Internal business processes play a crucial role in ensuring that your business runs smoothly and reliably, even when no one is watching. Unfortunately, most organisations don’t prioritise the development of robust internal processes. These processes may not be customer-facing, but they impact the overall success of your business and help support your goals.
Robust internal business processes enable employees to understand their roles and how they fit into the bigger picture. They also allow for more effective implementation of change and help your business meet its service level agreements. However, smaller organisations can sometimes get away with less rigorous processes, relying on hero culture to get the job done. As your business grows, the ability of individuals to manage complexities diminishes, making it more challenging for management to oversee all aspects of the organisation.
To grow and consistently service your customers, it’s essential to invest time and effort into developing internal processes that support your business or project goals.
Here are the top five signs that you need better internal business processes:
1. Non-repeatable processes or process duplication
This can be solved by modelling your internal processes to achieve standardisation and consolidation where possible.
2. Information and knowledge ‘silos’
To solve this, store your information in a common repository accessible by all relevant parties in a user-friendly format.
3. Poor internal controls, especially over manual processes
This can be overcome by modelling your processes to operational controls and business or project goals. This will enable reconciliation of business processes (outcomes or transactions) to key controls and defined goals. As a result, you will achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency of operations and better identify and implement internal controls.
4. Unable to identify the impact of change
To solve this, model the current state of the process and compare it against the future state. Utilise the models you have built to identify roles, systems and controls that will be impacted by the proposed change. Use this information to plan the change, prioritise your efforts and target training to the relevant parties.
5. Lack of accurate, usable, and timely information
To overcome this, utilise a common knowledge repository to deliver accurate information that reflects your current processes, controls, and deliverables.
By addressing these challenges, you’ll have more time to focus on growing your business or delivering on your project. Remember, developing strong internal business processes is key to success.
