then examine and compare the outcome to see which process is the most effective.
This is effective if you don’t know exactly what the future holds. For example, the Coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to examine their processes as employees began to work from home. Outcome testing was an effective means of process improvement in this scenario, as organizations could map out models for a handful of different versions of the process to see which works best, and also have an alternative process available in case the situation changes (which it continually does as countries change their guidance on how businesses should operate while the virus is still a threat).
While the root of process improvement is in technology and software, there is an important human element, too: ensuring that improved processes are communicated effectively across the business. A key part of process improvement, process governance means that any amends to processes must be tracked, and the relevant teams need to be notified. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is through a cloud portal, as all changes are automatically saved and applied across the organization.
It’s also important to communicate the benefits of the changes to the teams affected and allow the opportunity for feedback to help further continuous improvements.
Once processes have been optimized to ensure there are no unnecessary steps or waste, they can be further streamlined with process automation. Process automation is an important part of process improvement as it eliminates manual intervention, which can often be a bottleneck, as explained in the HSA example above.
Process automation can hand off tasks, such as transferring data between systems, and automate steps within the processes such as automated email responses and queuing help desk tickets. Automating tasks such as data entry also reduces the risk of human error and frees up employee time so they can turn their attention to more valuable tasks.
Download Bizagi Modeler for free and start your process improvement now!
If you’d like to learn more about process improvement, you can learn how to improve the look and feel of your Bizagi Model here and find out more about continuous process improvement and incremental changes in this Bizagi Studio article.
- Gather employee feedback to discover pain points
- Review customer feedback to better understand their needs and the changes you need to make to meet their expectations
- Review performance metrics such as cycle time and error rates
- Benchmark against industry standards/competitors
Successful process improvement projects require:
- A comprehensive analysis of existing workflows to determine where improvements are needed and will deliver the most value.
- Engaging key stakeholders and establishing cross-functional teams to provide insights into the process in its current state and the changes required for optimization.
- A detailed improvement plan defining goals, tasks, timelines and assigning responsibilities.
- Establishing feedback loops to track progress and ensure that process changes align with organizational objectives.
For more tips on implementing process improvement in your organization check out our guide on creating a process improvement plan.
