Outsource Magazine

George Osborne said last year “We want public service professionals, the people working on the frontline and who know what works, to innovate, improve processes and respond.” I was rather surprised to see politicians talking about improving processes: the usual approach seems to be to increase budgets to solve problems, but this time around it seems that the focus is to reduce costs and increase efficiency. May sound like demagoguery to some, right?

Perhaps I am biased but process improvement is actually a very valid approach to any organisation, and perhaps this is why the new government is rather excited about its possibilities. They fully understand that processes are at the heart of organisations’ success or lack of it. In the current economic climate, public service must be efficient - and what better way to become efficient than improving processes?

Many senior business leaders are opening their eyes to the possibilities that process improvement methodologies and technologies bring to their organisations.

We call the art of managing and improving processes “BPM” (business process management); there is, really, plenty of information around since the BPM market is the fastest-growing industry in the IT/professional services sector and it’s worth tens of billions globally while growing at a double-digit rate even during recession.

I can offer a simple example to explain what BPM actually is. If we take an orchestra, we can see some elements that all orchestras have: a musical score, various instruments and very skilled musicians. Now if we look at an organisation, we can see business processes (musical score), systems and tools (instruments), and people (musicians). BPM is simply a management methodology, a way of conducting the orchestra; BPM can help business leaders identify, improve and manage business processes, listen to the music that is played in the organisation and then rewrite the score and manage their musicians to create a stunning performance.

Some business leaders argue that the big problem is that processes are effectively mute: who knows who's playing what? How can you possibly manage it? In the same way that people can distinguish noise from song, business leaders know whether their organisations are playing a mediocre sound or a beautiful melody, instinctively and without training. A fair way to find out is to ask customers how they feel about their performance; would it merit a standing ovation, or get some scattered clapping?

Would people eagerly come back to their next performance, or would they have to be convinced over and over again? Would they bring a friend to the next show, or would the seats be empty? Customers can definitely hear the sound we play in our organisations. Can business leaders listen closely?

Operational excellence and process improvement are powerful methods in which organisations are able to differentiate themselves in the market; by being process-oriented firms not only save resources but also make customers happy while increasing their business ability to retain business and compete more effectively. The reality and complexity of today's organisations can benefit from an integrated approach between business rationale, process management and technology.

Regardless of whether Osborne will prove to be a skilled conductor of the Public Services opera, his ambitions should inspire regular business leaders to dust off their batons; their customers are waiting for a new tune to be played. Who knows? Their new song might become a real hit!

About the Author

Cesar Pinto is the founder of the Process Improvement Board (PIB), UK’s fastest growing, not-for-profit, industry body dedicated to promote Process Improvement methodologies and technologies into mainstream enterprise. A seasoned independent process improvement practitioner, public speaker and operational excellence advocate, Mr Pinto has successfully helped numerous organisations improve their business processes via the efficient implementation of process improvement techniques.

Contact Cesar Pinto by email, or see the PIB website.