3 ways to eliminate the waste
In a survey recently conducted by Cornerstone Advisors, 58 percent of respondents said they believe half or less of the work happening in their organizations is real work. The rest, the non-work activity, is waste.
Unbelievable, right? The intense cost, revenue and compliance pressures being faced by today’s financial services industry means that banks and credit unions must seek to optimize their processes to eliminate the waste.
Here are three ways to get back to basics and banish the waste.
1. Identify and own the process
Process design is the key to eliminating waste. The challenge is that processes can span across the organization and even cross organizational boundaries.
According to Cornerstone’s Senior Director Michael Croal, “A first step in changing the way we work is to have one person in charge of the process – the entire process, not just certain tasks within the process.”
To effect the changes necessary to eliminate this waste requires effort and a leader. The key to success is making sure that leader has a thorough understanding of what the process must accomplish.
2. Redesign for maximized performance
Process improvement teams often get caught in the paralysis-by-analysis trap. Too much time is spent and too much momentum is lost analyzing and documenting the way the process performs. This leads to ineffective process improvement programs.
Instead, try to determine what the result of the process needs to be. Don’t just continue to do things a certain way because they have always been done that way.
Remember what Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Led by the process owner, an effective process improvement program will also include:
– A senior executive that believes in and publicly supports the initiative
– Dedicated resources focused on process analysis, process design and change management
– Metrics to identify issues and drive improvements
– A training program designed for the process and executed to ensure process workers are fully trained
3. Harness the power of technology
As financial institutions begin to redesign their processes, they must realize that these processes have been passed down over years and even changes of leadership. While the technology that supports the processes may have also changed, it is unlikely that the process has ever been engineered for maximum performance from start to finish, leaving expensive technology implementations to be miserably underutilized or incorrectly used. Technology adds little value if it is not implemented with process performance in mind. It’s also crucial to evaluate the technology being used in the process.
Until banks and credit unions commit to drastically changing their processes across the enterprise, service levels will float in a state of costly inefficiency and future growth initiatives will become unrealistic. Banishing the waste is critical for the future of the organization.
Check back next month for part 2 of this three-part blog series to learn how an enterprise content management (ECM) solution can take you a step further to eliminate the waste and improve the way you work.
