Operations
Business process improvement
Make a working process cheaper, steadier, and less dependent on individuals.
Companies with processes that function but consume more time, rework, and goodwill than they should.
Sound familiar
Where this usually starts
- The work gets done, but always late in the month and always by the same people.
- Rework is normal and nobody measures it.
- Handoffs between teams are where things sit, and nobody owns the wait.
- When one person is on holiday, the process slows down noticeably.
The work
What we actually do
- Measure the process as it runs — cycle time, wait time, rework, and exceptions.
- Separate the constraint from the noise. Most processes have one real bottleneck.
- Remove the steps that exist only because they always have.
- Tighten the handoffs, which is usually where the time actually goes.
- Reduce single-person dependencies through documentation and cross-training.
- Put a small number of measures in place so the improvement holds after we leave.
How it runs
A short baseline — what the process costs today, measured
A prioritised change list, sequenced by payback and disruption
Optional support implementing the changes and holding the gains
One process at a time, done properly
Scope
What this is not
Knowing where an engagement stops is worth as much as knowing where it starts.
- Not a redesign. If the process is fundamentally wrong, you want process engineering.
- Not a certification programme. We are not here to install a methodology.
- Not a one-off report. Improvement that is not measured does not hold.
Common questions
About business process improvement
How do you measure a process we have never measured?
We start with a short baseline: how long the work actually takes, where it waits, and how often it comes back. It rarely needs new software — most of it is observable in the systems and calendars you already have.
How do we stop it sliding back?
By leaving behind a small number of measures somebody owns, and by making the improved way the easier way. Changes that depend on people trying harder do not last.
Can you work on more than one process at a time?
We would rather not. Attention is the scarce resource in this work, and a business absorbing change in three places at once usually holds none of it.
Next step
Talk about business process improvement
Thirty minutes, no charge. Describe the situation and we will tell you plainly whether this is the right piece of work — and whether we are the right people for it.