The Efficiency Edge: Achieving Optimization Through Smart Processes

Efficiency continues to be hot topic of discussion across organizations today. Organizations are focusing on how to do more with fewer resources while leveraging automation to deliver higher quality products and services faster. Business Process Improvement (BPI) has been an effective tool to support organizational optimization since the early 1990s.[i] At its core, BPI is achieved by changing a business process where the results of the change surpass the outputs before that change and ensure optimal achievement of organizational goals.[ii] Fortunately, BPI is applicable across industries, and we at FMP, as business management experts, leverage BPI to improve and automate processes for essential organizational functions from strategic management and leadership to finances and accounting, human resources, product and service operations, customer services, sales and marketing, and information technology. BPI may also be used for large scale transformation or smaller, incremental improvements to systems and processes on an annual basis.

Benefits of BPI

BPI, when applied with the proper methods, will positively impact many areas of the organization. The most common opportunities for optimization through BPI include:

• Automating routine manual processes
• Eliminating redundant processes and systems
• Identifying missing steps or unnecessary steps
• Correcting inefficient workflow sequences or structures
• Removing bottlenecks in processes and operations
• Flagging potential and/or observed threats to data integrity
• Documenting system limitations in meeting operational requirements (and conducting market research to identify better platforms)
• Identifying appropriate responsibilities and roles by clarifying swim lanes

These immediate opportunities with BPI then translate into impactful organizational outcomes, such as:

• Resource Optimization: Reducing excessive resource allocations and maximizing efficiency and productivity which can directly impact an organization’s bottom line or mission delivery.
• Greater Efficiency: Removing disruptions, duplication, and streamlining and automating activities enable organizations to significantly decrease the time it takes to complete processes.
• Improved Quality: Enhancing process automation, standardization, and error reduction to improve quality and timeliness of work and thereby leading to increased customer satisfaction.
• Improved Data-Driven Decision Making: Improving data quality and enabling organizations to better identify data quality issues in their processes. Improved data quality enables smarter and more strategic decision making.[iii]

Important Factors to Consider with BPI

When faced with the many benefits of BPI, we can easily surmise, “BPI is a no brainer.” Still, we know BPI requires an investment of time and resources. Change is difficult for many and elicits feelings of insecurity and sometimes territorialism. BPI requires breaking our mental models of the way we think about doing work, leaving ineffective components behind, identifying opportunities for innovation or automation, and rebuilding the work in a new way.

Further, oftentimes, BPI does not work within the existing confines of the organizational structures, processes and staff roles. Thus, BPI requires looking across functions of the organization and reimagining how new ways work can fit together. Thus, any changes that come as the result of BPI efforts require thoughtful planning to ensure effective adoption and buy-in into the new process to maximize impact.

How FMP Can Help

FMP builds custom BPI solutions to enhance the essential business functions supporting your unique mission and financial goals and refines processes leading to resource leakage. Our experts leverage insights on the intersections between your processes, governance, structures, technology, people capabilities, and data to give you a holistic view of your operations and potential efficiencies.

At FMP, we are here to partner with you to journey down the BPI road to lasting success. We do this by guiding you through the critical BPI methods and then leaving your organization with a BPI approach that is embedded in your daily operations, teams, tools, culture and organizational DNA!

FMP will help you reimagine and implement your customized business plan by employing a blended approach leveraging the latest technology, tools, and techniques to minimize the burden on our clients. We offer the following BPI services:

Data Capture: View progress live, and track and share outcomes over time

• Developing data systems and reporting dashboards with intuitive and interactive visualizations
• UX/UI

Business Health Evaluation, Assessment, and Prioritization: Identify your core needs for process improvement with metrics and data

• Evaluating, enhancing, and automating organizational programs, processes, and systems
• Creating performance metrics, data analytics, and advance reporting
• Assessing technology requirements and systems

Custom Solutioning: Build a plan that works for your business

• Developing and deploying configurable technology solutions
• Modernizing information technology systems and building process automation
• Identifying the precise mix of capabilities to execute essential processes on demand

Change Management and Communications: Build buy-in organization-wide:

• Optimizing operational service delivery
• Tracking on goal progress and success indicators

Ready to transform your business and harness the power of efficiency? Reach out to us at [email protected].

Marni Falcone has over 15 years working on and leading human capital projects for the public and non-profit sectors. Ms. Falcone’s areas of expertise include competency modeling, applied training and development, competency/skill gap assessment and analysis, job/competency analysis, and employee selection. Ms. Falcone is also a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the International Personnel Assessment Council (IPAC), and the 2022 President of the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington (PTCMW). Ms. Falcone received her MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from George Mason University, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Scrum Master (CSM).

[i] Fondas, N. (1993). [Review of Process Innovation: Reengineering Work through Information Technology, by T. H. Davenport]. The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005), 7(2), 100–103. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165128

[ii] Griesberger, Philipp; Leist, Susanne; and Zellner, Gregor, “Analysis of Techniques For Business Process Improvement” (2011). ECIS 2011 Proceedings. 20. http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2011/20

[iii] Peterka, P. (2024, December 27). Business Process Improvement (BPI): Why every company should implement it?. SixSigma.us. https://www.6sigma.us/process-improvement/business-process-improvement-bpi/