Look at the organs of your organisation
Any business owner knows this - a business is like an organism. When all goes well, it grows, it moves, it thrives. But business can get "sick" as well. And often, the symptoms are managed but rarely addressed at the root cause. Sounds familiar? We do the same with our own health, why would we treat our business any different?
Each department, or logical function, behaves like an organ in the body of your business. Each component, every individual, is finely tuned into the process. Until they aren't. Just like our own body, one organ falls short, and the immune system takes over - colleagues step in, or in case of system failure, the manual labour takes over. But like our own immune system, this can only take over for so long, and for only so many things at the same time.
In sickness and in health
As mentioned above, a good functioning organism has good functioning organs that are tuned to cooperate efficiently towards the optimal outcome. What do we do when one of our organs is performing sub-par? Most likely, an organ transplant is not the first option. Similar, running around yelling "who do I need to replace to fix this?!?" should not be the first point of call. Organs fail for many reasons, more often than not due some systemic problem upstream in the system.
To fully address the problem, there is a three step process: Stabilisation, Detoxification, Fortification.
Stabilisation, Detoxification, Fortification
Step 1 - Stabilisation
You identified the symptom, and created a work-around, This is step one. But stabilisation requires more than just temporary symptom-relief. That would be like taking a painkiller to sooth a severed hand.
Stabilisation is finding new paths within the business to "get the job done", "work around the issue". It is difficult to address the root cause of an issue with customers demanding service (they will let you know when you don't deliver, ultimately with their wallets!).
To effectively stabilise the issue, you need to understand what causes it. It is no sense mopping the floor when the bath is still overrunning with water. Short of inventory? Why was it not reordered in sufficient quantity? How are forecasts made, and communicated? Customer service complaints? What is the nature of the complaint? Is there capacity to deal with the influx? Or is it as simple as an "attitude problem"?
Step 2 - Detoxification
Detoxification of the system means getting rid of the root causes of the issues. In the human body it is getting rid of chemicals, parasites and other toxins that cause organ inflammation and damage. In an organisation, it could be an employee with destructive behaviour, a process (or lack thereof) issue, issues with the supplier (we are what we eat), or our systems.
To detoxify, we have to "flush the system" - run through the entire process from back to front, and to back again. Ask - "How did this information get here?", "How does the recipient know action is required?", "What are the various scenarios?". And most importantly, ask "Why?", and "What if?"
Do this from the delivery all the way back in the process till you reach marketing and R&D, and then go back again. Identify and remove all pain-points
Step 3 - Fortification
In step 1 we stopped the bleeding - the customers were once more getting what they are expecting. In step 2 we have identified causes of issues, and applied the remedies - the business is operating smoothly again.
Should we skip step 3? We are done, right?
Not quite.
It is now time to fortify the immune system. And again, just like the human immune system, it is based on information. A good immune system identifies the anomaly, assesses it, and then applies the correct defence.
In a business, it is the business information system that provides the packages of information. along with instructions to perform the actions in the process. A good information system is built with consistency, so the reports and BI systems can help with forecasts and trend predictions
Aurelian Group for the critical digital business infrastructure
Aurelian Group is your partner in this three step journey. We look at your business with you, and help diagnose the issues so we can stabilise. While we look at the entire business system, we look at the whole, as well as the detail (because every detail either contributes to an outcome, or it contributes to cost), we put our expertise and creativity to work and configure for you the business system most cannot believe they can afford, or could imagine it exists. Our unique subscription model approach means that while you are amazed at the outcome, there are no surprises with regards to the budget; the software licences, implementation services, support, maintenance, and enhancements are included in the one subscription fee, paid monthly. Contact us to find out more.