Operational efficiency

Many business owners concentrate on marketing above all else, understandably because cash flow is intrinsically linked to it, however this is often to the detriment of other areas in the business. Every business needs to focus on keeping balance in the business to ensure that the foundations don’t topple

One of the least exciting but critical areas are the processes behind a business because not only are they tied to legal requirements but they can be the very thing which can bankrupt a business overnight. Processes also ensure a business is efficient and optimising sales, production, manufacture etc.

The’ smooth running of a business must be carefully worked out in order to determine what is needed to accomplish a goal, so it is important to fully understand the critical processes in order to assign tasks to individuals whose job description align with the outputs required. Job roles need to be suitable to the position each individual holds and this ideally needs to be arranged in a decision‐making framework (organizational structure).

Why else is a business process important you may ask? Because it unifies the series of steps performed by a group of employees to achieve a goal and ensures continuity, quality and accountability. It is particularly important in businesses where steps are often repeated many times, sometimes by multiple users, in order to standardize and optimize efficiency.

A business process can often be created as a visualize representation as a flowchart or workflow of logical steps.

If you have NEVER had a business diagnostic consider its importance, as this is just one of four areas undertaken in a review.