Can you accurately define your company’s operational efficiencies or lack thereof? It’s a large and complex topic, impacting every department or line of business. Assessments and internal audits can tell you a lot, but are you getting the full story? Is your bias clouding your judgment, or are you and your team simply not experts?
No matter where you are on the spectrum of operational efficiencies, organizations often need a trusted partner to evaluate where they are and how to get where they want to be.
So when is the right time to engage a partner? And what kind of partner should you seek?
Every business wants to be more efficient, but what does that really mean? It depends on your industry, processes, customer needs, and goals. However, fundamentally, achieving operational efficiency should measurably improve a process.
When you have efficiency, you have less waste—whether that’s less waste of time, money, people, or materials. The whole point of operational efficiency is to be leaner. For any workflow involving manual efforts, workarounds, disorganization, or anything else that eats at efficiency, there is a way to improve. Most of the time, automation initiatives are the answer.
First, you have to determine if you’re moving the meter on efficiency, which means having a way to measure it accurately.
To understand anything, you must be able to measure it. When it comes to operational efficiencies, there are many important metrics. What’s most vital are those measurements you take after you improve a process or workflow with the aim of making it more efficient:
If you’ve attempted to optimize efficiencies with automation with no measurable results, then it’s time to call in the experts. With this type of guidance, you can eliminate your inherent bias.
If your internal team and strategies need a boost, it’s time to tap an expert. There are many consultants in the space, so it is important to consider specific criteria as you explore options. Evaluating partners on these key components is important to ensure you have the right match.
You’ll want to inquire about a company’s approach to operational efficiency through automation. First, find out if they even have one because some consultancies just go with the flow. Something as strategic as operational efficiency needs a proven operating model behind it. In our process, we use the 4 As as that model:
To execute automation capabilities into your processes, your partner will need access to the best tools for robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation (IA).
A robust toolbox should include RPA platforms, optical character engine (OCR) solutions, natural language generation (NLG) capabilities, and AI.
Our solutions include end-to-end intelligent automation solutions. With these capabilities, your partnership with us is all about outcomes.
Your partner should be able to work with you at every phase. For example, we break it down into:
In assessing expertise and experience, ask these questions:
Our experience includes over 1000 processes automated, 500,000 hours saved, and $40 million in cost savings. As a result, we are able to remain outcome-driven for our clients.
Ultimately, you want to know if your partner will help your organization embrace change. Working toward operational efficiency and implementing automation are significant enterprise changes. The change can be painful and slow, but a great partner will help you navigate this so that it’s as seamless as possible and accepted by your team.
If you’re ready to take the next step toward operational efficiency, start by reading our e-book Leveraging Intelligent Automation to Increase Operational Efficiency. In it, we share our knowledge, processes, expertise, and technology approaches. Find out what it’s like to work with us on your journey.