It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day management of an organization without realizing the negative impact that “doing the same things the same way” has on not only the bottom line but also on employee satisfaction and customer experience. Business mapping makes sense for your business if you’re unhappy with your current results and not sure what to change. The benefits of process mapping are substantial.
Oftentimes the solution lies in an existing process that has not been intentionally well designed, is not being consistently followed, or drops the ball between departments. The result is the inefficient processing of work that costs the organization time, money, and resources. The business process map illustrates workflows, business processes, and business systems, how they all connect together, and where the organization is breaking down. Using this tool, leaders and managers can pinpoint problem areas to create sustainable solutions. Here are four benefits of process mapping for your business.
Four Benefits of Process Mapping Your Business
1. Employee engagement.
It is often said that employees are your most valuable resource, yet many organizations fail to tap into employees’ knowledge, talent and effort to solve difficult problems and operate a better business. The best way to increase employees’ satisfaction is to actively engage them to define the processes in which they work, solicit their input in solving the problems that prevent them from doing a better job and then support them as they improve the work within their area of responsibility. Real competitive advantage comes from getting engagement from more people to contribute more value to the organization.
2. Customer satisfaction.
Business leaders are often surprised to find out internal processes are not aligned and the result is a customer experience that isn’t as good as it could be. Customer value is in the eye of the perceiver. By systematically studying customer wants and needs, an organization can build robust business processes that consistently meets those needs and delivers a significant competitive advantage over time. Satisfied customers are the result of a series of business processes that align to meet their needs. The more processes that are in sync with one another, the more likely an organization will consistently deliver superior customer value over an extended period of time.
3. Financial return on investment.
Engaging and retaining customers is just part of the story. An organization must deliver return on invested capital that delivers a successful economic outcome for stakeholders. If there’s no margin, there’s no mission. That means taking a look at improving product and service costs and margins, reducing operating and support costs, and increasing the effectiveness of balance sheet assets.
4. Compliance risk.
In nearly every industry there is an element of regulatory compliance that can be costly if risk isn’t assessed in advance. The best way to capture business process knowledge is to engage employees on the front line who understand how work gets executed and can commit to owning the business mission and compliance requirements within their area of responsibility. Documenting and managing standard business processes puts a company in a far better position to mitigate the risk of compliance and catastrophic failure.
At Business Enterprise Mapping, we help organizations understand where their greatest value and risks are in order to make changes that positively impact customers, employees, and financials. The four benefits of process mapping your business described above can set your business on a journey of continual improvement.