We may not realise it, but processes exist everywhere; they are all around us. There is a process involved in everything that we do: from the simplest of tasks, like preparing a hot cup of coffee, to the more complicated ones, such as preparing financial reports or launching a rocket into space.

Whilst not all processes need to be written down or documented, the situation is different when it comes to running a business. Mistakes and lack of awareness due to a lack of an established process can be costly and even put the company at risk of running into legal problems.

What is a business process?

A business process refers to a collection or series of tasks that are triggered by an event and are performed to accomplish a specific organisational goal. A process is what keeps company resources together and brings order in the daily activities of an organisation.

A process must have a measurable input, added value, and measurable output, as well as a definite starting point and ending point. Business processes are generally categorised into three types:

  • Management processes: processes that focus on planning, organising, controlling and directing to accomplish the predefined objectives or goals.
  • Operations processes: process that comprises the key activities that are performed to produce a product or service and add value to customers.
  • Support processes: processes that are performed to facilitate the execution of the operations or management processes such as payroll and updating of personnel data.

Importance of business processes in an organisation

Business processes are essential in that they define what and how things should be done in an organisation and when. Each activity is completed the same way and produces the same quality of output, whoever gets assigned to perform the task.

Employee job satisfaction is also improved as they can perform tasks faster and resolve issues quicker by following the steps defined in the process. Also, business processes facilitate smooth and easy onboarding and training of new employees.

By creating and documenting your business processes, your organisation can establish benchmarks or key performance indicators (KPI’s). This will form the basis in which to determine if teams meet specific and established goals.

Without an established process, it is difficult to recognise problems in the system or pinpoint what, when, or at which stage errors occurred. When these errors occur repeatedly and problems remain undetected, this can result in loss of productivity and time.

Processes help in timely recognition of problems so you can quickly respond with solutions and preventive measures and controls so that your entire system remains stable no matter what challenge may occur.

Processes inspire confidence

Having a well-established business processes reflect on your organisation’s professionalism. So much so that processes bring confidence to your business. Employees are likely to feel more confident in your organisation because there are processes to guide them all the way, whether in performing their tasks or resolving issues and concerns.

Clients/customers, on the other hand, feel more confident in doing business with your company because they are assured that a high level of standards is observed in delivering a service or producing a product.

 

Find out more about our Process Ninja.

 

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