Process optimization: what is it? Advantages, steps and more

If you have been reading our articles, by now you know that processes must always work at their best. Efficiency has a direct impact on the productivity of workers using these processes. What happens if an employee has a faulty device and IT takes two days to respond? This one is forced not to work all the time. Companies that have been around for a while don't have the freedom to scrap everything and rebuild their processes from scratch. The best option is to constantly optimize processes.

What is process optimization?

Process optimization is the discipline of turning a process to optimize a specific set of parameters without violating some constraints. The most common goals are related to minimizing cost, and maximizing performance and/or efficiency. This is one of the main quantitative tools in industrial decision-making.

What is business process optimization?

Business process optimization is the practice of increasing organizational efficiency by improving processes. It is part of the discipline of business process management (BPM). Optimized processes lead to optimized business goals. Some optimization examples include:

• Eliminate redundancies or loops
• Workflow streamlining
• Improve communication
• Change forecasts
• Automate
• Detect bottlenecks through KPI analysis

The rewards of optimizing business processes

Your organization is in constant competition and faces threats from other companies, disruptive technologies, and changing norms.

Optimizing business processes offers many advantages that can help companies stay afloat in the tides of change, such as:

• Market compliance
• Simplified operations
• Reduced risks
• Well-used resources
• Consistency
• Assured quality
• End-to-end visibility

Business process optimization may be the secret to
navigate the rough seas of the industry.

Steps to implement business process optimization

Planning is essential to get the most out of your business process optimization effort. Here is a short step-by-step guide to help you carry out a process optimization plan.

Step #1 Identify: Choose a problematic process that you want to optimize. Define the purpose and goals.

Step #2 Analyze: Does the process meet the desired objectives? Is there excess waste or inefficiencies that you need to reduce?

Step #3 Implement: Once you remove the unnecessary elements, automate the revised process in your new form.

Step #4 Monitor: Take a micro and macro look at the performance of the process and adjust it until you get the desired results.

What does business process optimization look like in the real world?

Because business process optimization is one of the steps in the broader application of BPM, it is often mixed with other concepts such as business process improvement or business process automation. Here are some real-life examples of how business process optimization can increase efficiency.

Purchase orders: Multiple purchase orders clog the purchasing department queue. The department finds that this issue is due to email approvals. To streamline requests, the department implements a dedicated workflow management system. The workflow system allows employees to choose the item and submit it for approval automatically.

Reimbursement of expenses: The finance department makes frequent mistakes when reimbursing expenses. Since the entire process is paper-based, they misread the numbers and reimburse employees the wrong amount. To fix this, the department moved to a digital system where employees fill in the amount in the form fields. There are no processing errors this way.

Employee incorporation: The incorporation of new employees requires a sequence of steps. HR executives send the employee agreement via email. After employees sign it, they must continue to the next step to provision assets in IT. But every time HR manually emails IT to provision laptops and grant access to tools, there are delays. To speed up the process, an email trigger is set up. Once the employment contract is signed and submitted, an email is automatically sent to IT.

How software can help you in your business

The software can supercharge your process optimization efforts with ease. Some feature a workflow designer, with a form builder that allows you to automate structured and unstructured processes in a matter of minutes. Keep in mind that some software allows you to easily integrate with other applications in use, making process optimization seamless. Real-time insights enabled by customizable dashboards can help you keep processes running smoothly. They also enable effective collaboration, driving processes towards maximum efficiency.

Do you want us to help you optimize your processes?