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Streamlining Business Processes: 10 Common Pitfalls to be Avoided

23 May

Streamlining Business Processes: 10 Common Pitfalls to be Avoided

by SMB Suite
in Managed IT, SMB Blog
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Market, competitive, and customer pressures are relentless. Each requires businesses to seek new areas of unique advantage and cost savings in order to remain competitive. Process improvement and re-engineering can provide great advantage. No longer the domain of large enterprises, such endeavors have shown to return new opportunity to SMB’s.

Unfortunately process re-engineering and improvement generally suffer from a pervasive recognition that such activities haven’t completely delivered on promised benefits. Additionally realized benefits seem fleeting, or not sustainable over the long haul. In general, this perception has contributed to cautiousness when adopting new technology or tackling new process improvement initiatives. Individual project studies over the past ten years, by organizations such as Forrester Research, the Gartner Group, and businesses, indicate that the process re-engineering/ improvement initiatives weren’t bad but that the problem lay more in the implementation. Unfortunately, many businesses succumb to these common pitfalls:

 

  • Disconnecting Process from Strategy: Every process improvement/re-engineering effort (and their individual processes) must be aligned to the business strategy and objectives.
  • Process Fragmentation: Processes that are incomplete or disconnected from complimentary processes, creating additional time, complexity, and cost to running the business; not to mention a lowering of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  • Over-Processing: The creation and formalization of overly-complex and time-consuming processes when a more simple approach would suffice.
  • Inappropriate Authorities: Giving individuals or organizations too little or too much process-based authority, thereby creating redundancy, executional confusion, poor process execution or routing, and misplaced internal and external expectations.
  • Loose Controls/ Accountability: Even when the company or organization gets the process ‘right,’often the process breaks down in the presence of non-existent or loose controls and accountability. This leads to confusion and lack of process adherence/stability.
  • Over-reaching: When businesses embark on process improvement or re-engineering efforts there is a tendency to want to ‘boil the ocean.’ By trying such an approach, projects become ‘bloated,’ costs escalate, and people lose interest in the benefits they could receive.
  • Under-Training: The process can only enforce what is taught and modeled. Businesses that assume that newly minted process re-engineering/improvement efforts will automatically reap benefits without training (and retaining) run the risk of project failure.
  • Picking the Wrong Tools: Often businesses chose the tool based on cost, irrespective of its suitability in meeting the process re-engineering/ improvement initiative(s). The end result is often poor adherence, process ‘gaps,’increased time and cost, and lowered overall benefit to the company or organization.  
  • Relying upon the “Big Bang“: Process improvement/ re-engineering is a constant within every organization. Unfortunately, most organizations treat such endeavors as large, ‘one-time’ projects – leaving the next set of improvements for the next ‘big bang.’ Re-engineering /improving processes need to be a part of everyday life in the business.
  • Staying “In House“: Businesses often choose to use their own resources to undertake and manage such projects – pulling valuable resources away from the core business. Likewise, businesses tend to view their processes as being isolated from demand or supply chain partners. Both perspectives hold back process re-engineering/improvement success and resulting business benefit.

What’s an SMB to do? Eliminate each of the pitfalls and reduce re-engineering/improvement business risk in one easy step. The SMBSuite, by NextCorp, overcomes each of the above challenges through proven implementation processes and templates , state of the art technologies, scalable and integrated process platforms,’always available’ end-user support, customer- tested expertise, and all-inclusive low monthly subscription pricing – specifically designed for the SMB.

You can get out of trying to figure out how to improve your processes for greater advantage and benefit. You can get back to running your business and taking care of your customers. The SMBSuite is your answer to continued, cost effective, and beneficial process re-engineering/improvement.

You can streamline your processes, technology, and budgets in one decision. Visit: http://www.getsmb.com or call 1-800-525-6398. You’ll be on your way to becoming a ‘best practice’ SMB.

 

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Steve’s been with SMB Suite since 1998 and has been involved with nearly every aspects of the Company’s business as a strategist, professional services executive, cloud solutions architect, and senior consultant. In his current role, Steve is responsible for SMB Suite’s revenue and oversees the execution of ERP, CRM and BI projects for customers across a broad range of industries. Steve combines his expertise in MS Dynamics GP, CRM and other Microsoft products with a strong foundation in accounting and business to identify gaps and streamline customers’ processes. Prior to co-founding SMB Suite, Steve was previously Corporate Controller for MEHLE Behr and, prior to that, Audit Senior for Ernst & Young. Steve holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Jeremy is responsible for SMB Suite’s technology vision, strategy and implementation and is the architect of the Company’s Dynamics Cloud Platform. Highly adept in every facet of managed services, ERP systems and e-commerce platforms, Jeremy’s expertise spans the implementation and support of business and financial software solutions, as well as the customization and integration of SMB Suite’s cloud ERP technology stack. He holds numerous Microsoft and industry-related certifications, and was primarily responsible for designing the Company’s progressive business services platform in the early days of the Cloud. Prior to SMB Suite, Jeremy served as the financial analyst, systems administrator, and information systems liaison for a $2 billion financial services corporation.

Monty is responsible for SMB Suite’s day-to-day operation and, most importantly, its customers. As a leader, motivator and mentor, Monty creates loyal high performance teams willing to “walk through walls” to accomplish their goals. Prior to SMB Suite, Monty served as President of The Bradshaw Group (TBG), a global distributor, manufacturer, and repair facility for digital printers. In this role, he was the Company’s ambassador to its most important domestic, European and Latin American customers and TBG achieved a best-in-class Net Promoter Score of 74 for its superb customer satisfaction. Prior to TBG, Monty served as the General Manager of Sam’s Clubs three highest grossing U.S. stores and was named Regional Operator of the Year in 1999. Monty holds a BBA in Marketing from Texas Tech University and is an active member of Business Navigators. He has been active in Vistage International, Executives in Action, the Dallas/Fort Worth Retail Executives Association, as well as, A.P.I.C.S., the leading professional association for supply chain and operations management. Monty also volunteers with Hunger Busters and ManeGait, a therapeutic horsemanship organization.

David is a proven financial and information technology professional with expertise in providing business accounting software and computing solutions. He began his career by starting and managing a successful independent consulting practice for several years. He then launched the local systems consulting unit of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurial Services Group, leading the office into the hi-tech consulting arena. After successfully developing the unit for Ernst & Young, David founded NextCorp (which became SMB Suite in 2013) to serve the business software needs of clients throughout the US. David has made SMB Suite one of the best cloud ERP providers in the industry. In addition to being a successful entrepreneur and leader, he is a software and technology specialist, holding certifications in various Microsoft and other technologies.