Sometimes while trying to maintain a status quo and legacy in the business, we lose sight of where we stand and where we wish to go.
There may be times when performance is low, employee morale is drooping and competitors are moving miles ahead. This is very often a call for reengineering or review of business processes and workflows.
Reengineering simply refers to a review or assessment of the way things are done in the business – at the operational, managerial and employee level. It involves stepping back and assessing your position from the customer, competitor and employee viewpoint.
This could be hard at times but reengineering has been proven to help companies get performance back on track by improving profits and lowering debts. Here’s how to go about it:
Current state assessing and compilation of learnings
You will not be able to come up with ways to improve your processes unless you thoroughly understand the processes already in execution by breaking them down into multiple steps and workflows. You also need to benchmark your processes against competitor and industry best practices. Using tools like employee and customer focus groups could give you new insights into what is lacking in your business as a whole.
Technology assessment
In today’s day and age, technology plays an important role in many businesses. Reengineering gives you a chance to review the technology that you are currently using; you can scout the horizon and ask yourself – are there new versions of software or drastic new developments on the tech front (say, for example, e-commerce) that can change the way you work?
Empowering employees
On the people front, reengineering involves more empowerment for employees. You have to make people more responsible for improved product/ service delivery and allow them autonomy to fulfill their responsibilities. If you empower people in the right way, they will form their own metrics to assess performance and results.
Leading the change
You could appoint a team to execute the changes that reengineering will bring about in your business. Sometimes it also makes sense to hire an external consultant, who can take a neutral view of things and offer a course of correction. There will be resistance to change; however, involvement of senior management from day one and a mutually-decided vision of change can help.